Richard Thomas Gallienne (later Le Gallienne) was born in West Derby, Lancashire in 1866. He was educated at Liverpool College. Interested in literature from an early age, he began collecting books as a young man. His first book of poetry was published in 1887. In 1888, after failing the exams necessary to qualify as an accountant, he moved to London and earned a living as a book reviewer and continued to write poetry and prose. Le Gallienne emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s and from 1930 onwards lived in France and Monte Carlo with his third wife, where he continued to work as a journalist.
Silas Kitto Hocking was born in Cornwall in 1850, and educated locally. He was ordained as a minister in the United Methodist Free Church in 1870 and subsequently held pastorates in various parts of England and Wales. Hocking's first novel was published in 1878 and he subsequently wrote several other books for children and adults, the best known being Her Benny (1880). He resigned from the ministry in 1896 to concentrate on writing and Liberal politics. His younger brother, Joseph Hocking, was also a novelist and minister.
George MacDonald was born and educated in Aberdeen, graduating MA from King's College (now part of the University of Aberdeen) in 1845. He moved to London to become a tutor and later trained as a Congregational Minister, though his only pastoral position, in Sussex, lasted less than 4 years. MacDonald had begun writing poetry during his student days. His first book was published in 1855 and he continued to write and publish both poetry and prose for more than 40 years. Between 1881 and 1901 he lived for most of the year in Bordighera, Italy, but returned to live in Britain permanently after his wife's death in 1902. Many of MacDonald's most successful works were children's fiction in the form of fairy tales and fantasy. Today, he is no longer widely read by children, but his works influenced many leading writers, including C S Lewis, J R R Tolkien, W H Auden, G K Chesterton and Mark Twain.
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.
Sarah Smith was born in Wellington, Shropshire in 1832. She was educated locally. Aged 26 she began work as a freelance journalist and short story writer. One of her stories was sent to Charles Dickens without her knowledge by her sister Elizabeth, and was published in Household Words. Her work was published under the name Hesba Stretton (taken from the initials of her siblings' names and the nearby village of All Stretton). During the 1860s-1880s, whilst living with Elizabeth in Manchester and later in London, Stretton wrote several books for children and adults. She was concerned with political and social issues and in 1884 co-founded the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (later known as the NSPCC).
William Tufnell Le Queux was born in London in 1864, of mixed French and English parentage. Little is known for certain of his early life and education, but he began working as a journalist as a young man. His first novel was published in 1890 and he subsequently wrote more than 200 spy thrillers, crime novels and other works of popular fiction, many with an 'exotic' or cosmopolitan flavour. He travelled widely and spent long periods living in Italy and Switzerland. Le Queux was an excellent self-publicist and his work was very popular in its day, though his views on the necessity of strong armed forces and compulsory military service sometimes made him controversial.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
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.
John Philippart was born in London in 1784. He was educated at a military academy. In 1809 he became private secretary to John Baker Holroyd (later Earl of Sheffield) at the Board of Agriculture, and in 1911 he transferred to work at the War Office. Subsequently, he compiled many pamphlets and several reference books relating to the British Army. Philippart was actively involved in the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, serving as a chancellor of the Order for 43 years and founding the West London hospital in Hammersmith. He was a Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and of two Swedish orders, and as such was sometimes called Sir John, although he was not knighted within the British honours system.
Frederic Seebohm was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, and educated in York. In 1855 he moved to Hitchin, Hertfordshire, where he lived for the rest of his life. He had begun to read for the bar at the Middle Temple whilst still living in Yorkshire and was called to the bar in 1856. In 1859 he became a partner in Sharples and Co bank, which his father-in-law had co-founded. He later became president of the Institute of Bankers. Besides being a committed Quaker and political liberal, Seebohm was strongly interested in history, particularly the medieval period and agricultural history; he wrote and published several books on historical and religious topics and his writings are still influential today.
John Minter Morgan was born in Westminster in 1782. Little is known about his early life until aged 25 he inherited a fortune in land, business and investments; thereafter he devoted his life and much of his wealth to the cause of co-operativism and Christian socialism. His London salon became a leading intellectual centre and, with his diplomatic skills, he succeeded in forging working alliances with both religious-minded and secular socialists. He also campaigned for free universal education.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Florence Farr was born in 1860. She was the youngest daughter of Mary Elizabeth Whittal and Dr William Farr, a sanitary reformer and advocator of equal education and professional rights for women. She was educated at Queen's College London (1877-1880), received good reports but had no inclination to prepare for higher education. After an unsuccessful attempt at teaching (1880-1882), Farr gravitated to the theatre, appearing in minor parts and adopting the stage name, Mary Lester. In 1883 her father died, leaving her a sufficient amount to live on modestly. Her first novel The Dancing Fawn was published in 1894. That same year she became theatre producer at the Avenue Theatre, producing modern plays. Farr preached about parity for women in employment, wages etc. amongst her intellectual circle of acquaintances. George Bernard Shaw wrote that she reacted vehemently against Victorian sexual and domestic morality and was dauntless in publicly championing unpopular causes such as campaigning for the welfare of prostitutes.
Farr had a fascination for the occult, Egyptology and theosophy. She conducted hermetic studies and belonged to an order of like-minded folk, The Hermetic Order of Isis-Urania Temple of The Golden Dawn of London. She published her first philosophical tracts, A Short Inquiry concerning the Hermetic Art by a Lover of Philatethes in 1894. In 1901, Florence, with a friend of Yeat's, collaborated in the writing and production of two one act plays, both recounting Egyptian magical tales. Farr later quit The Golden Dawn and joined the Theosophical Society of London. Farr cultivated friendships with 'clever men'. Among her friends and correspondents were William and May Morris, George Bernard Shaw, John Quinn, Henry Paget, Dr John Todhunter and W B Yeats. In 1884 she married an actor, Mr Edward Emery (b 1863). They separated in 1888 when Mr Emery immigrated to America, according to Shaw, on account of 'some trouble (not domestic)'. Shaw wrote that Florence (who used her own surname more often than her husband's) was quite content with this situation and considered it of little importance. In 1895 she finally divorced Edward Emery on Shaw's advice. In the 1890s, Yeats used Farr's 'golden voice' as part of his quest to encourage the rebirth of spoken poetry. In 1898 made her the stage manager for his Irish Literary Theatre and she became a regular contributor to the performance of his metrical plays. She was also involved in the performance and musical composition of a number of plays at the Lyceum and Court Theatre and New Century Theatres in London, 1902-1906. In 1912, Farr sailed from England for a life in Ceylon. She had been invited by Sri Ponnambalam Ramanthan, a fellow theosophist, to teach at his newly founded College for Girls in Ceylon. As Lady Principal she supervised the teachers, care of sick children, servants and general administration. In 1917, Florence Farr died in Colombo General Hospital at the age of 56. Her body was cremated at the home of Ramanathan. In 1912 she left some of her correspondence with Clifford Bax in a locked black box only to be opened after her death. They were later published in Florence Farr, Bernard Shaw and W B Yeats by C Bax (ed.), The Cuala Press (1941). In preface to these letters Bax wrote that they 'show that she had too much personality to become a good actress' and were testament to her good humour. He described her as 'a woman who could inspire remarkable men' and predicted that she would be remembered primarily on account of her private friendships with eminent intellectuals of the time.
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.
Samuel Romilly was born in London in 1757, the descendant of Huguenot refugees. He worked as a solicitor's clerk before studying for the bar at Gray's Inn; he was called to the bar in 1783. His abilities were recognised by the Whig pary and he was knighted and became Solicitor-General in 1806. He subsequently he served as an MP for several years. Romilly travelled in Europe as a young man and his friends included the Comte de Mirabeau. He is best known for his attempts to reform English criminal law, which met with limited success. He committed suicide in 1818, shortly after his wife's death.
C A Saunders was the first Secretary of the Great Western Railway (1833-1863).
Joseph Locke was born near Sheffield in 1805. He was educated in Yorkshire and County Durham. He became an engineer and later an assistant to George Stephenson, taking part in the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Locke's first major project was the survey and construction of the Grand Junction Railway, which established his reputation as a railway engineer. He subsequently oversaw the construction of many other lines, both in Britain and continental Europe; Napoleon III created him a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur for his work in France. He also served as Liberal MP for Honiton, Devon, from 1847 until his death. Locke's obituary in The Times described him, Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel as the 'triumvirate of the engineering world'.
Edward Law was educated at Eton College and at St John's College Cambridge, before becoming MP for the borough of St Michael's, Cornwall, in 1813. On his father's death in 1818 he entered the House of Lords as 2nd Baron Ellenborough, and served as a cabinet minister and member of the India Board for several years. His second wife (whom he divorced in 1830) was the notorious Jane Elizabeth Digby. From 1841 to 1844 Law served as Governor-General of India, an office which involved him in wars in Afghanistan, Sindh and Gwalior. On his return to Britain he was created Viscount Southam and Earl of Ellenborough. He re-entered domestic politics for a few years but left office in 1858; however, he maintained a strong interest in India for the rest of his life.
Robert Bald was born in Perthshire in 1776. He learnt colliery management and engineering under his father and Thomas Telford. He subsequently spent many years managing the collieries on the Earl of Mar's estate at Alloa, Clackmannanshire, and became Scotland's most highly regarded mining engineer. Bald was deeply concerned with improving both productivity and working conditions, particularly for women employed as coal 'bearers'.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
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.
Originally from Geneva, Francis or Francois d'Ivernois was exiled from Switzerland as a young man. In 1784 he wrote An Historical and Political View of the Constitution and Revolutions of Geneva in the Eighteenth Century, which was published anonymously. In the 1790s and early 1800s, d'Ivernois, who opposed the French Revolution, came to live in England and worked for the government as an adviser, agent and propagandist. King George III knighted him for his services to the country. In later life d'Ivernois returned to Switzerland, serving as the Swiss representative to the Congress of Vienna (1815) and later on the Conseil d'Etat.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
George Howell was born in Somerset and educated at Bristol before working as a bricklayer and shoemaker. He also became a Methodist lay preacher and was active in the temperance movement. After moving to London in 1854 Howell joined the Operative Bricklayers' Society and became involved in strike action for improved working conditions. He became Secretary of the London Trades Council in 1861 and Secretary of the Trades Union Congress in 1871. Howell tried several times to enter parliament before eventually serving as MP for Bethnal Green North East (1885-1895). After losing his seat he retired from public life and suffered from poor health in his last years. Howell's library of works on social and economic issues was purchased by public subscription in 1906 and given to the Bishopsgate Institute, London.
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 Cobden was born in 1804. He spent his early adulthood as a clerk, commercial traveller and merchant in the cloth industry. He was successful in business in Manchester, read and travelled widely, and became involved in local politics. During 1838-1846 he was active and influential in the Anti-Corn Law League. He served successively as MP for Stockport (1841-1847), West Riding of Yorkshire (1847-1857) and Rochdale (1859-1865).
William Edward Hickson was born in Westminster in 1803, but was brought up largely in Northampton, where his family were active in the Baptist church. He entered the family's footwear manufacturing business as a young man but also found time to participate in the burgeoning literary and scientific life in London and take an interest in radical politics. Hickson was a founder-member of the Reform Club and owned and edited the radical Westminster Review for more than 10 years. He was most concerned with promoting education (particularly musical education), but was also prominent in discussions on child labour, the Corn Laws, professional malpractice and the condition of the unemployed.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
John Lunan was the author of several books on the laws and court system of colonial Jamaica. He was probably the same John Lunan whose botanical work Hortus Jamaicensis (1814) is cited by the Oxford English Dictionary as the earliest example of the word 'grapefruit'.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Cornelius Walford was born in London and educated in Essex. He worked as a solicitor's clerk and as a journalist before studying for the bar at the Middle Temple, where he qualified as a barrister in 1860. In the 1850s he had already become an insurance agent and inspector, and his Insurance Guide and Handbook (published anonymously in 1857) was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. Walford became director of the East London Bank in 1862 and subsequently managed and directed many firms and operations. He wrote several more works, including the 6-volume Insurance Cyclopedia (1871-1880) and articles on insurers and actuaries in the Dictionary of National Biography. Beyond the field of insurance Walford had strong interests in medieval history and in shorthand.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Stanley Spencer was born in Cookham, Berkshire, and remained strongly attached to the village throughout his life. He was educated locally before studying at the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1908-1912). After serving in the First World War, mainly in the medical corps, he started to become well known as an artist. Besides Cookham, Stanley's Christian faith and his two marriages, to the artists Hilda Carline and Patricia Preece, were among the greatest influences on his work. His best known paintings include The Resurrection, Cookham (1924-1927) and Double Nude Portrait: the Artist and his Second Wife (1937). During the Second World War, Stanley served as an official war artist in Glasgow. He was knighted in Jul 1959, five months before his death.
Owen Williams was the son of prominent Welsh industrialist Thomas Williams (1737-1802). He served as MP for Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, from 1796 until his death in 1832.
Thomas Phillipps was born in Manchester in 1792. He was brought up in Worcestershire by his father. He was educated at Rugby School and at University College, Oxford, graduating in 1815. Phillipps's father died in 1818 and thereafter he lived on a private income, although his passion for collecting books and manuscripts (which he indulged freely) meant that he was continually in debt and often on bad terms with suppliers and members of his family. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1820 and a baronet in 1921. At the time of Phillipps's death in 1872 his collection comprised many thousands of volumes and it was took more than a century for all of it it to be broken up and gradually sold; the final lot was eventually sold in 1977.
Josiah Child was baptised in London in 1631. He was a Portsmouth (and later London) businessman who first became involved with the East India Company in c 1659. He became a shareholder in 1671 and was the largest stockholder by the late 1670s. He published several works on economics and served several times as a Whig MP.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
George Warde Norman was born in Bromley, Kent, and educated locally and at Eton College. Instead of going to university he joined the family firm, which traded mainly in timber but also handled insurance and banking. He played cricket and studied history and literature in his spare time. He was elected a director of the Bank of England in 1821. Retiring from the family business in 1830, with an ample fortune, Norman settled to writing on political economy, particularly on monetary principles and taxation. He also wrote a remarkably candid autobiography (1857-1858).
James Orchard Halliwell was born in Chelsea and educated at Trinity College and Jesus College, Cambridge. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1839, and acted as an editor for the Camden Society (1839-1844), the Percy Society (1842-1850), and the Shakespeare Society. A renowned Shakespeare scholar, he arranged and described the Shakespeare archives at Stratford-upon-Avon, wrote extensively on the town, and initiated the movement for the purchase of the site of Shakespeare's house at New Place, [1863]. In 1842 Halliwell married Henrietta Phillipps against the wishes of her father, the book collector Sir Thomas Phillipps, who remained implacably estranged from the couple for the rest of his life; however, on his death in 1872, Mr and Mrs Halliwell adopted the surname Halliwell-Phillipps.
Walter de la Mare was born in Woolwich, Kent in 1873. He was educated at St Paul's Cathedral choir school. Between the ages of 17 and 35 he worked in the statistics division of the Anglo-American Oil Company, spending much of his free time reading and writing. A royal bounty grant in 1908 and a civil list pension in 1915 enabled him to give up his job and write full-time. His first book of poems was published in 1902 and his first novel in 1904. His best-known poem is probably The Listeners (1912).
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
William Paton Ker was born in Glasgow in 1855. He studied at Glasgow Academy, Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford University. He became Professor of English Literature at the University College of South Wales, Cardiff in 1883 and in 1889 was appointed Professor of English Language and Literature at University College, London, where he set up an Honours School of English and organised the Department of Scandinavian Studies. He was appointed a fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford in 1879, and Chair of Poetry at Oxford in 1920.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Thomas Coates was appointed as Secretary of the University of London [afterwards University College London] in 1831.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
John Ramsay McCulloch was born Whithorn, Wigtownshire, in 1789. He was a prolific Scottish journalist, and one of the most ardent expositors of the Classical Ricardian School of Economics. He was economics editor for the Whiggish Edinburgh Review, and used this platform to popularise Classical theories and promote the repeal of the Corn Laws. McCulloch was also the editor of the 1828 edition of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and the 1846 edition of David Ricardo's Works, and composed some of the earliest accounts of the history of economic thought. His main work was Principles (1825), perhaps the first successful 'serious' textbook in economics. McCulloch served as a Professor in Political Economy at University College London from 1828 to 1832. In the later part of his life, he became the Comptroller of HM Stationery Office. He died in 1864.
Henry Hucks Gibbs was born in London and educated at Rugby School and at Exeter College, Oxford. After graduating in 1841 he joined the family firm; when his father died the following year, as the eldest son he inherited the family estates, which he insisted on sharing with other family members. Instead of becoming just a landed gentleman, Gibbs embarked on a successful career as a merchant banker in the City of London, though his advocacy of a bimetallic currency standard was not shared by many of his contemporaries. He became a director of the Bank of England in 1853 and served as its governor during 1875-1877. Gibbs served as Conservative MP for the City of London between 1891 and 1892, and in 1896 was granted a peerage as Baron Aldenham. He also had strong literary and sporting interests, and served on the council of the English Church Union.
Henry Roberts was born in Philadelphia to British parents. His family returned to London during his youth and he was apprenticed to the architect Charles Fowler. After working for Robert Smirke and studying at the Royal Academy Schools, Roberts set up his own architectural practice; his 1832 design for the London Fishmongers' Hall (completed in 1840) made his name and he employed George Gilbert Scott as his assistant. He was also a founder member of the Institute of British Architects (1835) and became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1836. He is best known, however, for his interest in and efforts to improve the housing of the working class population in London, particularly his work for the Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes during the 1840s and early 1850s. Roberts and his family left Britain for Italy in about 1853, after a scandal caused by an extra-marital relationship of his. He died in Florence in 1876.