POPHAM 



6254 



Poperinghe, Belgium. The Grande Place in September, 1917, before the German 

 bombardment 



Romanesque church ol S. Jean, 

 13th century, and the 15th century 

 church of S. Bertin, with a con- 

 spicuous square tower surmounted 

 by a cupola, are noteworthy. 



During the Great War Poper- 

 inghe was a centre of the British 

 forces on the Flanders front. The 

 town and its neighbourhood con- 

 tained numerous camps, supply 

 services, casualty clearing stations, 

 etc. Held by German troops at 

 the beginning of the war, it was 

 occupied by Allied forces on Oct. 

 15, 1914. It suffered sporadic 

 bombardment from the spring of 

 1915 onwards, but did not suffer 

 serious damage until the German 

 advance in April, 1918, brought it 

 under closer range. " Toe H " or 

 Talbot House (g.v.), a social centre 

 foroCcers and men, was established 

 here in 1915. Pop. 11,500. 



Popham, SIR HOME Rioos 

 (1762-1820). British sailor. Born 

 at Tetuan, Oct 12, 1762, the 21st 

 child of hi? 

 parents, he en 

 tered the navy 

 in 1778, but a 

 few years latei 

 transferred 

 temporarily tc 

 the merchant 

 service and did 

 much useful 

 hydrograp hie 

 work in the 

 East Indies. He was attached for 

 some time to the army in Flanders, 

 returned to organize a system o! 

 sea-fencibles, or coast guard volun- 

 teers, and in 1799 went to Kron 

 stadt to organize the convoy of 

 Russian troops to Holland. Pop- 

 ham introduced a new system of 

 signalling at sea. and his " Tele- 

 graphic Signals or Marine Vocabu- 



lary " was used at Trafalgar. He 

 commanded the fleet convoying 

 the army which retook Cape Town 

 in 1806, but was court martialled 

 and reprimanded for leaving that 

 station and undertaking an expe- 

 dition, which miscarried, against 

 Brazil He served in Danish, Dutch, 

 and Spanish waters before being 

 appointed, in 1817. commander-in 

 chief on the Jamaica station, a 

 post which he retained until shortly 

 before his death, Sept. 10, 1820. 



Popinjay. Old English word 

 tor parrot. It is still used in 

 heraldic language to describp a 



POPISH PLOT 



parrot as a bearing or charge. The 

 name was given to a dummy bird 

 used as a target in early times. 



Popish Plot, THE. Name given 

 to an imaginary Roman Catholic 

 conspiracy in 1678. Taking advan- 

 tage of a popular feeling against 

 the duke of York and all Roman 

 Catholics, Titus Oates (q.v.) swore 

 an information, Sept. 6, 1678, 

 before Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey 

 (q.v.) to the effect that a Popish 

 plot was afoot to kill tbe king and 

 carry out a general massacre of 

 Protestants. Five weeks later 

 Godfrey was found murdered, and 

 popular panic ensued. 



Oates seized the oppor- 

 tunity to lay further information, 

 and for some two years earned the 

 pension of 900 which had been 

 granted him, by a series of as- 

 tounding revelations compromis- 

 ing Catholics in all stations of life, 

 many of whom were imprisoned or 

 executed on the mere word of 

 Oates or his accomplices. The 

 Commons tried to exclude the 

 duke of York from the succession, 

 but by its very enormity the exe- 

 cution of Lord Strafford in 1680 

 induced a saner atmosphere, and 

 on the dissolution of Parliament, 



Sir Home Popham 

 British sailor 



Poplar. 1 Black poplar, leaves and fruit of which are shown in 2. 3. Catk ns. 

 and 4, leaf of the white poplar illustrated in 5 



