The earliest surviving mention of a public official charged with auditing government expenditure is a reference to the Auditor of the Exchequer in 1314. The Auditors of the Imprest were established under Queen Elizabeth I in 1559 with formal responsibility for auditing Exchequer payments. This system gradually lapsed and in 1780, Commissioners for Auditing the Public Accounts were appointed by statute. From 1834, the Commissioners worked in tandem with the Comptroller of the Exchequer, who was charged with controlling the issue of funds to the government.
Herbert Somerton Foxwell (1849-1936) was a dedicated book-collector and bibliophile, who formed a large collection of economic books printed before 1848. In 1901, Foxwell sold his library to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths (Goldsmith's Company) for £10, 000 in 1901. At that time it contained about 30,000 books. The Company also generously provided Foxwell with a series the wherewithal to make further acquisitions for addition to the Library, which was given to the University of London in 1903.
Charles James Booth was born the son of a Merseyside coal merchant on 30 March 1840. He was educated at the Royal Liverpool Institution and became apprenticed to a trading company, Lamport and Holt. Charles went on to set up a steamship company trading between Liverpool and Northern Brazil. Beyond his commercial aspirations, Charles wished to do something for the under-privileged of Victorian England and he joined the Birmingham Education League, founded to promote secular education.
Charles married Mary Catherine Macaulay (1843-1939), on 29 April 1871. Charles decided to move the merchandising arm of Alfred Booth and Company, the family firm, to London and extended his trade in leather to New York where he spent three months of each year. These long voyages led to the daily correspondence between Charles and Mary. Mary, by this time, was a partner in the company in all but name.
In 1884, Charles assisted in the analysis of statistics for the allocation of the Lord Mayor's Relief Fund and attempted to establish a Board of Statistical Research. In Spring 1886 he presented a paper, The Occupation's of the People of London, 1841-1881, to the Royal Statistical Society. Mary helped her husband in his 'Inquiry' into poverty in London. She was also associated with a circle of intellectual women, many of whose husbands were MPs. In April 1889, Charles' first work, Volume 1 of the Poverty Series of Life and Labour of the People of London: Trades of East London, was published. The survey of Central and South London followed in volume 2, published in May 1891, while all the time Charles was involved in commerce and social science.
Charles was made President of the Statistical Society in 1892 and set about researching for a survey into the condition of industry in England and its impact on poverty. This was followed in 1899 by an investigation into old age pensions and The Aged Poor. In 1912, Charles ceded the chairmanship of Alfred Booth & Company to his nephew. On 23 November 1916, following a stroke, Charles died. A memorial to Charles Booth was erected in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral on 15 December 1920.
Charles Stewart Loch was born in Bengal on 4 September 1849. He was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond and Balliol College, Oxford. From 1873 to 1875 he was a clerk at the Royal College of Surgeons. He was a member of the Commission on Aged Poor, 1893-1895, Durkin Trust Lecturer at Manchester College Oxford 1896 and 1902. He was also a member of the Institut International de Statistique, Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble Minded and the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws. Loch was the Tooke Professor of Economic Science and Statistics at King's College, London between 1904 and 1908 and Secretary to the Council of the London Charity Organisation Society 1875 to 1914. He published works on charities and the poor. His publications include, Charity and Social Life ; 1910, Aspects of the Special Problem, 1895 and Methods of Social Advance, 1904. He also contributed to academic journals. Loch died on 23 January 1923.
Rolland was born in 1866 in the district of Nièvre, France. He studied literature, music and philosophy, going on to publish two doctoral theses. After some years as a school teacher he went on to teach at the Sorbonne. His interest in music motivated him to publish numerous critical pieces on famous composers as well as artists and writers. As well as being a critic he began to publish his own literature, culminating in the winning of the Nobel Prize in 1915 for his Jean-Christophe. The themes of truth, humanism and altruism are identified most explicitly within his literary work. He died in Vézelay, 1944.
Thomas Herbert Lewin was born in London on 1 Apr 1839, and was educated at Littlehampton and Addiscombe Military College. In 1857, Lewin traveled to India as a lieutenant and was involved in several campaigns to put down the Indian Mutiny. He became the District Superintendent in Police at Rampur Bandleah, 1861-1864, later taking up the same post at Noacolly, South Bengal and Chittagong, 1864-1866. In March 1866, he was promoted to Captain, and appointed first as Temporary Superintendent and later permanent Deputy Commissioner and Political Agent for the unregulated Chittagong Hill Tracts - a post that he held until 1875. In 1874, Lewin returned to England due to ill health, was made an honorary Lieutenant Colonel and received a Colonel's pension. He returned to India in 1875 to take up the post of Deputy Commissioner of Cooch Behar, and later became Deputy Commissioner of Darjeeling, where he remained until his retirement in 1879. In 1885, Thomas Herbert bought Parkhurst, a house in Abinger, near Dorking, Surrey where he lived until his death in 1916. Lewin was the author of several works on India and Indian languages.
See information in 'Scope and content'.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
Hugh Hale Leigh Bellot was born on 26 January 1890 and received his early education at Bedales School and then went to Lincoln College Oxford with a scholarship. He became master at the Battersea Polytechnical Secondary School and later at the Bedales School and then, in 1915, he was appointed a clerk at H. M. Customs and Excise where he remained until the end of the First World War.
In 1921, on being appointed an assistant in the department of History at University College London, Bellot began an association with the University of London that was to continue until the end of his life in 1969. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1926 but moved to the University of Manchester in 1927 to become Reader in Modern History. In 1930, however, he returned to the University of London as Professor of American History, a post that he held until 1955. This period of tenure was broken occasionally as Bellot became Sir George Watson lecturer in 1938 at Birmingham and between 1940 and 1944 when he acted as Principal at the Board of Trade. He was finally given the title. 'Professor Emeritus of American History at the University of London', and awarded an honorary LL.D. by the University. He was a fellow of University College London and an honorary fellow of Lincoln College Oxford.
Bellot's involvement in the running of the University of London began with his election to the Senate in 1938 (until 1956). He was elected to the Court in 1948 (to 1953) and was Chairman of the Academic Council between 1948 and 1951. This promotion culminated with his election as Vice-Chancellor in 1951 for a two-year term. He was latterly a Member of Council for Westfield College, Charing Cross Hospital Medical School and University College, Ibadan.
Other positions held included being honorary secretary of the Royal Historical Society between 1934 and 1952 and President from 1952 to 1956
Reginald Stephen Stacey was born in London in 1905. He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School, and later attended Trinity College, Cambridge University, where he graduated in Physiology in 1927. After spending a year at the University of Vienna (1927), Stacey gained his Bachelor of Surgery (B.Chir) at St Thomas's Medical Hospital in 1930. He was appointed First Assistant to the Professor of Medicine, St Thomas's from 1932 to 1935, when he became Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Royal College of Medicine in Baghdad. Stacey was subsequently a Reader, 1948-1958, and a Professor, 1958-1970, of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at St Thomas's Hospital. In 1963 he was made the first holder of the Chair in Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of London, and from 1970 to his death in 1974 he worked at the Wellcome Research Laboratories in Beckenham.
Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) was a Roman advocate and senator, who acted as tutor and, following his accession, political advisor to the Roman emperor Nero. He was implicated in a conspiracy and forced to commit suicide. His writings included a series of Moral Essays, which included 'De Beneficiis' ('On Benefits'), in which he discussed favours and the nature of gratitude and ingratitude.
St Jerome (c340-420) wrote a large number of theological works. Amongst his earliest were his revisions of the Latin version of the New Testament, including the Epistles of St Paul in 385.
The Clementinae is a collection of canon law, promulgated (1317) by John XXII, and drawn mostly from the constitutions of Clement V at the Council of Vienne.
The Missal is a liturgical book which contains the prayers said by the priest at the altar as well as all that is officially read or sung in connection with the offering of the holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the ecclesiastical year.
By 1811, relations between Russia and France were deteriorating. In 1805, Alexander I, Tsar of Russia, had joined the coalition against Napoleon I. Defeats at Austerlitz and Friedland, however, led to a Russian-French Alliance agreed by the Treaty of Tilsot in 1807. Relations were soured by Alexander's liberal interpretation of Napoleon's Continental System, Russian fears concerning the possible unification of Poland, and quarrels over the independence of Prussia which led to French troops close to the Russian border. In 1811, Napoleon broke the Treaty of Tilsot by annexing Oldenburg, and the alliance was broken. Napoleon invaded Russia the next year, but was defeated.
For a reconstruction of this interview, see A.Vandal, Napoleon et Alexandre I (Paris, 1896), vol.III, c.6, and vol.III, p.212 n.1 for the sources on which he bases his account.
Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte (1763-1844) was a French soldier who rose through the ranks to serve under Napoleon in the Italian Campaign (1796-1797). He was French Ambassador at Vienna (1798) and Minister of War (1799), and played a prominent part in the victory of Austerlitz in 1805. Napoleon created him Marshal of the Empire (1804) and Prince of Ponte Corvo (1806). In 1809, Gustavus IV of Sweden abdicated and was succeeded by his aged and childless uncle Charles XIII. In the search for a successor, the Swedes approached Bernadotte, who, with the support of Napoleon, was elected crown prince and adopted (1810) by Charles XIII as Charles John. Taking control of the government, Charles John, who desired the acquisition of Norway from Denmark, threw in his lot with England and Russia against France and Denmark, and played an important part in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig (1813). In 1814, the Danes ceded Norway in the Treaty of Kiel. Charles John succeeded to a joint kingdom in 1818 as Charles XIV.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Founded in 1892, the Union of Graduates in Music aimed to oppose the granting of spurious music degrees by 'Universities' which were not bona-fide. Its presidents included Sir Frederick Bridge (1844-1924), Sir Charles Parry (1848-1918), Sir Charles Stanford (1852-1924), Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) and Sir Donald Tovey (1875-1940). The Union was dissolved in 1972.
A sequentiary is a book, or portion, of a Gradual or Troper containing sequences (extended melodies) sung by a soloist between the Alleluia and the Gospel lesson at Mass.
Papal letters were initially used in the early church as a method of introducing papal laws and edicts to the entire church. As their number grew during the middle ages, they divided into several types, including general letters (constitutions) which were understood to regulate ecclesiastical conditions of a general character judicially; and ordinances issued for individual cases (rescripts), which were issued at the petition of an individual and decided a lawsuit or granted a favour.
This manuscript was probably prepared in connection with the proceedings for the Union of 1707. The Act of Union was a treaty (1 May 1707) that effected the union of England and Scotland under the name of Great Britain.
Frank Sydney Milligan was born in 1894 and was educated at Liverpool University. At the outbreak of World War One, despite being a pacifist, Milligan enlisted as a private in the West Lancashire Field Ambulance Corp. He was at first a stretcher-bearer but later joined the ranks and while in the 7th King's Regiment (Liverpool), he was promoted to lieutenant. He received the Military Medal as a non-commissioned officer for immobilising an enemy machine gun and, as an officer, he received the Military Cross. Wounded and unfit for further service, Milligan resumed his education in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Birmingham where he obtained a degree and later an MA with Honours (1921). While at Birmingham, Milligan was president of the Guild of Undergraduates and was involved in the setting up of the National Union of Students. Milligan stayed on in Birmingham as a tutor under the Birmingham University Joint Committee for Tutorial Classes (Birmingham University and the Worker's Education Association) before joining the Beechcroft Centre for the unemployed in Birkenhead in 1924 as Warden. In 1929, Milligan, along with many avant-garde thinkers of the time, visited Russia where he was able to investigate the advanced methods in worker's education there. Milligan's view of adult education was that much more could be achieved by removing the student from their home environment, away from the pressures of work, family and peer group. An opportunity arose for an experiment in residential worker's education in summer 1933 when Darnhall, a large house in Cheshire, was made available to the National Council of Social Service for three months. Milligan would be involved in various educational institutions for years to come. Frank Milligan's development of a residential centre for unemployed men was overtaken by events before it could leave an influential legacy. The outbreak of World War Two dispensed with unemployment overnight and not until the 1970s was Britain to suffer again. Alternative methods of assistance were in place by then including schemes such as the Youth Training Scheme and Government intervention in job creation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
The Exchequer was responsible for receiving and dispersing the public revenue. The lower Exchequer, or receipt, closely connected with the permanent Treasury, was an office for the receipt and payment of money. The upper Exchequer was a court sitting twice a year to regulate accounts.
For a reference to Carpenter as messenger in 1577, see Cal.S.P.Dom. 1547-1580, 569.
Thomas Newton was born 21 December 1719. He was educated at the 'Choir of St. Paul's Cathedral' in London. Instead of going into business, Newton was educated by a tutor and subsequently devoted his life to his writings and to the affairs of his friends. His literary works included a novel, James and Julia, Grammar and Literary Criticism and Religious History. On the death of his father in 1757 Thomas Newton moved to Westminster. Having no children or close relatives late in his life, Thomas Newton had decided to bequeath his inheritance to a charitable institution. Originally he had intended to leave his estate to the Marine Society. However, on hearing of the foundation of the Literary Fund (created in 1790, later, the Royal Literary Fund) Newton decided to bequeath his inheritance to them instead. He died on 5 February 1807. The General Committee of the Royal Literary Fund were both the executors and trustees of the Thomas Newton bequest. By about 1830 the duties of the executors had ceased. However, as trustees of the Thomas Newton bequest, the Royal Literary Fund were still dealing with issues generated by Newton's property in the East End of London until 1954.
Noel Gilroy Annan was born in 1916 and attended Stowe School and King's College, Cambridge. He served during World War Two in the War Office Cabinet Offices and Military Intelligence, 1940-1944, and as GSO1 at the Political Division of the British Control Commission, 1945-1946. He became a Fellow at King's College, Cambridge, in 1947, and remained there as a Lecturer in Politics from 1948 to 1966, during which period he was Provost of the College, 1956-1966. In 1966 he was appointed Provost at University College London, a post which he held until 1978. Annan was Vice-Chancellor of the University of London from 1978 to 1981. His other positions included acting as a Governor of Stowe School, 1945-1966, and Queen Mary College, London, 1956-1960; Trustee of Churchill College, Cambridge, 1958-1976, the British Museum, 1963-1980, and the National Gallery, 1978-1985; and the Director of the Royal Opera House, 1967-1978. He sat on numerous committees, most notably the Public Schools Commission, 1966-1970, and the Committee on the Future of Broadcasting, 1974-1977. In addition, Annan published several books, including Our age: portrait of a generation (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1990); Leslie Stephen: his thought and character in relation to his time (MacGibbon and Kee, London, 1951); Leslie Stephen: the godless Victorian (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1984); Changing enemies: the defeat and regeneration of Germany (HarperCollins, London, 1995); and The dons: mentors, eccentrics and geniuses (HarperCollins, London, 1999).Annan was given a life peerage in 1965. He died in 2000.
Walter Boyd (1754-1837) worked as a banker in Paris previous to the French Revolution, which led him to flee for his life, leaving the assets of his firm Boyd, Ker and Co to be confiscated in October 1793. He established another banking firm, Boyd, Benfield and Co, in London in the same year, and was for a time very successful. Boyd and his partner Paul Benfield were elected to parliament for Shaftesbury (1795-1802). However, the permanent loss of his Paris properties eventually led to the liquidation of the firm and Boyd's financial ruin. Boyd visited France during the brief interval of peace (March 1802-May 1803), and was detained when war broke out again. He was not released until the fall of Napoleon in 1814. On his return to England Boyd recovered some of his former prosperity, becoming MP for Lymington from 1823-1830. He also wrote several pamphlets on financial subjects.
See also S.R.Cope, Walter Boyd : a merchant banker in the age of Napoleon (1983).
Charles Lethbridge Kingsford was born at Ludlow 25 December 1862. He received his education at St John's College, Oxford (1881-1886). After university he worked as a sub-editor for the Dictionary of National Biography for one year. Later, he went on to contribute nearly four hundred biographies for the Dictionary of National Biography. Kingsford also held positions at the Board of Education from 1890 to 1912. From 1912 he devoted all his time to historical research. He published works mainly on London history and topography. During the First World War Kingsford served as a special constable and at the Ministry of Pensions. After the war he was elected a fellow of the British Academy and prepared reports for the Historical Manuscripts Commission. Kingsford died at his home in Kensington on 27 November 1926.
Margaret Alford was a lecturer in Latin at the University of London. In 1890 she graduated from Girton College, Cambridge University, with a degree in Classics. Alford was a visiting lecturer at Girton College, 1891 to 1917 and Westfield College, London, 1894-1919. She was head of the Department of Latin at Bedford College, University of London, between 1904 and 1909.
The term 'customs' applied to customary payments or dues of any kind, regal, episcopal or ecclesiastical until it became restricted to duties payable to the King upon export or import of certain articles of commerce. A Board of Customs for England and Wales was created in 1671.
Born in Ceylon in 1890, Eric John Dingwall was a graduate of Pembroke College, Cambridge. He joined the staff of the Cambridge University Library in 1915 as a volunteer and went on to become an assistant librarian, leaving in 1918. In his youth he developed an enduring interest in magic and was eventually elected to the Magic Circle. This informed his approach to the investigation of the physical phenomena of mediumship, his major contribution to the Society for Psychical Research which he joined in 1920. In 1921 he spent a year in the United States as Director of the Department of Physical Phenomena at the American Society for Psychical Research. He was then appointed research officer to the British Society in 1922. One facet of Dingwall's complex character was his interest in sexual deviation and peculiar sexual practices, an interest which annoyed some of his colleagues at the Society and led to the termination of his appointment in 1927. His failure to be elected to the Society Council in 1928 led to his excessive criticism of the Society's administration. Released from his responsibilities at the SPR he continued to publish books including "Ghosts and Spirits in the Ancient World" (1930), "The Girdle of Chastity" (1931) and "How to Use a Large Library" (1933). In 1932 he was awarded his DSc from University College London. During the Second World War he worked for the Ministry of Information and in "a department of the Foreign Office". After the war he became Honorary Assistant Keeper at the British Museum Library, later the British Library, where he became a recognised authority on historical erotica, as well as on magic and psychical research. He also continued to publish books including two collections of short biographies of strange characters, "Some Human Oddities" (1947) and "Very Peculiar People" (1950) and contributed to to a four volume treatise "Abnormal Hypnotic Phenomena: A survey of nineteenth century cases" (1967/68). Dingwall was married twice. His first wife Doris left him, his second wife was Dr Margaret Davies who died on Christmas Eve 1976. Dingwall spent his remaining years independently and alone until his death on 7 August 1986.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
Son of the deposed King James II of England, James Edward Francis Stuart made several abortive attempts to regain the English throne. In 1715 John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, raised a Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, and the Pretender landed at Peterhead, Aberdeen, on 22 Dec 1715. By 10 Feb 1716, the uprising had collapsed and James had returned to France.
Hingley was the Librarian for the Royal Astronomical Society and has published numerous articles on his field of study.
Turnpike Trusts were local organisations in England and Wales, each established by an Act of Parliament. They usually comprised local gentry, manufacturers, and other substantial persons. Trusts were often charged with repairing certain roads which were listed in the Act. They were frequently authorised to divert roads, and occasionally to build completely new ones. The Birmingham and Bromsgove road was turnpiked in 1726.
Charles William Crawley (1899-1992) was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge University. He was a Fellow of Trinity Hall from 1924 to 1966, during which time he acted as Assistant Tutor (1927), Senior Tutor (1946-1958) and Vice-Master (1950-1966). He was University Lecturer in History from 1931-1966. His writings include The question of Greek independence, 1821-33 (1930); (ed)New Cambridge Modern History, Vol IX (1965); John Capodistrias: unpublished documents (1970); and Trinity Hall: the history of a Cambridge College, 1350-1975 (1976).
Perez was born in 1711 in Italy. He composed several operas, amongst them Didone Abbandonata, 1753. He died in 1778.
Noel Wildsmith designed the sets for the production of "The Homecoming" by Harold Pinter. This production of the play, which starred Pinter himself, took place at the Palace Theatre, Watford in February 1969.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
The Catch Club were involved in reviving Renaissance vocal music in the 18th and 19th centuries.
George Daniel was born in 1789. Though he made his main living as a businessman, he was also a writer and book collector. In his early years, he published squibs on Royal scandals, some of which were suppressed, and satirised contemporary poetasters in The modern Dunciad, 1814. He had a circle of literary friends, including Charles Lamb and Robert Bloomfield, and was also interested in the theatre, editing British Theatre (John Cumberland, London), 1823-1831, and Davison's Actable Drama. Daniel also wrote two farces for the Drury Lane Theatre, as well as numerous humorous and religious poems. At his residence, 18 Canonbury Square, London, he brought together a magnificent collection of Elizabethan books, black-letters ballads and theatrical curiosities, which were dispersed following his death in 1864.
Born in 1923, Brown was a scholar of medieval manuscripts and Palaeography. He wrote and edited several publications towards the end of his life. Some of his most significant papers were published posthumously under the title of A Palaeographer's view - the selected writings of Julian Brown, 1993. He died in 1987.
The collection contains material from James Cook's student days at Imperial College, London in the 1920s and 1930s, papers relating to the Ipswich Unemployed Workers' League and other political activities in this period. There are papers relating to Cook's period in the South Place Ethical Society and general correspondence on national and international politics. The collection also contains papers relating to Cook's parliamentary campaigns in Henley-on-Thames in Berkshire and Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey; local political parties in Windsor; his time as Senator at the University of London and his involvement with the University of London Society; his membership of the Labour Party and his work in the General Municipal Workers Union. There is also material relating to Cook's personal life.
Nathaniel Lardner (1684-1768) was born in Kent and trained at the Presbyterian Academy in London. From 1699-1703 he studied in Utrecht, afterwards returning to London where he undertook 6 years of private study. In 1709 he preached his first sermon in the church of his study colleague Martin Tomkiss in Stoke Newington. From 1713 to 1721 Lardner was domestic chaplain to Lady Treby, and tutor to her youngest son. On her death in 1721, he took over the role of assistant to his father at the Presbyterian meeting house in Hoxton Square. In 1723 he gave a series of lectures on 'The credibility of Gospel history', which began a life's work on the subject. His first publication of the lecture series in 1729 placed him in the first rank of Christian apologists, and he continued to write on Gospel history for the remainder of his life. He also acted as a preacher at the Presbyterian meeting house in Poor Jewry Lane from 1729 to 1751, being elected Pastor in 1740. IN 1745 he gained a D.D. from Marischal College in Scotland.
Born in 1880, Leonard Woolf worked for the Ceylon Civil Service from 1904-1911. He was the editor of the International Review, 1919, the literary editor of The Nation, 1923-1930, and joint editor of the Political Quarterly, 1931-1959. He was a member of the National Whitley Council for Administrative and Legal Departments of the Civil Service, 1938-1955. He was married to Virginia Stephen in 1912, and they founded the Hogarth Press in 1917. The Press published many of the works of the Bloomsbury group, including those of Virginia herself. To the Lighthouse, which was written in 1927, examined the life of an upper middle class British family, portraying the fragility of human relationships and the collapse of social values.
The North Midland Railway to Masborough opened on 11 May 1840.
Douglas was educated at Dulwich College and ordained in 1894 at Newark. He undertook many positions within the Anglican Church and was Rector of St Michael Paternoster Royal, 1933-53. Alongside his ecclesiastic commitments, Douglas also took several senior positions with the University of London and was Chairman of Convocation in 1939. He published several books, mostly on aspects of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He died in 1956.
Morley was born in 1890 and educated at Harvard University. Initially he began his career in journalism but soon drifted into acting, where he spent numerous years acting in the United States. He first appeared on the London stage in 1921. During the years 1947-50 Morley lived in Canada where he established the only professional resident playhouse in the country, at Ottawa. He returned to England after this period and continued to act, write, produce and direct in the theatre. He died in 1966.
Born 1852; published Les Surprises du Coeur in 1881; wrote an article in 1894: "The End of Books", which predicted that books would eventually become overtaken by other media. He founded the magazine The Book.
Thaddeus de Skowronski was the Polish ambassador in Brazil when war broke out in Europe in 1939.
William Carey was born in 1761. He became a Baptist minister and travelled as a missionary to India with his family in 1793. He learned the local languages and, with his Indian colleagues, translated the Bible into six languages.
John Campbell was born in Edinburgh in 1766. He was ordained in 1804 and preached at the Kingsland Independent Chapel, London. He was a supporter of the abolition of slavery and became Director of the London Missionary Society (LMS) in 1805. He travelled to Africa in 1812 on behalf of the LMS and on his return in 1814 wrote Travels in South Africa.
Joseph Hume was born in Montrose, Scotland in 1777. He enlisted in the East India Company in 1799, and made a fortune in the next few years. He became the MP for Weymouth, a rotten borough, in 1812 but lost his seat the same year. He returned to Westminster as the MP for Aberdeen in 1818, and became one of the leaders of the radicals for the next 30 years. He campaigned to extend the franchise, supported the introduction of secret ballots, and voted to abolish the death penalty. He lost his seat in 1837 but represented Montrose from 1842 until his death in 1855.
Thomas Babington Macaulay was born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire in 1800. He was the son of the abolitionist Zachary Macaulay and his wife Selina (née Mills), and was educated at Trinity College Cambridge. He subsequently studied law at Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar in 1826. He first entered parliament in 1830 as MP for Calne and subsequently for Leeds. He left parliament in 1834 to serve on the Governor-General's Council in British India, returning to Britain in 1838. In 1839 he re-entered parliament as MP for Edinburgh, keeping the seat until 1847 and spending several years as a cabinet minister. Macaulay was also known as a poet and author. Between 1839 and 1855 he wrote four volumes of a History of England. He was granted a peerage in 1857 and buried in Westminster Abbey after his death in 1859.
No information about John Philips was available at the time of compilation.
The Francis Bacon Society, which was founded in 1886, is best known for its campaigning on the issue of the authorship of plays attributed to Shakespeare. The Society's range of interests also includes Elizabethan history, philosophy, and cryptography.
Joan Gili was born into a publishing family in Barcelona in 1907 and emigrated to Britain in 1934. He helped found the Dolphin bookshop near Charing Cross Road, London and began his career as a publisher of Hispanic works in 1938. In the following year, Stephen Spender and Gili produced a translation of Nadal's selection of Lorca's poems. Gili wrote the influential "Introductory Catalan Grammar" in 1943. Several volumes of his translations of Catalan poems were published in the next few decades. Gili became a founding member of the Anglo-Catalan Society in 1954 and was later its president. He was also known as the "unofficial consul of the Catalans in Britain". Gili died in 1998.