George Smith was born on 15 July 1871. He was educated at Battersea Grammar School, 1880-1887. From 1881 to 1892 he was articled to Gilbert Ellis who were engaged in the business of Antiquarian books. Smith passed the Library Association examination with honours, being the only candidate to qualify for the full professional certificate prior to the revised scheme of 1901. From 1893 to 1894 he served as the sub librarian of University College London and chief librarian of the Linen Hall, Belfast from 1894 to 1902. On the death of Gilbert Ellis in 1902, Smith succeeded to a partnership in the firm of Ellis and Elvey, the rare and antique bookshop founded by John Brindley, the famous bookbinder and publisher in 1728. He remained with the firm until his retirement in 1937 and died in Brighton aged 91 years.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Great Tower Street is in the centre of the City of London, and was formerly the site of the parish church of St Dunstan in the East, which was built in the 13th century. For biographical details of William Allen, see A.B. Beaven, The aldermen of the City of London (1908). He may have been the same William Allen who was elected Mayor of London in 1571.
No information available at present.
The Cornish tin industry became so important during the Middle Ages that the Cornish tin miners were granted special privileges and were placed by the crown under the separate legal jurisdiction of the stannary (tin mine) courts. Cormwall had four stannaries: Foymore, Blackmore, Tywarnhaile and Penwith and Kerrier.Thomas Pearce, in his work on The Laws and customes of the stannaries (1725) records a convocation of the stannators of Cornwall held at Truro in 1703. A Thomas Hawkins and a John Hill are both to be found in A list of all the Adventurers in the Mine Adventure, 1700.
Sandbach, Tinné and Co. were Liverpool importers and exporters, shipping and estate agents mainly concerned with trade in slaves, sugar, coffee, molasses and rum.
The Bank of Scotland was established by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1695, and the Royal Bank of Scotland was founded as a corporation by grant of a Royal Charter under the Great Seal of Scotland, May 1727.
The decretals are canonical epistles, written by the pope alone, or by the pope and cardinals, at the instance or suit of some one or more persons, for the ordering and determining some matter in controversy, and have the authority of a law in themselves. Pope Gregory IX (1143-1241) ordered the first complete and authoritative collection of papal decretals, the Corpus Iuris Canonici.
The Vagrancy Act of 1531 made a distinction between those found begging although able to labour, and those incapable of work. Magistrates were allowed to give licences to beggars allowing certain kinds of begging.
Joseph Yorke, younger son of Philip, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, was born in 1724. He entered the military, where he served under the Duke of Cumberland at the Battle of Fontency, 1745. In 1749 Yorke was appointed Secretary to William Anne, 2nd Earl of Albermarle, then the ambassador extraordinary to France, and later later (1751) the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United Provinces. In 1761, Yorke himself was appointed ambassador extraordinary to the United Provinces, a post which he held until 1780, when he resigned due to the breakdown of diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Holland (caused by the latter giving aid to the US colonists during the War of Independence). During this period he was also elected MP for Dover in 1761 and 1768, and for Grampound, Cornwall, in 1774. He was created a General in 1777 and Baron Dover in 1788. Yorke died in 1792.
From the 16th century onwards, Justices of the Peace dealt with the administration of the Poor Law, and, following the Poor Law Act in 1601, had responsibility for appointing the overseers for each parish. Overseers of the poor were appointed annually and were responsible to ensure the sick, needy poor and aged were assisted either in money or in kind, distribution of which took place in the Vestry of the Parish Church.
Possibly produced during the War of the Grand Alliance, 1689-1697, the third major war of King Louis XIV of France, in which his expansionist plans were blocked by an alliance led by England, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and the Austrian Habsburgs.
The Russell family were a prominent English noble family, who played an important part in the government of England, especially from the reign of Henry VIII onwards, when John Russell (1486-1555) was created 1st Earl of Bedford.
No information available at present.
Hopton Haynes entered the Royal Mint as a clerk in 1687, and moved into the Comptrollers office for the great recoinage, 1696. He was successively Weigher and Teller, 1701, and the King's Assay Master, 1749. He was also a unitarian writer. Publications: A brief enquiry relating to the right of His Majesty's Royal Chapel, and the privilege of his servants within the Tower (London, 1728); The Scripture Account of the attributes and worship of God, and of the character and offices of Jesus Christ (London, 1790).
No information available at present.
The Board of Trade began collecting annual agricultural returns in 1866. The returns of acreage and livestock were made by proprietors under the provisions of various Acts of Parliament, including the Agriculture Act of 1889 which set up a Board of Agriculture and transferred to it and its successors responsibility for the direction of the agricultural census.
A tax on households employing male servants was levied in Britain from 1777-1852.
The Court of King's Bench exercised a supreme and general jurisdiction over criminal and civil cases as well as special jurisdiction over the other superior common-law courts until 1830.The Court of Common Pleas was the main court for cases between individuals about land and debt rather than prosecutions by the crown.
The Privy Chamber was created by Henry VII (reigned 1485-1509) as a new department of the Royal Household. It was run by the Lord Chamberlain and consisted of Gentlemen of the Chamber, chosen by the monarch as personal attendants. The roles of Gentlemen were given as political rewards, and were bestowed mainly on members of the aristocracy.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Edmund Backhouse (1824-1906) came from a family of prominent Quaker bankers. He was MP for Durham from 1868-1880, and married Juliet Fox, daughter of Charles Fox, in 1848.
Benjamin Thompson was a dramtist who wrote plays including The Florentines, or Secret Memoirs of the noble family De C** (J. F. Hughes, London, 1808); Oberon's Oath; or, the Paladin and the Princess: a melodramatic romance, in two acts (London, 1816); The Recall of Momus. A bagatelle (G. Robinson, London, 1809); and The Stranger (J. Dicks, London, [1875]).
Merino sheep originated in North Africa descended from a strain of sheep developed during the reign of Claudius, from 14 to 37 A.D. They spread via the Spanish and French royal families to northern Europe. The original Merinos were a wool sheep, who sheared a very heavy, fine fleece.
Niels Henrik Abel was born in Norway in 1802. His father was Soren Georg Abel, a political activist for Norwegian independence. In 1815 Niels Abel was sent to the Cathedral School at Christiania, where he studied mathematics under Bernt Holmboe, who encouraged him to go to Christiania University. He graduated in 1822, having undertaken work on the solution of quintic equations by radicals. In 1823 he published papers on functional equations and integrals, and a work proving the impossibility of solving the general equation of the fifth degree in radicals. For the next four years Abel travelled in Europe, visiting France, Italy and Germany to meet other mathematicians. He returned to Norway in 1827, where he earned a living through teaching until his death in May 1829. In 1830 he was awarded the Grand Prix of the Paris Academy.
The Lord Chamberlain is the senior member of the Royal Household. Originally the king's personal quarters were his 'chamber' - by the thirteenth century the chamber had developed into an office with clerks and servants. By the late fourteenth century the Chamberlain was one of the five main officers of the royal government, along with the Chancellor, the Treasurer, the Keeper of the Privy Seal, and the Steward. The role of the Lord Chamberlain is to oversee the conduct and general business of the Royal Household and the private estates of the king.
Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville (1794-1865) was a member of a younger branch of the family of the Earls of Warwick. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, before beginning his career as private secretary to Earl Bathurst. He was Clerk to the Privy Council from 1821 to 1859, where he came into contact with all of the leading politicians of the time. This knowledge informed his diaries, which are recognised as the best contemporary political commentary of the period. Greville's diaries were published with omissions between 1875 and 1887, and a full publication edited by Lytton Strachey and Roger Fulford was made in 1938.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
Professor George Long was Professor of Greek at University College, London, from 1828 to 1831; Professor Henry Malden was also Professor of Greek at University College from 1831 to 1876.
Josiah Charles Stamp was born in Kilburn, London on 21 June 1880. Stamp's formal education ended when he was sixteen. In 1896 he entered the Civil Service as a boy clerk in the Inland Revenue Department, where he rose to the position of assistant secretary to the Board of Inland Revenue at the age of thirty six. Stamp obtained an external degree in economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1916. His thesis was published as British Incomes and Property in 1916 and launched his academic career. In 1919 he served on the Royal Commission on Income Tax and in the same year he joined Nobel Industries Ltd as secretary and director. In 1926 he became the president of the executive of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and two years later he was appointed director of the Bank of England. He combined this work with serving on national and international committees, as well as boards of enquiry. In 1926 he served on the statutory commission of the University of London and in 1926 he served as a governor and vice chairman of the LSE. Stamp also held lectureships in economics at several universities, including Cambridge, Oxford and Liverpool. Throughout his working life he published widely on economics. Stamp was created CBE in 1918, KBE in 1920, GBE in 1924 and GCB in 1935. In 1938 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Stamp of Shortlands, Kent. He also received honorary degrees from numerous universities both at home and abroad. Stamp died on 16 April 1941.
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.
William Job Collins was born in London on 9 May 1859 and received his education from University College School, London and St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He became a Fellow, Scholar and gold medallist in Sanitary Science and in Obstetrics at London University and received Honours in Physiology, Forensic Medicine and Surgery. During his career Collins was also involved in many aspects of anatomy and ophthalmology, receiving the Doyne Medal for the latter from Oxford University in 1918. He was knighted in 1902.
William Job Collins was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, 1907-1909, 1911-12, and a member of the University Senate, 1893-1927. He was also a member of the Royal Commission on Vaccination, 1889-1896; Liberal Member of Parliament for West St. Pancreas, 1906-1910, and for Derby, 1917-18; London County Councillor for West St. Pancreas, 1892-1904; and Vice-Lieutenant of the County of London, 1925-1945.
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No information available at present.
Born in 1890, Henry Flint gained a M.Sc. From the University of Birmingham before being enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery from 1915-1918. Following World War One, he was successively Assistant Lecturer in Physics at Cardiff University, 1919-1920, Lecturer in Physics at Reading University College, 1920, and Lecturer in Physics at King's College London, 1920-1926. Whilst at King's College, Flint gained his D.Sc. from the University of London, and went on to become Reader in Physics at King's from 1926-1944. In 1930 he gained a Diploma in Medical Radiology and Electrology from Cambridge University, and began work as a Clinical Assistant in the Radiology Department of Westminster Hospital, later becoming Consultant Physicist to Westminster Hospital and King's College Hospital. Flint was appointed Professor of Physics at Bedford College, University of London, in 1944, a post he held until 1956. He died in 1971.
Purdon was born in London on 15 October 1883. From 1919 to 1928 he was Finance Director at Welwyn Garden City Ltd. Between 1928 and 1935 he edited a succession of journals: Everyman, 1928-1932, New Britain, 1933-1934 and Theatregoer, 1935. During World War Two, Purdon served with the Ministry of Food 1941-1943, Ministry of Supply, 1943 and Ministry of Information 1944. Purdon was also involved with the Garden City movement and town planning. He was the General Secretary of Equity, 1939-1940 and Joint Secretary of the London Theatre. After the war Purdon produced two plays by William Shakespeare, As You like It, 1949 and Macbeth in 1951. He also wrote widely on drama and on town planning. Purdon died on 8 July 1965.
Pistoia is a city in Tuscany, Italy. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, it was distinguished for its strong economic growth; as a consequence the city came to control a large surrounding territory. In the thirteenth century, Pistoia was caught up in the battles between the opposing powers of Florence and Lucca, suffering a long siege in 1306. In the mid-14th century, Pistoia entered the Fiorentine sphere of influence, having been seriously diminished both demographically and economically by disastrous plagues in 1348 and 1400.
No information available at present.
John Bowyer Nichols was born in London, 1779, and went on to be schooled at St Paul's School, London. In 1796 he entered his father's printing office and began part editorship of The Gentleman's Magazine, of which, by 1837, he was sole proprietor. For a short time he was printer to the Corporation of the City of London. In 1850 he became Master of the Stationer's Company. He published many county histories as well as significant works such as The Literary History of the Eighteenth Century. He died in Ealing, 1863.
John Gough Nichols, son of John Bowyer Nichols, was born in London in 1806. He published his first work, Progress of James I in 1828 and went on to become joint editor of The Gentleman's Magazine in 1851. He was a founding member of the Camden Society, 1838. In 1856 ill health forced him to give up The Gentleman's Magazine and he dedicated his time to Literary Remains of Edward VI (1857-8). Like his father, he published many county histories and volumes of antiquary concern. He died in 1873.
Robert Long served as a Member for Parliament for Devizes in 1625, Sussex in 1640 and for Boroughbridge, Yorkshire in 1661. He also served in the court of Charles I, was writer of the tallies in the exchequer, surveyor of the Queen's lands and secretary of the council for the Prince of Wales. On suspicion of treacherous dealings with the Earl of Essex, Long absconded to France. He remained on the continent with the exiled royal court until 1654. On returning to England in 1654 he returned to favour, after the charges made against him were found to be untrue. On the restoration of Charles II he was made a baronet on 1 September 1660. From 1660 to 1667 he was Chancellor of the Exchequer and in May 1662 he was made Auditor of the Exchequer. In September 1670 Charles II granted him a long lease of the Great Park, Great Park Meadow and a house called Worcester House. In July 1672 Long became a privy councillor. He died on 13 July 1673.
An antiphoner is a liturgical book containing antiphons, the sung portions of the Divine office, both texts and notation. Such books were often of a large format, to be used by a choir.
The committee's report, Adult Education: a plan for development, was published by HMSO in 1973.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Louis Benigne François Bertier de Sauvigny ([1737]-1789) was a French administrator. He was Assistant Intendant of Paris from 1768 until 1776 when he was made Intendant. His reforms were unpopular, and he was killed by revolutionary rioters on 22 July 1789.
The Privy Council is, historically, the British sovereign's private council. It lost most of its judicial and political functions in the middle of the 17th century, when the sovereign ceased to have responsibility for political decisions. It retained, however, the power to hear appeals to the sovereign, which were dealt with by a General Committee of the Privy Council.
The Privy Council is descended from the Curia Regis, which was made up of the king's tenants in chief, household officials, and anyone else the king chose. This group performed all the functions of government. About the time of Edward I (reigned 1272-1307), the executive and advising duties of the Curia Regis came to be handled by a select group, the king's secret council, which later came to be called the Privy Council.
The law firm Lee and Pembertons was established in the late eighteenth century.
A Breviary is a book furnishing the regulations for the celebration of Mass or the canonical Office. It contains the Psalter, the Proper of the Season, Proper of the Saints, the Common, and certain special Offices.
Legge was the author of Affectionate Cousins (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1980), about the relationship between Thomas Sturge Moore and Maria Appia.
Laurie Gardiner was a professor of Tudor history at Melbourne University. He died in 1991.