Phonovision is a proof of concept format and experiment for recording a mechanical television signal on phonograph records. The format was developed in the late 1920s in London by Scottish television pioneer John Logie Baird. The objective was not simply to record video, but to record it synchronously, as Baird intended playback from an inexpensive playback device, which he called a "Phonovisor".^[1]

Technical information[link]

The process involved mechanically linking the television scanning mechanism, a Nipkow disk, and the record-mastering turntable. The video signal from the Nipkow disc scanner was amplified and connected to the cutting stylus of the turntable. Baird had to make a number of compromises to get the process to work, among them using a picture rate of only 4 frames per second. Unlike Baird's other experiments (including stereoscopy, colour and infra-red night-vision), there is no evidence of a public demonstration of playback of pictures. The results were considered a failure at the time, and Baird moved on leaving behind several discs in the hands of museums and favoured company members.

Despite its technical problems, Phonovision remains the very earliest means ever invented of recording a television signal. In a sense, it can be seen as the progenitor of other disc-based systems, such as the European TelDec system of the early 1970s and RCA's capacitance-based discs, known as SelectaVision.

History[link]

An equivalent system was marketed by Cairns and Morrison Ltd of London under the name Silvatone from 1930, with at least one early recording of transmitted television still in existence from April 1933.^[2]

The earliest surviving Phonovision disc depicts one of the "Stooky Bill" dummy heads which Baird employed for tests, and was recorded on September 20, 1927. The earliest recording of a human face is of Wally Fowlkes, and was made on January 10, 1928. On March 28, 1928, a recording of "Miss Pounsford" was made which is, in many ways, the best of the experimental discs. In the 1990s, her relatives identified Mabel Pounsford as the early TV star.

From 1982, Scottish image processing expert Donald F. McLean developed software to capture and restore the video recorded on the Phonovision discs. Analysis of the recordings by McLean revealed that serious problems had occurred during the making of the recordings, due mostly to the mechanical linkage that was necessary to allow simple playback. The problems were largely corrected by software, and the resultant images give us a far better image quality than what would have been seen in Baird's laboratories at the time .

External links[link]

• World's Earliest Television Recordings - Restored!

References[link]

John Logie Baird FRSE (13 August 1888 – 14 June 1946)^[1] was a Scottish^[2] engineer and inventor of the world's first practical, publicly demonstrated television system, and also the world's first fully electronic colour television tube. Although Baird's electromechanical system was eventually displaced by purely electronic systems (such as those of Vladimir Zworykin, Marconi-EMI and Philo Farnsworth), Baird's early successes demonstrating working television broadcasts and his colour and cinema television work earn him a prominent place in television's invention. In 2002, Logie Baird was ranked number 44 in the list of the "100 Greatest Britons" following a UK-wide vote.^[3] In 2006, Logie Baird was also named as one of the 10 greatest Scottish scientists in history, having been listed in the National Library of Scotland's 'Scottish Science Hall of Fame'.^[4] The "Baird" brand name was first owned by Thorn-EMI and was sold off to a small Chinese manufacturer when Thorn-EMI was dissolved.

Early years[link]

Baird was born in [[Helensburgh], Argyll and Bute (then Dunbartonshire). He was educated at Larchfield Academy (now part of Lomond School) in Helensburgh; the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (which later became the University of Strathclyde); and the University of Glasgow. His degree course was interrupted by World War I and he never returned to graduate.

Television experiments[link]

Although the development of television was the result of work by many inventors, Baird was a prominent pioneer and made major advances in the field. Particularly in Britain, many historians credit Baird with being the first to produce a live, moving, greyscale television image from reflected light. Baird achieved this, where other inventors had failed, by obtaining a better photoelectric cell and improving the signal conditioning from the photocell and the video amplifier.

Between 1902 and 1907, Arthur Korn invented and built the first successful signal-conditioning circuits for image transmission. The circuits overcame the image-destroying lag effect that is part of selenium photocells. Korn's compensation circuit allowed him to send still pictures by telephone or wireless between countries and even over oceans, while his circuit operated without benefit of electronic amplification.^[5] Korn's success at transmitting halftone still images suggested that such compensation circuits might work in television. Baird was the direct beneficiary of Korn's research and success.^[6][7]

In his first attempts to develop a working television system, Baird experimented with the Nipkow disk. Paul Nipkow had invented this scanning disc system in 1884.^[8] Television historian Albert Abramson calls Nipkow's patent "the master television patent."^[9] Nipkow's work is important because Baird and many others chose to develop it into a broadcast medium.

In early 1923, and in poor health, Baird moved to 21 Linton Crescent, Hastings, on the south coast of England and later rented a workshop in Queen's Arcade in the town. Baird built what was to become the world's first working television set using items including an old hatbox and a pair of scissors, some darning needles, a few bicycle light lenses, a used tea chest, and sealing wax and glue that he purchased.^[10] In February 1924, he demonstrated to the Radio Times that a semi-mechanical analogue television system was possible by transmitting moving silhouette images. In July of the same year, he received a 1000-volt electric shock, but survived with only a burnt hand. His landlord, a Mr Tree, asked him to quit his workshop and he moved to upstairs rooms in Soho, London, where he made a technical breakthrough. Baird gave the first public demonstration of moving silhouette images by television at Selfridges department store in London in a three-week series of demonstrations beginning on 25 March 1925.

In his laboratory on 2 October 1925, Baird successfully transmitted the first television picture with a greyscale image: the head of a ventriloquist's dummy nicknamed "Stooky Bill" in a 30-line vertically scanned image, at five pictures per second.^[11] Baird went downstairs and fetched an office worker, 20-year-old William Edward Taynton, to see what a human face would look like, and Taynton became the first person to be televised in a full tonal range.^[12] Looking for publicity, Baird visited the Daily Express newspaper to promote his invention. The news editor was terrified: he was quoted by one of his staff as saying: "For God's sake, go down to reception and get rid of a lunatic who's down there. He says he's got a machine for seeing by wireless! Watch him — he may have a razor on him."^[13]

First public demonstrations[link]

On 26 January 1926, Baird repeated the transmission for members of the Royal Institution and a reporter from The Times in his laboratory at 22 Frith Street in the Soho district of London.^[14] By this time, he had improved the scan rate to 12.5 pictures per second. It was the first demonstration of a television system that could broadcast live moving images with tone graduation.

He demonstrated the world's first colour transmission on 3 July 1928, using scanning discs at the transmitting and receiving ends with three spirals of apertures, each spiral with a filter of a different primary colour; and three light sources at the receiving end, with a commutator to alternate their illumination. That same year he also demonstrated stereoscopic television.

In 1932, Baird was the first person in Britain to demonstrate ultra-short wave transmission. (Today, we refer to "ultra short waves" as the VHF band.) Contrary to some reports, these transmissions were far from the first VHF telecasts. In 1931, the US Federal Radio Commission allocated VHF television bands. From 1931 to 1933, station W9XD in Milwaukee, Wisconsin transmitted some of the first VHF television signals. The station's 45-line, triply interlaced pictures used the U. A. Sanabria television technology.^[15]

Broadcasting[link]

In 1927, Baird transmitted a long-distance television signal over 438 miles (705 km) of telephone line between London and Glasgow; Baird transmitted the world's first long-distance television pictures to the Central Hotel at Glasgow Central Station.^[16] This transmission was Baird's response to a 225-mile, long-distance telecast between stations of AT&T Bell Labs. The Bell stations were in New York and Washington, DC. The earlier telecast took place in April 1927, a month before Baird's demonstration.^[9]

Baird then set up the Baird Television Development Company Ltd, which in 1928 made the first transatlantic television transmission, from London to Hartsdale, New York, and the first television programme for the BBC. In November 1929, Baird and Bernard Natan established France's first television company, Télévision-Baird-Natan. He televised the first live transmission of the Epsom Derby in 1931. He demonstrated a theatre television system, with a screen two feet by five feet (60 cm by 150 cm), in 1930 at the London Coliseum, Berlin, Paris, and Stockholm.^[17] By 1939 he had improved his theatre projection system to televise a boxing match on a screen 15 ft (4.6 m) by 12 ft (3.7 m).^[18]

From 1929 to 1932, the BBC transmitters were used to broadcast television programmes using the 30-line Baird system, and from 1932 to 1935, the BBC also produced the programmes in their own studio at 16 Portland Place. On 3 November 1936, from Alexandra Palace located on the high ground of the north London ridge, the BBC began alternating Baird 240-line transmissions with EMI's electronic scanning system which had recently been improved to 405 lines after a merger with Marconi. The Baird system at the time involved an intermediate film process, where footage was shot on cinefilm which was rapidly developed and scanned. The trial was due to last 6 months but the BBC were forced to cease broadcasts with the Baird system in February 1937, due to a disastrous fire in the Baird studio. It was becoming apparent to the BBC that the Baird system would ultimately fail due in large part to the lack of mobility of the Baird system's cameras, with their developer tanks, hoses, and cables.^[19]

Baird's television systems were replaced by the electronic television system developed by the newly-formed company EMI-Marconi under Isaac Shoenberg, which had access to patents developed by Vladimir Zworykin and RCA. Similarly, Philo T. Farnsworth's electronic "Image Dissector" camera was available to Baird's company via a patent-sharing agreement. However, the Image Dissector camera was found to be lacking in light sensitivity, requiring excessive levels of illumination. Baird used the Farnsworth tubes instead to scan cinefilm, in which capacity they proved serviceable though prone to dropouts and other problems. Farnsworth himself came to London to Baird's Crystal Palace laboratories in 1936, but was unable to fully solve the problem; the fire that burned Crystal Palace to the ground later that year further hampered the Baird company's ability to compete.^[20]

Baird made many contributions to the field of electronic television after mechanical systems had taken a back seat. In 1939, he showed colour television using a cathode ray tube in front of which revolved a disc fitted with colour filters, a method taken up by CBS and RCA in the United States. In 1941, he patented and demonstrated a system of three-dimensional television at a definition of 500 lines. On 16 August 1944, he gave the world's first demonstration of a fully electronic colour television display. His 600-line colour system used triple interlacing, using six scans to build each picture.^[21][22] In 1943, the Hankey Committee was appointed to oversee the resumption of television broadcasts after the war. Baird persuaded them to make plans to adopt his proposed 1000-line Telechrome electronic colour system as the new post-war broadcast standard. The picture quality on this system would have been comparable to today's HDTV. The Hankey Committee's plan lost all momentum partly due to the challenges of postwar reconstruction. The monochrome 405-line standard remained in place until 1985 in some areas, and it was three decades until the introduction of the 625-line system in 1964 and (PAL) colour in 1967. A demonstration of large screen three-dimensional television by the BBC was reported in March 2008, over 60 years after Baird's demonstration.

Other inventions[link]

Some of Baird's early inventions were not fully successful. In his twenties he tried to create diamonds by heating graphite and shorted out Glasgow's electricity supply. Later Baird perfected a glass razor which was rust-resistant, but shattered. Inspired by pneumatic tyres he attempted to make pneumatic shoes, but his prototype contained semi-inflated balloons which burst. He also invented a thermal undersock (the Baird undersock), which was moderately successful. Baird suffered from cold feet, and after a number of trials, he found that an extra layer of cotton inside the sock provided warmth.^[10]

Baird's numerous other developments demonstrated his particular talent at invention. He was a visionary and began to dabble with electricity. In 1928, he developed an early video recording device, which he dubbed Phonovision. The system consisted of a large Nipkow disk attached by a mechanical linkage to a conventional 78-rpm record-cutting lathe. The result was a disc that could record and play back a 30-line video signal. Technical difficulties with the system prevented its further development, but some of the original phonodiscs have been preserved, and have since been restored by Donald McLean, a Scottish electrical engineer.^[23] Baird's other developments were in fibre-optics, radio direction finding, infrared night viewing and radar. There is discussion about his exact contribution to the development of radar, for his wartime defence projects have never been officially acknowledged by the UK government. According to Malcolm Baird, his son, what is known is that in 1926 Baird filed a patent for a device that formed images from reflected radio waves, a device remarkably similar to radar, and that he was in correspondence with the British government at the time. The radar contribution is in dispute. According to some experts, Baird's "noctovision" is not radar. Unlike radar (except Doppler radar), Noctovision is incapable of determining the distance to the scanned subject. Noctovision also cannot determine the coordinates of the subject in three-dimensional space.^[24]

Later years[link]

From December 1944 until his death two years later, Baird lived at a house in Station Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, immediately north of the station itself.^[25] Baird died in Bexhill on 14 June 1946 after a stroke in February of that year. The old house was demolished in 2007. The Sea Road-Station Road skyline now features a new block of 51 flats on the site, renamed "Baird Court".

John Logie Baird is buried with his mother, father and wife in Helensburgh Cemetery.

See also[link]

• Logie Awards — Australian television
• History of television

Notes[link]

This article incorporates material from the Citizendium article "John Logie Baird", which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License but not under the GFDL.

Further reading[link]

Books

• Baird, John Logie, Television and Me: The Memoirs of John Logie Baird. Edinburgh: Mercat Press, 2004. ISBN 1-84183-063-1
• Burns, Russell, John Logie Baird, television pioneer. London: The Institution of Electrical Engineers, 2000. ISBN 0-85296-797-7
• Kamm, Antony, and Malcolm Baird, John Logie Baird: A Life. Edinburgh: NMS Publishing, 2002. ISBN 1-901663-76-0
• McArthur, Tom, and Peter Waddell, The Secret Life of John Logie Baird. London: Hutchinson, 1986. ISBN 0-09-158720-4.
• McLean, Donald F., Restoring Baird's Image. The Institute of Electrical Engineers, 2000. ISBN 0-85296-795-0.
• Rowland, John, The Television Man: The Story of John Logie Baird. New York: Roy Publishers, 1967.
• Tiltman, Ronald Frank, Baird of Television. New York: Arno Press, 1974. (Reprint of 1933 ed.) ISBN 0-405-06061-0.

Patents

• U.S. Patent 1,699,270

External links[link]

• "Television for Millions" Popular Mechanics, September 1935
• The Baird Television Website
• Baird on DigitalCentury.com
• Mechanical TV: Baird Television
• Baird bio on BBC site
• John Logie Baird biography at BFI Screenonline
• How to build a Baird televisor - also contains many detailed references to Baird's history
• John Logie Baird's entry on Helensburgh Heroes web site
• John Logie Baird - Gizmohighway Technology Guide
• Narrow Bandwidth Television Association
• Phonovision
• John Logie Baird biography at Virtual Scotland
• Hawestv.com Technical history. Describes mechanical TV viewing. Controversies about TV inventions. Schematics. Build a mechanical TV.
• Television Apparatus, US patent, filed 1926.
• Method of and Means for Transmitting Signals, US patent for Baird's "Noctovision" infrared television system, filed 1927.
• Television Apparatus and the Like, US patent for Baird's colour television system, filed 1929 (in UK, 1928).n]
• The Man Who Invented Television (knol)
• "Electron Camera Shoots Television Images" Popular Mechanics, June 1935
• "London Station To Serve Ten Million People" Popular Mechanics, June 1935

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George VI
Formal portrait, c. 1940–46
King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions (more...)
Reign	11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952
Coronation	12 May 1937
Predecessor	Edward VIII
Successor	Elizabeth II
Prime Ministers	See list
Emperor of India
Reign	11 December 1936 – 15 August 1947
Predecessor	Edward VIII
Spouse	Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Issue
Elizabeth II Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Full name
Albert Frederick Arthur George
House	House of Windsor
Father	George V
Mother	Mary of Teck
Born	14 December 1895 (1895-12-14) York Cottage, Sandringham House, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Died	6 February 1952 (1952-02-07) (aged 56) Sandringham House, Norfolk
Burial	15 February 1952 St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle

George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India, and the first Head of the Commonwealth.

As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward. He served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force during World War I, and after the war took on the usual round of public engagements. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret.

George's elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII on the death of their father in 1936. However, later that year Edward revealed his desire to marry the divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry Mrs Simpson and remain king. Edward abdicated in order to marry, and George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor.

On the day of his accession, the parliament of the Irish Free State removed the monarch from its constitution. Further events during George's reign accelerated the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations. Three years after his accession, the Empire and Commonwealth, except the Irish Free State, was at war with Nazi Germany. In the next two years, war with Italy and Japan followed. Though Britain and its allies were ultimately victorious, the United States and the Soviet Union rose as pre-eminent world powers and the British Empire declined. After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, his title of Emperor of India was abandoned in June 1948. Ireland was formally declared a republic in 1949, and India followed suit the following year. George adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by health problems in the later years of his reign. He was succeeded by his elder daughter, Elizabeth II.

Birth and family[link]

George VI was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria.^[1] His father was Prince George, Duke of York (later King George V), the second and eldest-surviving son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). His mother was the Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), the eldest child and only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck.^[2]

His birthday (14 December 1895) was the anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Prince Albert, the Prince Consort.^[3] Uncertain of how the Prince Consort's widow, Queen Victoria, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been "rather distressed". Two days later, he wrote again: "I really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to her".^[4] Queen Victoria was mollified by the proposal to name the new baby Albert, and wrote to the Duchess of York: "I am all impatience to see the new one, born on such a sad day but rather more dear to me, especially as he will be called by that dear name which is a byword for all that is great and good".^[5] Consequently, he was baptised "Albert Frederick Arthur George" at St. Mary Magdalene's Church near Sandringham three months later.^a As a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, he was known formally as "His Highness Prince Albert of York" from birth. Within the family, he was known informally as "Bertie".^[6] His maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Teck, did not like the first name the baby had been given, and she wrote prophetically that she hoped the last name "may supplant the less favoured one".^[7]

Albert, as he was known, was fourth in line to the throne at birth, after his grandfather, father and elder brother, Edward.

Early life[link]

Four kings: Edward VII (far right), his son George, Prince of Wales, later George V (far left), and grandsons Edward, later Edward VIII (rear), and Albert, later George VI (foreground), c. 1908.

In 1898, Queen Victoria issued Letters Patent that granted the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales the style Royal Highness, and at the age of two, Albert became "His Royal Highness Prince Albert of York".

He often suffered from ill health and was described as "easily frightened and somewhat prone to tears".^[8] His parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, were generally removed from their children's day-to-day upbringing, as was the norm in aristocratic families of that era. He had a stammer that lasted for many years, and was forced to write with his right hand although he was naturally left-handed. He suffered from chronic stomach problems as well as knock knees, for which he was forced to wear painful corrective splints.^[9]

Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, and the Prince of Wales succeeded her as King Edward VII. The Duke of York became next in line to the throne. Prince Edward moved up to second in line, and Prince Albert was third.

Military career and education[link]

From 1909, Albert attended the Royal Naval College, Osborne, as a naval cadet. In 1911, he came bottom of the class in the final examination, but despite this he progressed to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.^[10] When Edward VII died in 1910, Albert's father became King George V. Prince Edward was created Prince of Wales, and Albert was second in line to the throne.^[11]

Prince Albert (left) at an RAF dinner in 1919 with Sir Hugh Trenchard (centre) and Christopher Courtney (right)

Albert spent the first six months of 1913 on the training ship HMS Cumberland in the West Indies and on the east coast of Canada.^[12] He was rated as a midshipman aboard HMS Collingwood on 15 September 1913, and spent three months in the Mediterranean. His fellow officers gave him the nickname "Mr. Johnson".^[13] One year after his commission, he began service in World War I. He was mentioned in despatches for his action as a turret officer during the Battle of Jutland (31 May – 1 June 1916), an indecisive engagement with the German navy that was the largest naval action of the war. He did not see further combat, largely because of ill health caused by a duodenal ulcer, for which he had an operation in November 1917.^[14] In February 1918, he was appointed Officer in Charge of Boys at the Royal Naval Air Service's training establishment at Cranwell.^[15] With the establishment of the Royal Air Force two months later and the transfer of Cranwell from Navy to Air Force control, he transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal Air Force.^[14] He was appointed Officer Commanding Number 4 Squadron of the Boys' Wing at Cranwell and he remained there until August 1918.^[15] He was the first member of the royal family to be certified as a fully qualified pilot.^[16] During the closing weeks of the war, he served on the staff of the RAF's Independent Air Force at its headquarters in Nancy, France.^[17] Following the disbanding of the Independent Air Force in November 1918, he remained on the continent for two months as a staff officer with the Royal Air Force until posted back to Britain.^[18]

In October 1919, Albert went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied history, economics and civics for a year.^[19] On 4 June 1920, he was created Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney.^[20] He began to take on more royal duties. He represented his father, and toured coal mines, factories, and railyards. Through such visits he acquired the nickname of the "Industrial Prince".^[21] His stammer, and his embarrassment over it, together with his tendency to shyness, caused him to appear much less impressive than his older brother, Edward. However, he was physically active and enjoyed playing tennis.^[22] He developed an interest in working conditions, and was President of the Industrial Welfare Society. His series of annual summer camps for boys between 1921 and 1939 brought together boys from different social backgrounds.^[23]

Marriage[link]

George's wife Elizabeth, c. 1925

In a time when royals were expected to marry fellow royals, it was unusual that Albert had a great deal of freedom in choosing a prospective wife. In 1920, he met for the first time since childhood Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the youngest daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. He became determined to marry her.^[24]

Although Lady Elizabeth was a descendant of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland and King Henry VII of England, she was, according to British law, a commoner. She rejected his proposal twice, in 1921 and 1922, reportedly because she was reluctant to make the sacrifices necessary to become a member of the royal family.^[25] In the words of Lady Elizabeth's mother, Albert would be "made or marred" by his choice of wife. After a protracted courtship, Elizabeth agreed to marry him.^[26]

They were married on 26 April 1923 in Westminster Abbey. The newly-formed British Broadcasting Company wished to record and broadcast the event on radio, but the Abbey Chapter vetoed the idea (although the Dean, Herbert Edward Ryle, was in favour).^[27] Lady Elizabeth was styled "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York" after their marriage. Albert's marriage to a British commoner was considered a modernising gesture.^[28]

From December 1924 to April 1925, the Duke and Duchess toured Kenya, Uganda and the Sudan, travelling via the Suez Canal and Aden. During the trip, they both went big game hunting.^[29]

Because of his stammer, Albert dreaded public speaking.^[30] After his closing speech at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley on 31 October 1925, one which was an ordeal for both him and his listeners,^[31] he began to see Lionel Logue, an Australian-born speech therapist. The Duke and Logue practised breathing exercises, and the Duchess rehearsed with him patiently.^[32] Subsequently, he was able to speak with less hesitation.^[33] With his delivery improved, the Duke opened Parliament House in Canberra during a tour of the empire in 1927.^[34] His journey by sea to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji took him via Jamaica, where Albert played doubles tennis partnered with a black man, which was unusual at the time and taken locally as a display of equality between races.^[35]

The Duke and Duchess of York had two children: Elizabeth (called "Lilibet" by the family), and Margaret. The Duke and Duchess and their two daughters lived a relatively sheltered life at their London residence, 145 Piccadilly. They were a close and loving family.^[36] One of the few stirs arose when the Canadian Prime Minister, R. B. Bennett, considered the Duke for Governor General of Canada in 1931—a proposal that King George V rejected on the advice of his ministers.^[37]

Reluctant king[link]

King George V had severe reservations about Prince Edward, saying, "I pray God that my eldest son will never marry and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne."^[38] On 20 January 1936, George V died and Edward ascended the throne as Edward VIII. In the Vigil of the Princes, Prince Albert and his three brothers took a shift standing guard over their father's body as it lay in state, in a closed casket, in Westminster Hall.

As Edward was unmarried and had no children, Albert was the heir presumptive to the throne. Less than a year later, on 11 December 1936, Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry his mistress, Wallis Simpson, who was divorced from her first husband and divorcing her second. Edward had been advised by British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin that he could not remain king and marry a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands. Edward chose abdication in preference to abandoning his marriage plans. Thus Albert became king, a position he was reluctant to accept.^[39] The day before the abdication, he went to London to see his mother, Queen Mary. He wrote in his diary, "When I told her what had happened, I broke down and sobbed like a child."^[40]

On the day of the abdication, the parliament of the Irish Free State removed all mention of the monarch from the Irish constitution. The next day, it passed the External Relations Act, which appointed the monarch only as its representative in foreign affairs. The two acts essentially made the Irish Free State a republic without removing its links to the Commonwealth.^[41]

Courtier and journalist Dermot Morrah alleged that there was brief speculation as to the desirability of bypassing Albert (and his children) and his brother, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, in favour of their younger brother Prince George, Duke of Kent. This seems to have been suggested on the grounds that Prince George was at that time the only brother with a son.^[42]

Early reign[link]

Darlington Town Hall decorated for the Coronation, 1937

Albert assumed the regnal name "George VI" to emphasise continuity with his father and restore confidence in the monarchy.^[43] The beginning of George VI's reign was taken up by questions surrounding his predecessor and brother, whose titles, style and position were uncertain. He had been introduced as "His Royal Highness Prince Edward" for the abdication broadcast,^[44] but George VI felt that by abdicating and renouncing the succession Edward had lost the right to bear royal titles, including "Royal Highness".^[45] In settling the issue, George's first act as king was to confer upon his brother the title and style "His Royal Highness The Duke of Windsor", but the Letters Patent creating the dukedom prevented any wife or children from bearing royal styles. George VI was also forced to buy from Edward the royal residences of Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House, as these were private properties and did not pass to George VI automatically.^[46] Three days after his accession, on his 41st birthday, he invested his wife, the new queen consort, with the Order of the Garter.^[47]

George VI's coronation took place on 12 May 1937, the date previously intended for Edward's coronation. In a break with tradition, Queen Mary attended the ceremony in a show of support for her son.^[48] There was no Durbar held in Delhi for George VI, as had occurred for his father, as the cost would have been a burden to the government of India.^[49] Rising Indian nationalism made the welcome that the royal couple would have received likely to be muted at best,^[50] and a prolonged absence from Britain would have been undesirable in the tense period before World War II. Two overseas tours were undertaken, to France and to North America, both of which promised greater strategic advantages in the event of war.^[51]

The growing likelihood of war in Europe dominated the early reign of George VI. The King was constitutionally bound to support Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler.^[9][52] However, when the King and Queen greeted Chamberlain on his return from negotiating the Munich Agreement in 1938, they invited him to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with them. This public association of the monarchy with a politician was exceptional, as balcony appearances were traditionally restricted to the royal family.^[9] While broadly popular among the general public, Chamberlain's policy towards Hitler was the subject of some opposition in the House of Commons, which led historian John Grigg to describe the King's behaviour in associating himself so prominently with a politician as "the most unconstitutional act by a British sovereign in the present century".^[53]

George VI grants Royal Assent to laws in the Canadian Senate, 19 May 1939. His consort, Queen Elizabeth, is to the right.

In May and June 1939, the King and Queen toured Canada and the United States. From Ottawa, the royal couple were accompanied throughout by Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King,^[54] to present themselves in North America as King and Queen of Canada.^[55][56] George was the first reigning monarch of Canada to visit North America, although he had been to Canada previously as Prince Albert and as Duke of York. Both Governor General of Canada Lord Tweedsmuir and Mackenzie King hoped that the King's presence in Canada would demonstrate the principles of the Statute of Westminster 1931, which gave full self-government to the British Dominions and recognised each Dominion as having a separate crown. Thus, at his Canadian residence, Rideau Hall, George VI personally accepted and approved the Letter of Credence of the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Daniel Calhoun Roper. The official royal tour historian, Gustave Lanctot, stated: "When Their Majesties walked into their Canadian residence, the Statute of Westminster had assumed full reality: the King of Canada had come home."^[57]

The entire trip was a measure intended to soften the strong isolationist tendencies among the North American public with regard to the developing tensions in Europe. Although the aim of the tour was mainly political, to shore up Atlantic support for the United Kingdom in any future war, the King and Queen were enthusiastically received by the public.^[58] The fear that George would be compared unfavourably to his predecessor, Edward VIII, was dispelled.^[59] They visited the 1939 New York World's Fair and stayed with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House and at his private estate at Hyde Park, New York.^[60] A strong bond of friendship was forged between the King and Queen and the President during the tour, which had major significance in the relations between the United States and the United Kingdom through the ensuing war years.^[61][62]

World War II[link]

In September 1939, Britain and the self-governing Dominions, but not the Irish Free State, declared war on Nazi Germany.^[63] George VI and his wife resolved to stay in London, despite German bombing raids. They officially stayed in Buckingham Palace throughout the war, although they usually spent nights at Windsor Castle.^[64] The first German raid on London, on 7 September 1940, killed about one thousand civilians, mostly in the East End.^[65] On 13 September, the King and Queen narrowly avoided death when two German bombs exploded in a courtyard at Buckingham Palace while they were there.^[66] In defiance, the Queen famously declared: "I am glad we have been bombed. It makes me feel we can look the East End in the face".^[67] The royal family were portrayed as sharing the same dangers and deprivations as the rest of the country. They were subject to rationing restrictions, and U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt remarked on the rationed food served and the limited bathwater that was permitted during a stay at the unheated and boarded-up Palace.^[68] In August 1942, the King's brother, Prince George, Duke of Kent, was killed on active service.^[69]

Eleanor Roosevelt (centre), King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in London, 23 October 1942

In 1940, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister, though personally George would have preferred to appoint Lord Halifax.^[70] After the King's initial dismay over Churchill's appointment of Lord Beaverbrook to the Cabinet, he and Churchill developed "the closest personal relationship in modern British history between a monarch and a Prime Minister".^[71] Every Tuesday for four and a half years from September 1940, the two men met privately for lunch to discuss the war in secret and with frankness.^[72]

Throughout the war, the King and Queen provided morale-boosting visits throughout the United Kingdom, visiting bomb sites and munitions factories, and in the King's case visiting military forces abroad. He visited France in December 1939, North Africa and Malta in June 1943, Normandy in June 1944, southern Italy in July 1944, and the Low Countries in October 1944.^[73] Their high public profile and apparently indefatigable determination secured their place as symbols of national resistance.^[74] In 1945, crowds shouted "We want the King!" in front of Buckingham Palace during the Victory in Europe Day celebrations. In an echo of Chamberlain's appearance, the King invited Churchill to appear with him on the balcony to public acclaim.^[75] In January 1946, George addressed the United Nations at their first assembly, which was held in London, and reaffirmed "our faith in the equal rights of men and women and of nations great and small".^[76]

Empire to Commonwealth[link]

George VI (right) with British prime minister Clement Attlee, July 1945

George VI's reign saw the acceleration of the dissolution of the British Empire. The Statute of Westminster 1931, had already acknowledged the evolution of the Dominions into separate sovereign states. The process of transformation from an empire to a voluntary association of independent states, known as the Commonwealth, gathered pace after World War II, especially during the ministry of Clement Attlee.^[77] British India became the two independent dominions of India and Pakistan in 1947.^[78] George relinquished the title of Emperor of India, and became King of India and King of Pakistan instead. He remained King of Pakistan until his death, but in 1950 he ceased to be King of India when it became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, and recognised his new title of Head of the Commonwealth. Other countries left the Commonwealth, such as Burma in January 1948, Palestine (divided between Israel and the Arab states) in May 1948 and Ireland in 1949.^[79]

In 1947, the King and his family toured Southern Africa.^[80] The Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, Jan Smuts, was facing an election and hoped to make political capital out of the visit.^[81] George was appalled, however, when instructed by the South African government to shake hands only with whites,^[82] and referred to his South African bodyguards as "the Gestapo".^[83] Despite the tour, Smuts lost the election the following year, and the new government instituted a strict policy of racial segregation.

Illness and death[link]

Farthing of George VI, 1951

The stress of the war had taken its toll on the King's health,^[84][85] exacerbated by his heavy smoking^[86] and subsequent development of lung cancer among other ailments including arteriosclerosis. Princess Elizabeth, the heiress presumptive, took on more royal duties as her father's health deteriorated. A planned tour of Australia and New Zealand was postponed after the King suffered an arterial blockage in his right leg, which was operated on in March 1949.^[87] The delayed tour was re-organised with Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, taking the place of the King and Queen. The King was well enough to open the Festival of Britain in May 1951, but on 23 September 1951, he underwent a pneumonectomy where his left lung was removed following the discovery of a malignant tumour.^[88] At the State Opening of Parliament in November, the King's speech from the throne was read for him by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Simonds.^[89] His 1951 Christmas broadcast was recorded in sections, and then edited together.^[90]

On 31 January 1952, despite advice from those close to him, he went to London Airport to see off Princess Elizabeth, who was going on her tour of Australia via Kenya. On the morning of 6 February, George VI was discovered dead in bed at Sandringham House in Norfolk. He had died from a coronary thrombosis in his sleep at the age of 56.^[91] His daughter Elizabeth flew back to Britain from Kenya, as Queen Elizabeth II.

From 9 February for two days his coffin rested in St. Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, before lying in state at Westminster Hall from 11 February.^[92] His funeral took place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on the 15th.^[93] He was interred initially in the Royal Vault until transferred to the King George VI Memorial Chapel inside St. George's on 26 March 1969.^[94] In 2002, the remains of his widow, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the ashes of his younger daughter Princess Margaret, who both died that year, were interred in the chapel alongside him.

Legacy[link]

Statue of George VI at Carlton Gardens, London

In the words of Labour M.P. George Hardie, the abdication crisis of 1936 did "more for republicanism than fifty years of propaganda".^[95] George VI wrote to his brother Edward that in the aftermath of the abdication he had reluctantly assumed "a rocking throne", and tried "to make it steady again".^[96] He became king at a point when public faith in the monarchy was at a low ebb. During his reign his people endured the hardships of war, and imperial power was eroded. However, as a dutiful family man and by showing personal courage, he succeeded in restoring the popularity of the monarchy.^[97][98]

The George Cross and the George Medal were founded at the King's suggestion during the Second World War to recognise acts of exceptional civilian bravery.^[99] He bestowed the George Cross on the entire "island fortress of Malta" in 1943.^[100] He was posthumously awarded the Ordre de la Libération by the French government in 1960, one of only two people (the other being Churchill) to be awarded the medal after 1946.^[101]

There are a number of geographical features, roads, and institutions named after George VI. These include King George Hospital in London; King George VI Highway and King George Station in Surrey, British Columbia; George VI Sound in Antarctica; and the King George VI Chase, a horse race in the United Kingdom.

In 1955, a statue of the king in his Garter robes was erected just off The Mall and Carlton Gardens in London. A neighbouring statue of his wife was unveiled in 2009.^[102] Other statues of the king include one in the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens.

On screen, George VI has been portrayed by, among others, Colin Firth, who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the role in the 2010 film The King's Speech, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Titles, styles, honours and arms[link]

Titles and styles[link]

Royal cypher (monogram), 1949

• 14 December 1895 – 28 May 1898: His Highness Prince Albert of York
• 28 May 1898 – 22 January 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of York
• 22 January 1901 – 9 November 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Cornwall and York
• 9 November 1901 – 6 May 1910: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Wales
• 6 May 1910 – 4 June 1920: His Royal Highness The Prince Albert
• 4 June 1920 – 11 December 1936: His Royal Highness The Duke of York
• 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: His Majesty The King
  • 11 December 1936 – 14 August 1947 : His Imperial Majesty The King-Emperor (in regard to British India)

George held a number of titles throughout his life, as successively great-grandson, grandson and son of the monarch. As sovereign, he was referred to most often as simply The King or His Majesty. In his position as sovereign, George automatically held the position of Commander-in-Chief in Canada and the United Kingdom.^[103][104]

Arms[link]

As Duke of York, George bore the royal arms of the United Kingdom differenced with a label of three points argent, the centre point bearing an anchor azure—a difference earlier awarded to his father George V when he was Duke of York, and then later awarded to his grandson, Prince Andrew, Duke of York. As king, he bore the royal arms undifferenced.^[105]

Coat of arms as Duke of York   Coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom (except Scotland)   Coat of arms in Scotland   Coat of arms in Canada

Ancestry[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Bradford, Sarah (1989), King George VI, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ISBN 0-297-79667-4 
• Howarth, Patrick (1987), George VI, Hutchinson, ISBN 0-09-171000-6 
• Judd, Denis (1982), King George VI, London: Michael Joseph, ISBN 0-7181-2184-8 
• Matthew, H. C. G. (2004), "George VI (1895–1952)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press) 
• Rhodes James, Robert (1998), A Spirit Undaunted: The Political Role of George VI, London: Little, Brown and Co, ISBN 0-316-64765-9 
• Shawcross, William (2009), Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother: The Official Biography, Macmillan, ISBN 978-1-4050-4859-0 
• Sinclair, David (1988), Two Georges: the Making of the Modern Monarchy, Hodder and Staughton, ISBN 0-340-33240-9 
• Townsend, Peter (1975), The Last Emperor, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ISBN 0-297-77031-4 
• Vickers, Hugo (2006), Elizabeth: The Queen Mother, Arrow Books/Random House, ISBN 978-0-09-947662-7 
• Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John (1958), King George VI: His Life and Reign, New York: Macmillan 
• Weir, Alison (1996), Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy, Revised Edition, London: Random House, ISBN 0-7126-7448-9 
• Windsor, The Duke of (1951), A King's Story, London: Cassell & Co Ltd 
• Ziegler, Philip (1990), King Edward VIII: The Official Biography, London: Collins, ISBN 0-00-215741-1 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: George VI

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: George VI

• George VI: The Reluctant King - slideshow by Life magazine
• Footage of King George VI stammering in a 1938 speech
• Soundtrack of King George VI Coronation speech, 1937
• Archival material relating to George VI listed at the UK National Register of Archives
• Portraits of King George VI at the National Portrait Gallery, London