On this day...... 22 August

1139: Battle of the Standard fought on Cowton Moor, near Northallerton.  The Scots under David I, were defeated by English troops under William, Count of Aumale.

1336: Following Philip VI's rejection two days previously of diplomatic efforts to avoid war, four French warships raided Orford Roads, where they caught a large English ship, the Caterine, unawares.  The crew were slaughtered in the first open act of hostilities.

1485: The Battle of Bosworth marked the end of the Wars of the Roses, Richard III falling in battle against Henry Tudor.  The battle was decided by the opportunist Stanleys, who sat watching the battle before deciding which side to join.  Richard III may have been Shakespeare's greatest villain, and indeed probably had murdered his nephews, but his personal bravery and military skill were unquestioned.

1642: The formal start of the English Civil War was marked by King Charles I raising his Standard at Nottingham to muster an army to fight Parliament.  Charles had no significant problems recruiting men, but properly arming his troops proved much more difficult, since Parliament controlled most of the major magazines and arms supplies.

1914: Sergeant Major Jillings was wounded, the first British airman to fall casualty during air warfare.  An observer with 2 Squadron Royal Flying Corps, he was wounded in the leg by a rifle bullet fired from the ground during a reconnaissance sortie near Ath, Belgium.  Later that day, the first British aircraft ever was lost in action: Lieutenants Waterfall and Bayly, of 5 Squadron, failed to return.  Their Avro aircraft was shot down, again by ground fire.

1917: In France, Corporal Konowal, a Ukrainian serving with the British Columbia Regiment, led a section of men on the extremely dangerous task of clearing a network of strongpoints, on one occasion breaking into a machine-gun position alone, killing its crew, then bringing the captured weapon back to the British lines.  He was severely wounded after using demolition charges to destroy another strongpoint.  He received the Victoria Cross.

1918: As British troops advanced rapidly across France, Lance-Corporal Onions of the Devonshire Regiment was sent with just one man to make contact with the flanking battalion.  However, Onions and his comrade found not the British unit, but a large body of German troops approaching.  Undaunted, Onions decided to take them on alone.  He and the private fired with such good effect that the German advance wavered then halted.  Covered by the other man, Onions then dared to rush forward and induced over 200 enemy to surrender.  He was awarded the Victoria Cross.

1940: The focus of operations returned to the Dover Straits, where a convoy was attacked by the Luftwaffe.  The day's events are recorded on the RAF's Battle of Britain website.