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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Duke of York
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(Prince Frederick, 1763–1827) Second son of *George III and commander-in-chief of the army from 1798. He introduced useful reforms but was not himself a success in the field. The nursery rhyme which has perpetuated his name, though no precise origin has been found for it, has perhaps an oblique ring of truth: Oh, the grand old duke of York, He had ten thousand men; He marched them up to the top of the hill, And he marched them down again. He stands in London at the top of the duke of York's steps, surveying St James's Park from a high column (high enough to be out of reach of his creditors, the joke went), which was put up in 1831–4 on the site of *Carlton House.
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