RAGGED SCHOOL 



Ragged School. Name given 

 to free schools for poor children 

 established by philanthropists early 

 in the 19th century in Great 

 Britain. The movement had its 

 counterpart in Germany about the 

 same time. Among the pioneers 

 were T. Cranfield in South London 

 (1810), John Pounds (q.v.) at 

 Portsmouth, and Thomas Guthrie 

 (q.v.). A free school where the 

 children were also fed was opened 

 in Aberdeen in 1841, and the Field 

 Lane Refuge in London, 1843. In 

 the following year the Bagged 

 School Union was founded to co- 

 ordinate various charitable agencies 

 for the care and instruction of the 

 destitute poor, and of outcast 

 children in particular. Day and 

 night schools were established, as 

 well as Sunday schools. In 1914 

 the title was changed to The 

 Shaftesbury Society and Ragged 

 School Union. See Sunday School. 



Raglan. Village of Monmouth- 

 shire, England. It is 7 m. from 

 Monmouth, with a station on the 



Raglan, Monmouthshire. Main gateway ol the ruined castle 



G.W. Rly. Above the village stand 

 the extensive and imposing ruins of 

 Raglan Castle. Including a gate- 

 way and remains of the hall and 

 towers, they give a good idea of the 

 nature of a feudal stronghold. The 

 first castle, built here by the 

 Normans as a protection against 

 the Welsh, was replaced in the 

 14th century by a more massive 

 structure. In 1646 it was defended 

 for ten weeks against the parlia- 

 mentarians, after which it was 

 surrendered and dismantled. The 

 village church of S. Cadoc has some 

 memorials of the Somerset family 

 Pop. 600. 



Raglan, FITZROY JAMES HENRY 

 SOMERSET, IST BARON (1788-1855). 

 British soldier A younger son ol 

 the 5th duke of Beaufort, he was 

 born Sept. 30, 1788. Educated at 

 Westminster School, he entered the 

 army in 1804 and during the Pen- 

 insular War served on Wellington's 

 staff. At Waterloo he lost a hand. 

 After the war he was secretary to 

 the British embassy at Paris, and 

 ?at in Parliament for Truro, 

 1818-20 and 1826-29. From 1827- 



6466 



52 he was military secretary to 

 Wellington, whom he succeeded as 

 master-general of the ordnance. In 

 1854, having 

 been made a 

 baron in 1852, 

 he went out 

 in command 

 of the force 

 sent to the 

 Crimea. H i s 

 conduct of the 

 campaign was 

 1st Baron Raglan. not free from 

 British soldier blame, but 

 After A. Morton ^ e remained 

 in charge until his death, June 28, 

 1855. (See Crimean War. ) He mar- 

 ried a niece of Wellington, and his 

 son, Richard (1817-84), became 

 the 2nd baron. The 3rd baron, 

 George (1857-1921), was governor 

 of the Isle of Man, 1902-19. 



Ragman Roll. Corruption of 

 Ragimunde's Roll, a record of in- 

 formation regarding the benefices 

 of the Scottish clergy, compiled 

 for purposes of papal taxation by 

 a papal legate 

 named Ragi- 

 munde. Later 

 the term was 

 transferred to the 

 rolls of parchment 

 recording the acts 

 of homage made 

 to Edward I at 

 Berwick in 1296. 

 This document, 

 which is a valu- 

 able source of in- 

 formation on the 

 state of Scotland, 

 was published by 

 the Bannatyne Club in 1834. 



Ragnarok. Norse name for the 

 Gotterdammerung or The Twi- 

 light of the Gods. See Gotter- 

 dammerung. 



Ragusa, Dalmatia. The custom 



bouse, built early in the 16th century 



and long used as the mint 



Ragout (Fr.). Highly seasoned 

 relish, made of vegetables, truffles, 

 sweetbreads, mushrooms, etc., and 

 served with any savoury dish. 

 Less correctly the name is given 

 to a highly seasoned stew of mut- 

 ton or other meat that has been 

 cooked before. Pron. Rag-oo. 



Rags. Scraps and waste pieces 

 of textile materials. New rags, e.g. 

 the clippings from tailoring fac- 

 tories, return quickly to com- 

 merce. Cotton and linen rags 

 of value in paper - making are 

 separated forthwith from woollens, 

 as are the pocketings and linings of 

 wool clothing. Rags eligible for 

 remanufacture into woollen cloth 

 are carefully graded according to 

 their kind and colour. 



Drying is the first process in 

 manufacturing from rags. The 

 expulsion of moisture facilitates 

 the removal of dust by a machine 

 in which the rags are whirled and 

 beaten. After being oiled to mini- 

 mise the breakage of fibre, the rags 

 are disintegrated in a grinder, or 

 devil, into which they are de- 

 livered by a travelling apron. Feed 

 rollers grip the rags, and the har- 

 dened steel spikes of a revolving 

 drum tear the woven fabric and 

 throw the fibre forward, while any 

 untorn cloth is automatically re- 

 turned to the front by a fan-wheel. 

 The woven structure is broken up, 

 but threads remain imperfectly 

 opened, and are separated into 

 fibre in subsequent opening ma- 

 chines or upon the carding engine. 

 See Shoddy. 



Ragtime. In music, a form of 

 syncopation by prolongation used 

 by American composers and their 

 imitators in modern coon songs. 

 Claimed as original, it has, how- 

 ever, been used hi some form in all 

 ages. The meaning of the word is 

 obscure. 



Ragusa. Seaport of the Adri- 

 atic Sea, in Dalmatia, Yugo- 

 slavia ; the Slav name is Du- 

 brovnik. It is 

 surrounded by a 

 wall with numer- 

 ous towers. City 

 life centres round 

 the Corso, which 

 was once an arm 

 of the sea. The 

 buildings include Ra e usa arms 

 the former palace of the rulers of 

 the republic, and the custom house, 

 formerly the mint, and the cathe- 

 dral, which was finished in 1713. 

 The harbour being partly closed by 

 sand, large vessels use Gravosa, 

 I m. distant. Oil silk, leather, 

 and liqueurs are produced. Sub- 

 ject at various times to neigh- 

 bouring states, it rose under the 

 suzerainty of Turkey to power over 

 an area of 500 sq. m., and became 



