Richard Doddridge Blackmore was born in Berkshire in 1825. He was educated at schools in Devon and Somerset and at Exeter College, Oxford. After graduating, he studied law and was called to the bar in 1852; he practised law for some years but also worked as a teacher and journalist during that time. After inheriting money in 1857, he became a fruit farmer in Teddington, Middlesex, where he lived for the rest of his life. He served on the fruit and vegetable committee of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1883 until 1892. Blackmore also wrote poetry and several novels, including the bestselling Lorna Doone.
Samuel Plimsoll was born in Bristol in 1824. He was brought up in northern England. He became a clerk and later a businessman before entering parliament as Liberal MP for Derby in 1868, retaining the seat until 1880. Plimsoll was concerned with the struggles of the poor and with sailors' interests. He spoke out against the common practice of overloading ships with goods and devised the Plimsoll line, marked on ships to show the safe depth at which they may sit in the water. Plimsoll gym shoes, so-called because their outer rubber band is reminiscent of a Plimsoll line, are indirectly named after him.
Charles Babbage was born in London and educated at Trinity College and Peterhouse, Cambridge. From 1815 onwards, he was a participant in the burgeoning London scientific scene. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1816 and was active in the Astronomical Society from its foundation in 1820. Babbage published several papers and books on topics in mathematics and the philosophy of science, but is best known today for his invention of a kind of a 'difference engine' (an automated calculating machine forming a mechanical precursor to the modern computer); the machine was never built during his lifetime but staff at the Science Museum in London have since successfully constructed a working model.
Ferdinand became King of Bohemia in 1526 and succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor when his elder brother, Charles V, abdicated in 1556. His eldest son, Maximilian II, succeeded him as Emperor on his death in 1564. Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII of England, was his aunt and Phillip II of Spain (husband of Catherine's daughter Mary I of England) was his nephew.
John Burns was born in Lambeth, in 1858. He trained as an engineer and became active in the labour movement and local politics. He was a leader of the London dock strike of 1889. Burns was elected to London County Council on its inception in 1889, remaining in office until 1907. He also served as Member of Parliament for Battersea (1892-1918) and was president of the Local Government Board (1905-1913) and the Board of Trade (1914). Burns resigned from the Cabinet in protest at the British decision to declare war in August 1914.
Henry Crabb Robinson was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and educated locally and in Devizes, Wiltshire. Being from a nonconformist family, he could not attend university, instead working as a legal clerk in Colchester, and later in London. Inheriting money from an uncle in 1798 enabled him to travel in Europe and study at university in Germany. Returning to England, he became a lawyer and a journalist, and for a while editor of The Times (1808-1809). He also participated in the founding of University College London. Today he is best known for his diary, kept between 1811 and his death in 1867, of which a large portion has been published.
John Ruskin was born in London in 1819. He was educated by his mother and various tutors before attending Oxford University. His study there was interrupted for two years by illness. He embarked upon a foreign tour with his parents in 1840. After resuming his education, he received his BA in 1842 and his MA in 1843. He taught art at Working Men's Colleges and at Oxford. While at Oxford he was appointed the first Slade Professor of Fine Art in 1869. During his life he wrote many books on art, social criticism and politics. In 1871 he purchased Brantwood near Coniston in the Lake District. Ruskin died of influenza in 1900.
Henry John Pye was the son of the Poet Laureate Henry James Pye (1745-1813) and his second wife Martha. He married Mary Anne Walker in 1825 and they had 9 children, of whom the eldest, also Henry John Pye (1827-1903) became a clergyman and hymn-writer.
Henry Arthur Jones (1851-1929), British dramatist, was born at Grandborough, Buckinghamshire, England. He began working for a draper at the age of twelve, and later earned his living as a commerical traveller. After attending the theatre in London, he was inspired to begin writing one-act plays. His first play to be produced, It's Only Round the Corner, was staged at the Theatre Royal, Exeter, in 1878. His first London production, A Clerical Error, premiered the following year. The Silver King, which opened at the Princess Theatre, London, in 1882, established Jones's name as a dramatist. During his long career, he wrote numerous plays, among his most sucessful were The Middleman (1889), The Dancing Girl(1891), The Tempter (1893), The Triumph of the Philistines (1895), Michael and His Lost Angel (1896), The Liars (1897), and The Hypocrites (1906). Like the works of Arthur Wing Pinero, Jones's plays began the move away from melodrama and sentimental comedy to a more realistic treatment of social issues.
Henry George Grey was born in Northumberland and educated privately and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He first entered parliament in 1826 and was successively MP for Winchelsea (Sussex), Higham Ferrers (Northamptonshire), Northumberland, and Sunderland. On his father's death in 1845, he entered the House of Lords as Earl Grey. He served as colonial secretary from 1846 until 1852. Grey was known as a supporter of free trade and continued to take a strong interest in British and colonial public affairs after leaving office. His nephew Albert succeded him as Earl Grey on his death in 1894.
Eden Phillpotts was born in India and educated in Plymouth, Devon. He spent several years working as an insurance officer before becoming a prolific novelist, playwright and poet. He was president of the Dartmoor Preservation Association for many years and a large proportion of his works are set on Dartmoor. His daughter Adelaide (1896-1993) also became a writer and collaborated with her father on several works, including the play 'Yellow Sands'.
Oliver Elton was born in Norfolk in 1861. He was educated at Marlborough College and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He worked as a private tutor in London for several years before becoming a lecturer at the University of Manchester, 1890-1900, followed by a chair in English Literature at the University of Liverpool, 1901-1925. Elton's best known works are perhaps his 6-volume Survey of English Literature, covering 1730-1880, and for his translation of Puskin's Evgeny Onegin. His youngest son was the ecologist Charles Sutherland Elton.
William Wilberforce was born in Hull, Yorkshire in 1759. He was educated locally and in London, and at St John's College, Cambridge. He was elected Tory MP for Hull in 1780, aged 21, and later served as MP for Yorkshire and for Bramber (Sussex). Whilst in office, he campaigned heavily for the abolition of the slave trade, eventually succeeding in 1807.
Edward Hawkins was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and educated locally and in Kensington. As a young man he worked in banks in Cheshire and in Wales. He was interested in botany and history from an early age and became a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1806, a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1821, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1826. His greatest interests as a scholar, however, was coins; he was a founder-member of the Numismatic Society of London and served twice as its president. In 1825 Hawkins became assistant keeper of the Department of Antiquities at the British Museum; he was promoted to keeper the following year and retained the position for 35 years.
Tenney Frank was born in Kansas in 1876. He was educated at the University of Kansas and the University of Chicago, receiving his PhD from the latter in 1903. He was Professor of Latin for many years at Bryn Mawr College and subsequently Johns Hopkins University. Frank's research into Roman history and classical literature was influential. He died in Oxford, England in 1939.
Michel Chasles studied at the École Polytechnique in Paris and later held professorships there and at the Sorbonne. He became a leading figure in the field of geometry and was awarded the Copley Medal in 1865.
George Gissing was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, and educated locally and in Cheshire before attending Owens College (now the University of Manchester). He was a brilliant student but was expelled from the college after being caught stealing money to help a homeless woman, Nell Harrison (1858-1888), whom he later married. In 1876-1877 he spent a year teaching and writing in the United States before returning to Britain and settling in London, supporting himself as a private tutor. He published his first novel at his own expense in 1880 and he continued to write steadily; his best-known work is perhaps New Grub Street (1891). Gissing's personal life was often unhappy. His first wife died young and his second wife was sometimes violent and had periods of insanity; they separated after less than six years. From 1899 until his death, Gissing lived in France with an unmarried partner, Gabrielle Fleury (1868-1954), the French translator of New Grub Street.
Bernard Henry Spilsbury was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire in 1877. He was educated locally and in London and Manchester before entering Magdalen College Oxford, from which he graduated in 1899. He then studied medicine in London, and after qualifying in 1905 earned his living as a forensic pathologist for the rest of his life, often working for the Home Office and as a medical lecturer. He became well known after testifying in several criminal cases, including the notorious Crippen trial (1910) and the 'brides in the bath' case (1915). He was knighted in 1923. Spilsbury's health declined considerably as he aged, particularly after 1940, and he committed suicide in his laboratory at University College London in December 1947.
Josiah Tucker was born in South Wales in 1713. He was educated at St John's College, Oxford, and he received his BA in 1736, MA in 1739 and DD in 1775. He was ordained in the Church of England and became a clergyman in Bristol for many years. In 1758 he became Dean of Gloucester Cathedral and divided his time between the two cities for more than thirty years. Tucker held strong and sometimes unpopular views on economics, politics and religion, and wrote several books and pamphlets on the controversial issues of the day. He died in 1799 and is buried in Gloucester Cathedral.
William Cooke Taylor was born at Youghal, County Cork, Ireland in 1800. He was educated locally and at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1829 he moved to England, settling in Camden Town, London, though he returned to Ireland from time to time. He supported himself by writing on history and on contemporary economic and social issues; among other periodicals, he was a regular contributor to The Athenaeum. Taylor was a strong advocate of free trade and an active member of the Anti-Corn Law League during the early and mid 1840s.
Sir James Robert George Graham was born in Cumberland in 1792. He was educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford. He succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1824. He originally entered parliament in 1818 as MP for Hull, later serving as MP for St Ives, Carlisle, Cumberland, East Cumberland, Pembroke, Dorchester and Ripon, before becoming MP for Carlisle for a second time. Originally a Whig, he became First Lord of the Admiralty under Earl Grey; in 1837 he joined the Conservatives and subsequently served as a cabinet minister under Sir Robert Peel, Lord Aberdeen and Lord Palmerston; as a Peelite he often voted with the Liberals/Whigs in the House of Commons.
Richard Doddridge Blackmore was born in Berkshire in 1825. He was educated at schools in Devon and Somerset and at Exeter College, Oxford. After graduating, he studied law and was called to the bar in 1852; he practised law for some years but also worked as a teacher and journalist during that time. After inheriting money in 1857, he became a fruit farmer in Teddington, Middlesex, where he lived for the rest of his life. He served on the fruit and vegetable committee of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1883 until 1892. Blackmore also wrote poetry and several novels, including the bestselling Lorna Doone.
George Rose was born in Scotland and brought up by his uncle in Middlesex. After serving in the navy for several years, he entered the civil service, eventually rising to Secretary of the Treasury. He entered parliament in 1788 as MP for Lymington, Hampshire, and subsequently served as MP for Christchurch, Hampshire, from 1790 until his death. In the Commons, he was a strong supporter of Pitt the Younger and continued to advocate many of the latter's policies after his death.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Sir (Henry) David St Leger Brooke Selwyn Cunynghame studied at St John's College Cambridge, where his tutors included Alfred Marshall, before pursuing a varied career in both law and the civil service. He was secretary and chair of many committees and Royal Commissions. Among his numerous outside interests, he was a keen amateur economist and his published work in that area was praised by John Maynard Keynes.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Henry Austin Dobson, civil servant and poet, was born on 18 January 1840. After leaving school at the age of 16, he joined the Board of Trade where he remained until his retirement as Principal in 1901. He had an enduring enthusiasm for the eighteenth century and for poetry. He composed a large quantity of his own poetry and was well known for his adaptation of old French verses. His earliest volume of poetry was Vignettes in Rhyme, (1873). Later in his life, Dobson turned his attention increasingly to prose, resulting in several volumes of essays including Eighteenth Century Prose (in 3 series; 1892, 1894 and 1896). He died in 1921.
Frances Mary Beardmore was the daughter of the civil engineer Nathaniel Beardmore (1816-1872) and his wife Mary. She married Henry Austin Dobson in 1868 and they had 10 children.
Nassau William Senior was born in 1790. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford University, gaining an MA in 1815. He became a barrister at Lincoln's Inn, London, in 1819. He held the position of Professor of Political Economy at Oxford, 1825-1830 and 1847-1852, and was a member of the Poor Law Commission in 1833, for which he wrote the report (1834). Senior was a Master in Chancery from 1836 to 1855. A list of his publications may be found in the British Library catalogue.
Thomas James Wise was born in Gravesend, Kent in 1859, and was brought up in London. He joined the firm of Herman Rubeck and Co (dealers in scents and flavourings) aged 16, rising to become chief clerk and later a partner in the business. Alongside his business activities, Wise was a prolific book collector and an amateur writer and publisher. By the 1920s he had become prominent in the rare book trade and served as President of the Bibliographical Society for 1922-1924. Not until the 1930s was it discovered that Wise and his associate Harry Buxton Forman had produced and sold many forgeries and deliberately antedated reprints, and it was not until after his death that the extent of his deceptions (including thefts from the British Museum) and inaccuracy of his bibliographies were fully appreciated.
Frances Louise ('Loie') Greenhalgh married Thomas James Wise in 1900. There is no evidence that she ever assisted in his fradulent activities.
Arthur William Rücker was born in Clapham, Surrey, and educated locally before studying mathematics and natural science at Brasenose College, Oxford. From 1871 to 1874 he was a fellow and lecturer at Brasenose before becoming a professor at the new Yorkshire College of Science, Leeds. In 1886 he moved to London to become a professor at the Royal College of Science, serving as College Principal from 1901 until his retirement in 1908. His research topics centered around electromagnetism and liquids. Rücker became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1884 and received its medal in 1891; he also served as President of the Physical Society (1893-1895) and the British Association (1901). He was knighted in 1902.
John Newton was born in Wapping, London, in 1725. He was the son of a master mariner and went to sea aged 11. As a young sailor he was heavily involved in the slave trade, something he regretted in later life. From 1748-1749 onwards Newton was deeply religious in the evangelical Christian tradition. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1764 and was curate-in-charge at Olney, Buckinghamshire, for 16 years until he was given the benefice of St Mary Woolnoth, City of London, in 1780. Newton also wrote religious poetry and was close friends with the poet William Cowper. His prose works include a memoir detailing his early life as a slave trader, as well as published collections of his letters and sermons.
James Stephen was born in Poole, Dorset, and received a patchy education at various schools before studying law in Aberdeen and London. During 1783-1794 he worked as a lawyer in St Kitts in the West Indies, and on his permanent return to London he practised in the prize appeal court of the Privy Council. From 1811 until his death he was Master in Chancery, and he served as MP for Tralee, County Kerry, from 1808 to 1812 and for East Grinstead, Sussex, from 1812 to 1815. Stephen was deeply religious in the evangelical Christian tradition and (having witnessed its injustices first hand in the Caribbean) a staunch opponent of slavery and a vehement campaigner against it.
John Baker Holroyd was born in 1735. In 1781 he was created Baron Sheffield of Dunamare, Co. Meath in the Peerage of Ireland and in 1802 created Baron Sheffield of Sheffield, Co. York in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He was President of the Board of Agriculture, a Lord of Trade and one of His Majesty's most honourable Privy Council. He was known in the literary world as a writer on political economy. He died in 1821.
Quintin Hogg was born in London and educated at Eton College. Upon leaving school in 1863 he initially worked for a tea merchant before entering the firm of sugar merchants Bosanquet, Curtis and Co, where he worked his way up to become a senior partner; renamed Hogg, Curtis and Campbell, the firm prospered under his direction and controlled several factories in Demerara, British Guiana. Hogg was known for modernizing production methods and for his philanthropy, the latter motivated largely by his Christian faith. His best known role was as founder and president of the Regent Street Polytechnic (now part of the University of Westminster), which provided adult education for both sexes.
Thomas Hay Sweet Escott was born in Taunton, Somerset in 1844. He was educated at Somerset College, Bath, and Queen's College, Oxford. Between 1866 and 1873 he lectured in logic and classics at King's College, London, alongside a second job as a leader writer on the Standard; he subsequently abandoned academia to concentrate on developing a career in journalism. Between 1882 and 1886 he edited the Fortnightly Review. A man of broadly conservative opinions, Escott continued to write widely on political, historical and literary topics throughout his life.
Alban Tabor Austin Dobson, the son of the poet and critic Henry Austin Dobson, was born in Ealing, Middlesex, and died in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. He worked as a civil servant and served as Secretary to the International Whaling Commission. However, he is best known for collecting editions of his father's works; he donated this collection to the University of London in 1946 and it is now held in Senate House Library.
J A Symington (known as Alex Symington) was born in Yorkshire into a family of book dealers and printers. He became librarian to the manufacturer and philanthropist Lord Brotherton and built up a significant collection of books; he remained in charge of the collection when it was given to the University of Leeds following Lord Brotherton's death in 1930, but left in 1938 following disagreements with the university authorities. Symington was also a noted bibiliographer and a founding member (and, for a time, curator) of the Bronte Museum, Haworth.
Graham Eden Hamond was born in London in 1779, and went to sea at a young age. He became a lieutenant in 1796 and saw active service in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, rising the ranks to become a Captain in 1798, Rear-Admiral in 1825, Vice-Admiral in 1837, Admiral in 1847 and Admiral of the Fleet in 1862. He succeeded his father as a baronet in 1838 and was made KCB in 1831.
Charles Ingoldsby Paulet was educated at Eton and at Clare College, Cambridge, before pursuing a military career. He served as MP for Truro from 1792 to 1796. Previously known by the courtesy title of Earl of Wiltshire, Paulet succeeded his father as Marquess of Winchester in 1800. From 1812 until 1837, when the position was abolished, he was Groom of the Stole to the monarch. In 1839, Winchester adopted the surname of Burroughs-Paulet, as specified in the will of Sarah Salusbury (née Burroughs), whose property he inherited.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Hugh Hamilton was born in Ireland to Scottish parents. Like many younger sons at that time, he enlisted in the Swedish army in 1624, serving as an officer in Sweden and the Baltic until 1660. Hamilton was made a Baron in the Swedish nobility in 1654, but gave up his Swedish estate shortly after returning to Ireland in 1661, when he was granted a peerage as Baron Hamilton of Glenawly, County Fermanagh.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Edward Codrington entered the navy in 1783 aged 13 and rose through the ranks to become a Vice-Admiral in 1825, Admiral of the blue in 1839 and Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth in 1839. He was knighted in 1815 and made a Grand Commander of St Michael and St George in 1827. He also served as Liberal MP for Devonport (1832-1839).
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Alexander Galloway rose to prominence in the radical London Corresponding Society, becoming president of the Society in 1797. He continued to campaign for democratic reform and improvements to working conditions for many years. Galloway was a member of the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers and rose to be a prominent engineer and one of London's largest employers. He also spent 17 years on the Council of Farringdon Without ward.
Jeremy Bentham was born in London in 1748. He was educated at Westminster School, and Queen's College, Oxford, before practising law. He became a leading enlightenment thinker and the originator of Utilitarianism. His body was preserved after his death and is displayed at University College London.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of cataloguing.
No information was available at the time of compilation.