PLUMMET 



in S. Africa in 1896. He served in 

 the S. African War, 1899-1902, at 

 the end of which he was made a 

 major-general. From 1902-14 

 Plumer was constantly employed, 

 commanding first a brigade and 

 then a division at home, and serv- 

 ing as quartermaster-general and 

 a member of the army council, 

 while, 1911-14, he was in charge 

 of the northern district. In 1906 

 he was knighted. 



In Jan., 1915, Plumer was sent 

 to take command of the 5th army 

 corps, and in the following May 

 was appointed to the 2nd army. 

 From Nov., 1917, to March, 1918, he 

 was in charge of the British force 

 in Italy, after which, having re- 

 turned to the 2nd army, he re- 

 mained on the western front until 

 Dec. He marched to the Rhine in 

 Dec. and returned to England hi 

 April. In 1919, for his services, he 

 was made a field-marshal and a 

 baron. He was governor of Malta 

 from 1920 to 1924. During much 

 of his period on the western front 

 Plumer's army was holding the 

 front around Ypres, and the attack 



1st Baron Plumer of Messines, 



British army commander in the 



Great War 



Ruiifll 



on Messines (q.v.), which he con- 

 ducted hi June, 1917, was regarded 

 as one of the best managed opera- 

 tions of the war. See Cologne ; 

 Ypres, Battles of. 



Plummet (Fr. plombet). Piece 

 of lead at the end of the lead line 

 by means of which soundings are 

 taken. See Navigation. 



Plumpton. Village of Sussex, 

 England. It is 44 m. from London 

 and 4 from Lewes, with a station 

 on the L.B. & S.C. Rly. The church 

 is mainly Early English, and there 



is a racecourse at which meetings 

 are held from September to May. 

 There is also a Plumpton in 

 Yorkshire (W.R.), 2 m. from 

 Knaresborough . 



Plump tre, EDWARD HAYES 

 (1821-91). British divine. Born in 

 London, Aug. 6, 1821, he belonged 

 to an old 

 Netting ham- 

 shire family, 

 several mem- 

 bers of which 

 obtained dis- 

 tinction. 

 Educated a t 

 University 

 College, Ox- 

 Edward Plumptre, ford, he was 

 British divine ordained i n 

 1847, and was made chaplain of 

 King's College, London. After 

 being professor of pastoral theology 

 (1853-63) and of exegesis (1863-81) 

 at King's, he was, 1881, chosen dean 

 of Wells. He died Feb. 1, 1891. A 

 man of many interests, Plumptre 

 was a member of the committee 

 appointed to revise the O.T., and 

 was lecturer on the Septuagint at 

 Oxford. In addition to his theo- 

 logical writings, he wrote a Life of 

 Ken, 1888, and of Dante, ed. A. J. 

 Butler, 1900 ; translated Dante and 

 Sophocles, and wrote verse. 



Plum Pudding. National 

 Christmas dish in England. It ia 

 composed of raisins, sultanas, cur- 

 rants, lemons, chopped apples, 

 candied peel, sugar, breadcrumbs, 

 flour, suet, salt, spice, and eggs. 

 These mixed materials are fre- 

 quently, though not necessarily, 

 moistened with beer or stout and 

 brandy. The quality of the pudding 

 largely depends on the stirring 

 and mixing. When ready it is 

 either put into a pudding basin 

 with a cloth tied tightly over it, or 

 boiled in a cloth. In either case 

 the time of boiling should be from 

 six to eight hours. In Elizabethan 

 times neither cloth nor basin was 

 used, and the dish from which the 

 Christmas pudding has evolved 

 was known as plum porridge. See 

 Cookery. 



Plumstead. London dist. Part 

 of the met. bor. of Woolwich, it is 

 in the co. of Kent, 10 m. from 

 Charing Cross, on the S.E. & C.Rly., 

 and is served by tramway and 

 motor-'bus. The church of S. 

 Nicholas, with early 17th century 

 square tower, was displaced in 

 1864 as the parish church by S. 

 Margaret's, built 1858. In the High 

 Street are public baths, public 

 library, opened 1904, central hall, 

 and VVoolwich Union Workhouse 

 and Infirmary. In addition to the 

 marshes, the open spaces include 

 Plumstead Common, Shoulder of 



PLUNKET 



Mutton Green, and Bostall Heath, 

 acquired for the public in 1877-78 ; 

 and Bostall Woods, acquired in 

 1892, hi all nearly 134 acres. 

 Woolwich Arsenal football ground, 

 once in the dist., is now at High- 

 bury. Pop. 71,200. 



Plumstead manor was given by 

 King Edgar in 960 to the abbot 

 and monks of S. Augustine's, Can- 

 terbury, and hi the 18th century 

 passed to Queen's College, Oxford. 

 The marsh was walled by the 

 monks of Lesnes or Lessness Abbey, 

 but after 1527 its 2,000 acres lay 

 under water for 36 years, until the 

 work of reclamation was begun in 

 1563 by Giacomo Aconzio. Part is 

 used for gun-testing. 



Plunket, WILLIAM CONYNGHAM 

 PLUNKET, IST BARON (1764-1854). 

 Irish lawyer. Born at Enniskillen, 

 July 1, 1764, 

 he studied law 

 at Dublin 

 University and 

 Lincoln's Inn, 

 London, and 

 was called to 

 the Irish bar 

 in 1787. After 

 practising with 

 distinction, 

 Plunket en- 

 tered the 

 Irish Parliament in 1798 hi the 

 Whig interest, and strongly op- 

 posed the Union. Appointed Irish 

 attorney -general in 1805, he re- 

 signed two years later, holding 

 the office again in 1812. He first 

 sat in the British Parliament in 

 1807, as a champion of Catholic 

 Emancipation. From 1812-27, 

 with one short exception, he 

 represented Dublin University, and 

 in the last-named year was 

 appointed chief justice of the 

 common pleas, entering the House 

 of Peers as Baron Plunket. In 

 1830 he was made lord chancellor 

 of Ireland, retaining the office for 

 11 years, excluding 1834-35. He 

 died Jan. 5, 1854. 



Plunket, WILLIAM CONYNGHAM 

 PLUNKET, 4ra BARON (1828-97). 

 Irish prelate. A son of the 3rd 

 Baron Plunket, 

 he was born in 

 Dublin, Aug. 

 26, 1828. Edu- 

 cated at Chel- 

 tenham and 

 Trinity College, 

 Dublin, he was 

 ordained in 

 1857. In 1869 

 4th Baton Plunket, he became pre- 

 Irish prelate cent or of S. 

 Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin ; in 

 1876 was consecrated bishop of 

 Meath, and from 1884 to 1897 was 

 archbishop of Dublin. A leader 

 among the evangelicals, he took a 



