GORLITZ 



3613 



GORT 





very prominent in the Great War 

 in the campaigns fought between 

 the Russians and Austro-Germans 

 in Galicia and in the Carpathians. 

 In Dec., 1914, the Russians advanc- 

 ing south from it carried a strong 

 position in the mountains at 

 Konieczuka. It was abandoned 

 by the Russians in their retreat 

 from the Donajetz to the San. and 

 occupied by the enemy, May 2, 

 ]915. It was again prominent in 

 the fighting in this region in 1916. 

 Pop. 6,500. See Carpathians, Cam- 

 paigns in the ; San, Battle of the. 



Gorlitz. Town of Germany, in 

 Silesia. Situated on the Neisse, 27 

 m. by rly. E. of Bautzen on the line 

 from Dresden to Breslau, it has 

 large cloth factories and machinery 

 works. A great bastion, the Kaiser- 

 trutz (1490), and other traces of the 

 old fortifications remain. The prin- 

 cipal church is that of S. Peter and 

 S. Paul, containing a copy of the 

 Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. The 

 Rathaus, built early in the 14th 

 century and restored 1874-75, has 

 a tower erected 1509-13, bearing 

 the arms of Matthew Corvinus, 

 king of Hungary, and a balcony of 

 rather later date. The town park, 

 which includes a botanical garden, 

 contains a statue to Jakob Boehme, 

 the mystic, who was buried in the 

 cemetery at the N. of the town. The 

 railway to Kohlfurt crosses the 

 valley of the Neisse by a viaduct 

 on 34 arches with a length of over 

 500 yds. and a height of 115 ft. 

 Pop. 85,806. 



Gorlitz came into prominence in 

 1850 by reason of a famous murder 

 trial held at Darmstadt. In 1847 

 the -countess of Gorlitz was stran- 

 "gled by one of her men-servants, 

 and her burned corpse was dis- 

 covered a few hours later. After 

 two years' investigation the trial 

 took place, and aroused great in- 

 terest because of the theory of spon- 

 taneous combustion which was 

 then raised. The physician Von 

 Siebold, who supported the theory 

 as a scientific possibility, was op- 

 posed by the . chemists Bischoff 

 and Lie big. 



Gormanston, VISCOUNT. Irish 

 title borne since 1478 by the family 

 of Preston. A Lancashire man, Sir 

 Robert de Preston, made lord 

 chancellor of Ireland and an Irish 

 baron, began the long connexion of 

 his family with that country. His 

 descendant, another Sir Robert, 

 was made Viscount Gormanston, in 

 co. Dublin, in 1478. The title, the 



Sremier Irish viscounty, passed 

 own to his descendants, most of 

 them taking a leading part in Irish 

 affairs, until it came to Jenico, the 

 7th viscount. Adhering to James 

 II, he was deprived of his honours 

 and outlawed in 1691, and the title 



was not officially recognized until 

 1800, when another Jenico was 

 allowed to take his seat in the Irish 

 House of Lords as the 12th vis- 

 count. Edward, the 13th viscount, 

 was made a baron of the United 

 Kingdom in 1868. In 1907 Jenico 

 became the 15th viscount. The 

 family estates are in counties 

 Dublin and Meath. 



Gornergrat. Rocky ridge of 

 the Pennine Alps, Switzerland, in 

 the canton of Valais. It forms part 

 of the Riffelberg, 3J m. S.E. . of 

 Zermatt, with which it communi- 

 cates by a mountain rly. Alt. 

 10,289 ft. The summit commands 

 a panorama of the Monte Rosa- 

 Breithorn-Matterhorn group. 



Goroblagodat. Mining district 

 of the Urals, E. Russia, in the govt. 

 of Perm. It is 127 m. N.E. of Perm, 

 and contains numerous foundries, 

 ironworks, gold and platinum 

 mines, and quarries. 



Gorres, JOHANN JOSEF (1776- 

 1848). German publicist. Born at 

 Coblenz, Jan. 25, 1776, he gradu- 

 ated at Bonn and soon became an 

 ardent revolutionary. Teaching 

 physics at Coblenz from 1800-6, he 

 then moved to Heidelberg, re- 

 turned to his native town in 1808, 

 embroiled himself in political 

 schemes, and was compelled to 

 take refuge from the authorities in 

 Switzerland. In 1826 he returned 

 and was appointed professor of 

 history at Munich University, re- 

 maining there until his death, Jan. 

 27, 1848. Die Kristliche Mystik, 

 1836-42, was his chief work. 



Gorringe, SIR GEORGE FRED- 

 ERICK (b. 1868). British soldier. 

 Born at Southwick, Sussex, Feb. 

 10, 1868, he en- 

 tered the Royal 

 Engineers i n 

 1888, and after- 

 wards saw 

 much service 

 with the Egyp- 

 tian army, win- 

 ning the D.S.O. 

 in the Dongola 

 campaign, 

 1896, and ac- 

 tively partici- 

 pating in the Khartum expedition 

 1897-98. He was specially employed 

 in charge of the reconstruction of 

 Khartum, 1899. He took part in 

 the S. African War, being A.D.C. 

 to Lord Kitchener and D.A.A.G. 

 of the headquarters staff, and com- 

 manded a flying column in Cape 

 Colony in 1901. He commanded 

 in the operations in Southern Sen 

 nar, 1904, was director of move- 

 ments and quartering at the War 

 Office, 1906-9, and brig. -gen. com- 

 manding the 18th infantry brigade, 

 1909-11. In 1912 he went to India 

 to command the Bombay brigade. 



Sir G. F. Gorringe, 

 British soldier 



During the Great War Gorringe' s 

 name was very prominent in con- 

 nexion with the campaign in Meso- 

 potamia. He commanded the 12th 

 Indian division and captured 

 Nasiriyeh, July 25, 1915, and was 

 chief of the staff of the Tigris force 

 Jan. -March, 1916, and succeeded 

 Aylmer in the command of the Kut 

 relief force in April, 1916. In 1917- 

 18 he was engaged in France. He 

 was promoted maj.-gen. 1911, 

 temp, lieut.-gen. Mar., 1916, created 

 K.C.B. in 1915, and K.C.M.G. in 

 1918. See Kut ; Mesopotamia, 

 Conquest of. 



Gorse. Alternative name for 

 the prickly evergreen shrub also 

 known as furze (q.v. ). 



Gorst, SIR JOHN ELDON (1835- 

 1916). British politician. Born at 

 Preston, May 24, 1835, and edu- 

 cated at the grammar school and S. 

 John's College, Cambridge, he went 

 in 1859 to New Zealand, where he 

 became civil commissioner in Wai- 

 kato. Returning to England, he 

 was called to the bar in 1865. He 

 entered the 

 House of 

 Commons i n 

 1866 as mem- 

 ber for the 

 borough of 

 Cambridge and 

 sat for Chat- 

 ham, 1875-92, 

 and for Cam- 

 bridge Univer- 

 s i t y , 1892- 

 1906. He was 

 a member of 

 the Fourth Party (q.v.). 



Gorst was knighted in 1885, was 

 solicitor-general in 1885-86, under- 

 secretary" for India from 1886-91, 

 financial secretary to the treasury, 

 1891-92,-and vice-president of the 

 committee of the council on educa- 

 tion from 1895 to 1902. He took a 

 keen interest in labour and social 

 questions, and in 1890 was British 

 plenipotentiary at the labour con- 

 ference in Berlin. He died in 

 London, April 4, 1916. His elder 

 son, Sir Eldon Gofst (d. 1911), suc- 

 ceeded Cromer in 1907 as British 

 agent and consul-general in Egypt. 

 Gort, VISCOUNT. Irish title 

 borne since 1816 by the families of 

 Prendergast and Vereker. Sir 

 Thomas Pren- 

 dergast, a sol- 

 dier, M.P. and 

 baronet, was 

 killed at Mal- 

 plaquetin!709 J| 

 and from his II 

 son his estates ft 

 i n Monaghan 

 passed to a . 

 grandson, John 

 Smyth, also an 

 Irish M.P. He 



6th Viscount Gort, 

 British soldier 



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