Westminster

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Westminster (वेस्टमिंस्टर) is an area of central London in England within the City of Westminster, part of the West End, on the north bank of the River Thames. Westminster's concentration of visitor attractions and historic landmarks, one of the highest in London, includes the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral.

Location

Historically the area lay within St Margaret's parish, City & Liberty of Westminster, Middlesex. The closest tube stations are Westminster, St James's Park on the Jubilee, Circle, and District lines.

Origin of name

Thus "Westminster", with its focus in public life from early history, is casually used as a metonym for Parliament and the political community of the United Kingdom generally. (The civil service is similarly referred to by the northern sub-neighbourhood it inhabits, "Whitehall".) "Westminster" is consequently also used in reference to the Westminster system, the parliamentary model of democratic government that has evolved in the United Kingdom and for those other nations, particularly in the Commonwealth of Nations and other parts of the former British Empire that adopted it.

The name Westminster originated from the informal description of the abbey church and royal peculiar of St Peter's (Westminster Abbey), literally West of the City of London, indeed until the Reformation there was a reference to the 'East Minster' at Minories (Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate) east of the City; the abbey was part of the royal palace that had been created here by Edward the Confessor.

History

The name describes an area no more than 1 mile (1.6 km) from Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster immediately to the west of the River Thames. The settlement grew up around the palace and abbey, as a service area for them. The need for a parish church, St Margaret's Westminster for the servants of the palace and of the abbey who could not worship there indicates that it had a population as large as that of a small village.

The historic core of Westminster is the former Thorney Island on which Westminster Abbey was built. The abbey became the traditional venue of the coronation of the kings and queens of England from that of Harold Godwinson (1066) onwards.

From about 1200, near the abbey, the Palace of Westminster became the principal royal residence, marked by the transfer of royal treasury and financial records to Westminster from Winchester. Later the palace housed the developing Parliament and England's law courts. Thus London developed two focal points: the City of London (financial/economic) and Westminster (political and cultural).

The monarchs later moved to St James's Palace and the Palace of Whitehall a little towards the north-east, and eventually to Buckingham Palace and other palaces. The main law courts have since moved to the Royal Courts of Justice.

It has been the home of the permanent institutions of England's government continuously since about 1200 (High Middle Ages' Plantagenet times), from 1707 the British Government - formally titled Her Majesty's Government.

In a government context, Westminster often refers to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, located in the UNESCO World Heritage Palace of Westminster - also known as the Houses of Parliament.

The area is the centre of Her Majesty's Government, with Parliament in the Palace of Westminster and most of the major Government ministries known as Whitehall, itself the site of the royal palace that replaced that at Westminster.

Within the area is Westminster School, a major public school which grew out of the Abbey, and the University of Westminster, attended by over 20,000 students. Bounding Westminster to the north is Green Park, a Royal Park of London.

Jat History

Maharaja Ripudaman Singh was 7th Raja of Nabha 1911/1923 (deposed), born 4th March 1883 in Nabha, educated privately, Member of the Imperial Legislative Council in Calcutta 1906/1908, introduced the Anand Marriage Bill, presided over the Indian National Social Conference held at Lahore in 1909, attended the coronation of King George V at Westminster on 22nd June 1911, succeeded his father as Maharaja, and installed on the gaddi on 24th January 1912, investiture took place on 20th December 1912, granted a local salute of 15 guns in 1921, signed a letter of voluntary abdication on 7th July 1923, and the British government formally deposed him on 2nd February 1928 and he was sent to Dehra Dun on an annual pension of 300,000Rs, deprived of the title Maharaja in 1923, later moved in 1926 to Kodaikanal on a reduced pension where he died; early in 1927 he went on a pilgrimage to Sri Abichalnagar Hazur Sahib, Nanded, where he took the Khalsa pahul (initiation rites) a second time and was renamed Sardar Gurcharan Singh, he married 1stly, 1901, HH Maharani Bibi Jagdhish Kaur, born 1884, died 4th August 1927, daughter of Sardar Gur Dayal Singh Mann, married 2ndly, 10th October 1918, HH Maharani Sarojani Devi, daughter of Maj. Sardar Prem Singh Raipuria, and had issue, three sons and two daughters, as well as further issue. He died 13th December 1942 in Kodaikanal.