Enham Alamein
Encyclopedia
Enham Alamein is a village and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 about 2½ miles north of Andover
Andover, Hampshire
Andover is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton some 18.5 miles west of the town of Basingstoke, 18.5 miles north-west of the city of Winchester and 25 miles north of the city of Southampton...

 in the north of Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was named "Knight's Enham" until 1945.

About a kilometre south along the A343 road from the current site of Enham Alamein is the dein of Knight's Enham. This is a small collection of 3 or 4 houses and a 12th century church. It is currently (2009) on the north edge of the suburban spread of Andover.

Enham Alamein and Upper Enham are the south and north ends of a village which is a little over a kilometer long. Enham Alamein has a museum http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/779934 about the Battle of El Alamein
Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle took place over 20 days from 23 October – 11 November 1942. The First Battle of El Alamein had stalled the Axis advance. Thereafter, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery...

, and a factory.

Enham

From Anglo-Saxon
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 ēan-hām or ēan-hamm = "lamb
Domestic sheep
Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...

 homestead" or "enclosure by a river, for lambs".

The name is recorded in 1316 as Enham Militis (= "Enham of the knight": miles is Latin for "soldier" and was used in Mediaeval Latin for "knight").

The name "Knight's Enham" is recorded from 1398 and refers to a knight's fee
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...

 held here by Matthew de Columbers in the mid 13th century. In 1900 it was a group of a few houses.

Alamein

In 1918 a charity named Enham was set up, with the support of King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

 and Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....

. A 1000 acres (4 km²) estate in the village was bought for it and adapted to house and rehabilitate and employ soldiers returning disabled from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 with "the effects of amputation
Amputation
Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma, prolonged constriction, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for...

s, neurasthenia
Neurasthenia
Neurasthenia is a psycho-pathological term first used by George Miller Beard in 1869 to denote a condition with symptoms of fatigue, anxiety, headache, neuralgia and depressed mood...

, shellshock or fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...

". By the end of 1919, 150 men were residing in and about Enham Place and Littlecote House.

Much of its land had to be sold to pay expenses during the 1920s and 1930s.

Some of its patients remained there and set up in jobs such as carters, hauliers, market gardeners and dairy farmers.

In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 many of the injured from the Battle of El Alamein
Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle took place over 20 days from 23 October – 11 November 1942. The First Battle of El Alamein had stalled the Axis advance. Thereafter, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery...

 were brought back to the UK and to the recovery centre in Knight's Enham. This close association of servicemen and the village continued during and after the war.

In November 1945, two public subscriptions in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 raised £6,000,000 to thank Britain for ridding their country of the Axis forces. A small part went to build a new UN Forces Sports Club in Gezira
Gezira Island
Gezira Island is located in the Nile River, in central Cairo, Egypt. The southern portion of the island contains the Gezira District, and the northern third contains the affluent Zamalek District....

; most was given to the charity Enham to care for disabled ex-servicemen. This greatly improved the charity Enham's finances, and let them build their disabled ex-servicemen's centre as it is. In thankfulness for this the component "Alamein" was appended to the village's name.

In Enham Alamein there is still a charity, Enham, that provides work for disabled members of the community as well as services to enable disabled people to live the lives they choose, both in the village and across Southern England. Enham has sold some of its land to property developers, and is looking to sell more.

Arabic Al `Alamain اَلْعَلَمَيْن means "the two flag
Flag
A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...

s".

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