Eliza Davis was educated at private school and obtained her BA at London in 1897, and her MA in 1913. She went into teaching in 1898, being appointed Assistant Mistress at Bedford High School. She then moved on to Stepney Pupil Teachers' School in 1904 until 1908. From 1908 to 1912 she was Lecturer and Vice-Principal at Moorfields London County Council Training College. Then in 1914 she was appointed as a Research Assistant in the Department of History at University College London; in 1919 becoming Lecturer in the Sources of English History. In 1921 Davis moved to the University of London to become Reader in the History and Records of London; a post she held till 1940. She was Honorary Secretary to the Editorial Board of History from 1916 to 1922, and Editor from 1922 to 1934. She was also Honorary Librarian at the Institute of Historical Research from 1921 to 1923 and Acting Secretary from 1939 to 1940. She published some historical articles. She died in October 1943.
George Grote was born in Kent in November 1794, the eldest of eleven children. His father was a banker. At school George had a genuine love of learning which survived the plunge into business at the bank that his father imposed on him at the age of sixteen. He pursued his interest in classical reading, took up German and philosophy, and extended his view of political economy. He was also musical. From 1822, Grote was committed to the project of writing a history of Greece. From 1826 to 1830 he was one of the promoters of the new University College London. Grote became interested in political reform when he visited Paris in 1830. He became known as a man of business and this helped him when he entered politics. He sat through three parliaments till 1841, when he refused to be nominated again. He wished to return to studying and finish his History of Greece which was completed in 1856 and consisted of twelve volumes. In 1843 he left the bank permanently. Grote published other writings during his lifetime, mainly about politics and philosophy. In 1849 he was re-elected to the University College London Council and in 1868 he became president of the University. During his life Grote received many honours: D.D.L. of Oxford in 1853; LL.D. of Cambridge in 1861; fellow of the Royal Society in 1857; and honorary Professor of Ancient History to the Royal Academy in 1859. He also received honours from other countries. He was offered a peerage by Gladstone in 1869 but declined it. He died in June 1871 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Harriet Grote née Lewin, biographer and wife of the historian George Grote (1794-1871), was born near Southampton in July 1792. She married George Grote in 1820. During their engagement Harriet studied hard so that she could share Grote's intellectual interests. Mrs Grote devoted herself to managing her husband's life, both practically and socially. They lived mainly in London and Surrey. Harriet Grote was always a diligent keeper of diaries and notebooks, as well as a good letterwriter, and having accumulated an abundance of materials, began to write a biographical account of her husband while he was still alive. This work was rapidly pushed forward on his death in 1871, and she herself had already reached her eightieth year, when it was published in 1873 as The personal life of George Grote. She had printed and published other material previously in her lifetime. She died at Shiere in Surrey, aged eighty-seven.
No information about Jessie Lewin could be found at the time of compilation.
William Blackburn was a barrister at Lincoln's Inn.
No information could be found at the time of compilation.
Born, 1859; educated at Bromsgrove School, 1870-1877; passed as a scholar to St John's College Oxford, 1877; first class honours in classical moderations, 1879; MA; worked at home for the civil service examination and helped his former headmaster with teaching; Higher Division Clerk in the Patent Office, London, 1882-1892; found time for classical study and published his first paper, on Horace, 1882; became a member of the Cambridge Philological Society, 1889; Professor of Latin, University College London, 1892-1911; his publications after 1892 were largely concerned with Latin, rather than Greek, and included works on the chief Latin poets from Lucilius to Juvenal, particularly Propertius, Ovid and Manilius; first published verse in A Shropshire Lad, 1896; Professor of Latin, Cambridge University, and Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge from 1911; Honorary Fellow of St John's College Oxford, 1911; in poor health from 1932; Leslie Stephen lecturer at Cambridge, 1932; delivered a lecture on 'The Name and Nature of Poetry', 1933; refused the Order of Merit; died, 1936. Numerous publications on Housman include Laurence Housman's A E H (1937). Publications include: A Shropshire Lad (1896); Last Poems (1922); More Poems (1936) and Collected Poems (1939), published posthumously; editions of classical authors including Manilius Books I-V (1903-1930); various papers on classical subjects in the Journal of Philology, Classical Review, Proceedings and Transactions of the Cambridge Philological Society, American Journal of Philology and elsewhere.
Keen was a dealer in rare books and manuscripts.
George Grote was born in Kent in November 1794, the eldest of eleven children. His father was a banker. At school George had a genuine love of learning which survived the plunge into business at the bank that his father imposed on him at the age of sixteen. He pursued his interest in classical reading, took up German and philosophy, and extended his view of political economy. He was also musical. From 1822, Grote was committed to the project of writing a history of Greece. From 1826 to 1830 he was one of the promoters of the new University College London. Grote became interested in political reform when he visited Paris in 1830. He became known as a man of business and this helped him when he entered politics. He sat through three parliaments till 1841, when he refused to be nominated again. He wished to return to studying and finish his History of Greece which was completed in 1856 and consisted of twelve volumes. In 1843 he left the bank permanently. Grote published other writings during his lifetime, mainly about politics and philosophy. In 1849 he was re-elected to the University College London Council and in 1868 he became president of the University. During his life Grote received many honours: D.D.L. of Oxford in 1853; LL.D. of Cambridge in 1861; fellow of the Royal Society in 1857; and honorary Professor of Ancient History to the Royal Academy in 1859. He also received honours from other countries. He was offered a peerage by Gladstone in 1869 but declined it. He died in June 1871 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Jean Vincent Felix Lamouroux: born, 1779; French naturalist; published various works on natural history; died, 1825.
Thomas Bonney was born in Rugeley on 27 July 1833. He was educated at Uppingham and St John's College Cambridge. In 1857 he was ordained. He was a tutor at St John's College Cambridge from 1868 to 1876. In 1877 he was appointed Yates-Goldsmid Professor of Geology and Mineralogy at University College London, later to become Emeritus Professor of Geology there. He was Whitehall Preacher, 1876-1878. He was President of the Geological Society, 1884-1886. Bonney published books on geology and the history of the planet. He died on 10 December 1923.
W J Sollas was Professor of Geology and Palaeontology at the University of Oxford.
Charlotte Stopes was born in Edinburgh, the daughter of Jas.F.Carmichael, a landscape painter. She was educated in Edinburgh and went to women's university classes (before Scottish universities opened to women in 1892). She took the highest certificates then possible, and a diploma in eight subjects including literature, philosophy and science, achieving a first class honours. She married in 1879 Henry Stopes, architect, civil engineer and anthropologist, and had two daughters, one of whom was Marie Stopes. After marriage, Charlotte travelled over Europe and up the Nile to the Cataracts. She then settled in Upper Norwood and founded a discussion society for ladies and a Shakespeare reading society, the Shakespeare Association. She also lectured in subjects relating to women and to Shakespeare. She received an Award of the British Academy for her 'Shakespeare's Industry' in 1916. In her early days she wrote some stories for Chambers's Juvenile Series, and later wrote many books and articles mostly related to Shakespeare.
No information could be found at the time of compilation.
Born, 1859; educated at Bromsgrove School, 1870-1877; passed as a scholar to St John's College Oxford, 1877; first class honours in classical moderations, 1879; MA; worked at home for the civil service examination and helped his former headmaster with teaching; Higher Division Clerk in the Patent Office, London, 1882-1892; found time for classical study and published his first paper, on Horace, 1882; became a member of the Cambridge Philological Society, 1889; Professor of Latin, University College London, 1892-1911; his publications after 1892 were largely concerned with Latin, rather than Greek, and included works on the chief Latin poets from Lucilius to Juvenal, particularly Propertius, Ovid and Manilius; first published verse in A Shropshire Lad, 1896; Professor of Latin, Cambridge University, and Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge from 1911; Honorary Fellow of St John's College Oxford, 1911; in poor health from 1932; Leslie Stephen lecturer at Cambridge, 1932; delivered a lecture on 'The Name and Nature of Poetry', 1933; refused the Order of Merit; died, 1936. Numerous publications on Housman include Laurence Housman's A E H (1937). Publications include: A Shropshire Lad (1896); Last Poems (1922); More Poems (1936) and Collected Poems (1939), published posthumously; editions of classical authors including Manilius Books I-V (1903-1930); various papers on classical subjects in the Journal of Philology, Classical Review, Proceedings and Transactions of the Cambridge Philological Society, American Journal of Philology and elsewhere.
Francis William Newman was born in London and educated at private school in Ealing. He then went to Oxford University and achieved a double first in classics and mathematics in 1826. From 1827 to 1828 he tutored in Dublin, Ireland, and here he met John Nelson Darby and attended non-conformist worship for the first time. In 1828 Newman returned to Oxford and helped in looking after the poor. Through Darby he met Anthony Norris Groves whom he followed to Bagdad in 1830 on a mission. He returned to England in 1833. In 1834 he became a classical scholar at Bristol College and he lectured on logic. In 1840 he was appointed Professor of Classical Literature at Manchester New College Oxford. In 1846 he was appointed to the Chair of Latin at University College London, where he translated books into Latin and also wrote on subjects of religion. He held the Chair till 1869, when he became Emeritus Professor. Newman had a keen interest in political questions especially those bearing on social problems. He was a friend of Mazzini and Kossuth and published 'Reminiscences of Kossuth and Pulszky' in 1888. Newman died in 1897 in Weston-Super-Mare. During his life he published many religious, social and political, historical, mathematical, and linguistic writings.
John Scott Burdon-Sanderson was born in December 1828 and educated at home. He went to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine in 1847 and graduated MD in 1851 with a gold medal for his thesis. He then went to continue his studies in Paris. In 1853 he settled in London as a practising physician and was soon appointed Medical Registrar of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington. That same year he married Ghetal, eldest daughter of the Rev. Ridley Haim Herschell. In 1854 he served the medical school at St Mary's Hospital as a Lecturer, first in botany and then in medical jurisprudence. In 1856 he was appointed Medical Officer of Health for Paddington and during the eleven years of his tenure of the post, gave proof of his eminence. He greatly improved sanitary conditions of the district and in 1860 he was made an inspector under the Privy Council. Also in 1860, Burdon-Sanderson became a physician at the Brompton Hospital for Consumption and also at the Middlesex Hospital. He continued carrying out investigations. In 1867 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society and Croonian lecturer. In 1870 he gave up his hospital appointments and private practice in order to devote himself exclusively to scientific research. In 1871 he was appointed Professor Superintendent of the Brown Institution (University of London) and as Professor of Practical Physiology and Histology at University College London. In 1874 he became Jodrell Professor of Physiology at University College London. He became FRCP in 1871, was Harveian orator at the College of Physicians in 1878, and was awarded the Baly medal in 1880. In 1882 he was invited to Oxford as first Waynflete Professor of Physiology. The degree of MA was conferred on him in 1883 and that of DM in 1895. He remained Waynflete Professor until 1895, when he was appointed Regius Professor of Medicine in the University. He resigned the Regius Professorship in 1903. Burdon-Sanderson served on important commissions and many honours were given to him. He took part in the modern advance in pathology, and in physiology he was an acknowledged master. He wrote many papers in his lifetime. In August 1899 he was created a baronet. He died at Oxford in November 1905.
William Walker: born in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, 1824; adventurer and revolutionary leader; migrated to California, 1850; sailed from San Francisco with a small force, 1853; after landing at La Paz, proclaimed Lower California and Sonora an independent republic; forced back to the USA by lack of supplies and Mexican resistance, 1854; sailed to Nicaragua at the invitation of a revolutionary faction, 1855; by the end of the year his military successes made him virtual master of Nicaragua, then a key transport link between Atlantic and Pacific ocean shipping; President of Nicaragua, 1856-1857; maintained himself against a coalition of Central American states until 1 May 1857; in order to avoid capture, surrendered to the US Navy and returned to the USA; led another foray but was arrested and returned to the USA as a prisoner on parole; went to Central America for a third time, 1860; landed in Honduras and was taken prisoner by the British Navy; turned over to the Honduran authorities and executed at Trujillo, Honduras, 1860.
The Mosquito (Miskito) Coast (Costa de Mosquitos; Mosquito Kingdom; Mosquitia) is the region of Nicaragua and Honduras on the Atlantic coast, a lowland band c40 miles wide and c225 miles long. It was visited by Columbus in 1502, but Europeans had little contact with the area until the 17th century, when England established a protectorate over the Miskito Indians (1661). Spain, Nicaragua and the United States disputed this claim until the matter was finally settled by the occupation of the Mosquito Coast by the Nicaraguan government and by the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 between the USA and Great Britain.
Robert Hodgson senior was British superintendent of the Mosquito Coast between 1740 and 1759.
David Booth was born in Kennetles, Forfarshire, on 9 February 1766. He was almost entirely self-taught. In his early life he was engaged in business, mainly the brewing industry, but he then decided to become a schoolmaster in Newburgh, Fifeshire. Shortly before 1820 he moved to London, where he was involved with literature. He also supervised the publications for press of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. He wrote some articles on brewing for the Society. In 1806 he had published an 'Introduction to an Analytical Dictionary of the English language'. In 1831 he brought out 'Principles of English Composition', and in 1837 ' Principles of English grammar'. The first volume of the 'Analytical Dictionary of the English language' appeared in 1835: it was the only one published. Booth died in Fifeshire on 5 December 1846.
Rowena Lamy published, with Francis Albert Eley Crew, The Genetics of the Budgerigar (Watmoughs, Idle & London [1935]).
Guiseppe Mazzini, born in Genoa in 1805, was a propagandist, revolutionary and republican, and a champion of the movement for Italian unity known as the Risorgimento. During the 1860s he was occupied by schemes for seizing Venice and Rome. He withdrew from early contact with the Socialist First International, since the moral and religious basis of his political thought prevented him from accepting either Karl Marx's communism or Mikhail Bakunin's anarchism. Mazzini was repeatedly elected by Messina as its parliamentary deputy, but the elections were quashed by the Italian government. In 1870, he agreed to lead a republican rising in Sicily, but was arrested en route and interned at Gaeta. The occupation of Rome by Italian troops prompted his release and pardon. Italy had thus been united, but as a monarchy and not the republic Mazzini had advocated. He founded the paper 'Roma del popolo' ('Rome of the People'), which he edited from Lugano, and made plans for an Italian working men's congress. He died from pleurisy at Pisa, 1872.
Linda Villari (née Mazini), an author, died in 1915. Publications: 'In the Golden Shell. A story of Palermo' (London, 1872); 'In Change unchanged' (2 volumes, London, 1877); 'Camilla's Girlhood'(T Fisher Unwin, London, 1885); 'On Tuscan Hills and Venetian Waters' (T Fisher Unwin, London, 1885); 'When I was a child; or, Left behind' (T F Unwin, London, 1885); 'Her and there in Italy and over the Border ' (W H Allen & Co, London, 1893); 'Oswald von Wolkenstein. A memoir of the last Minnesinger of Tirol' (J M Dent & Co, London, 1901). Translated: Pasquale Villari's 'Niccolo Machiavelli and his times' (2 volumes, London, 1878); MoÌr Joikai, 'Life in a Cave', from the Hungarian (W Swan Sonnenschein & Co, London, [1884]); Pasquale Villari's 'Life and times of Girolamo Savonarola' (2nd edition, 2 volumes, T Fisher Unwin, London, 1889); Pasquale Villari's 'The Two First Centuries of Florentine History' (2 volumes, T Fisher Unwin, London, 1894-1895); HRH Prince Luigi Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of the Abruzzi, 'The Ascent of Mount St Elias, Alaska' (A Constable & Co, Westminster, 1900); Pasquale Villari's 'The Barbarian Invasions of Italy' (T Fisher Unwin, London, 1902); Pasquale Villari's 'Studies, Historical and Critical' (T Fisher Unwin, London, 1907).
John Sinclair was born on 10 May 1754 at Thurso Castle in Caithness, Scotland. He was educated in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Oxford. He read law but had no intention of practising. At the age of sixteen he inherited, by his father's death, extensive estates in Caithness. In 1780 Sinclair became a Member of Parliament for Caithness. In 1785 his first wife died and he abandoned public life for a time and started on a foreign tour. In 1786 he received a baronetcy from Pitt. He started to devote much energy to the collection of statistics and became one of the earliest statisticians. In 1790 he designed a 'Statistical Account of Scotland', asking all the parish ministers of Scotland for information on the natural history, population and productions of their parishes. The results were published at various periods during the next ten years. Sinclair also devoted a lot of time to improvement of his estates in Caithness. He persuaded Pitt to establish a Board of Agriculture and in 1793 he was appointed President of it. He attempted an account of England by parishes but this was abandoned mainly due to opposition. Sinclair died on 21 December 1835.
Edward Ballard was born in Islington, London, on 15 April 1820. He attended University College London and qualified as a doctor. One of his lecturers at UCL was William Sharpey, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology from 1836 to 1874; another was Charles James Blasius Williams, Professor of Medicine from 1838 to 1848. Ballard went on to become a Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He published 'Materia Medica' conjointly with Dr.Sir A.B.Garrod. Ballard died on 19 February 1897.
The Saint Christopher's Working Boys' Club was a youth club, based in Fitzroy Square. It was founded in 1894. It was supported by the University College London Christian Association and later by the students' Union. The club was wound up in 1946.
The classical archaeologist Bunnell Lewis was born and educated in London. He went to University College London, obtaining the university scholarship in classics: he graduated BA in 1843. He became a fellow of University College in 1847 and proceeded to take an MA in classics in 1849, taking the gold medal, then awarded for the first time. He was appointed, the same year, Professor of Latin at Queen's College Cork, an position he held until 1905. He held the office of examiner in Latin at Queen's University in Ireland, for 4 years. Lewis was elected a foreign corresponding associate of the National Society of Antiquaries of France in 1883. In 1873 to 1874 he delivered courses of lectures on classical archaeology at University College London, in connection with the Slade School of Art. He travelled in many countries for purposes of antiquarian research and worked to introduce studies of this kind as a part of university education. He published a series of papers in the 'Archaeological Journal' from 1875 to 1899. Lewis died and was buried in Cork in 1908.
Born, 1885; eldest daughter of Sir George Dancer Thane (Professor of Anatomy at University College London, 1877-1919) and Jenny, daughter of August Klingberg of Stockholm and god-daughter of the famous Swedith soprano Jenny Lind; sister of Alice Ebba Thane and of George Augustus (who died young); attended South Hampstead High School; studied mathematics at Newnham College Cambridge; taught at Hulme Grammer School for Girls, Oldham, the Perse School for Girls, Cambridge, and at Wimbledon High School for more than 20 years; died, 1976.
Sir John Reynolds was born at Romsey, Hampshire, the son of an independent minister. Reynolds received a general education from his father and then went to University College London to study medicine and become a physician. In 1851 he graduated MB in the University of London and obtained a scholarship and gold medal in medicine. In 1852 he took the degree of MD and began to practice in Leeds, but soon moved to London. In 1855 he was Assistant Physician to the Hospital for Sick Children, and in 1857 Assistant Physician to the Westminster Hospital. In 1859 he was elected a fellow of the College of Physicians. In the same year he was appointed Assistant Physician to University College Hospital. He became Professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine at University College London in 1866, a post he held until 1878. From 1868 to 1870 he was also Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. In 1878 Reynolds was appointed Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen's household. In 1869 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He was created a baronet in 1895. He devoted much of his work to the study of nervous diseases, and in 1854 published an 'Essay on Vertigo'. He published many other papers. He was also the editor of 'System of Medicine' in five volumes, published from 1866 to 1879, a collection of essays on diseases. He was married, first, to Miss Ainslie, and secondly, to Frances, widow of C.J.C.Crespigny, but left no children. He died in London, after several weeks of illness.
Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) married Louisa Jane Butler (d.1897) in 1853. Louisa's father was George Butler (1774-1853), dean of Peterborough and previously headmaster of Harrow School. Her mother was Sarah Maria Gray from Wembley Park, Middlesex. Louisa had many brothers and sisters, one of whom was Arthur Butler. She and Galton had no children.
Keeling was a member of staff of the Philosophy Department at University College London from 1927 to 1954.
Born in Hobart, Tasmania, the son of Salvation Army officers, 1911; educated at Ballarat and Melbourne High Schools; entered Melbourne University, where he came to specialise in physics, 1928; graduated with first class honours, 1931; took an MSc in physics; went to the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, on an Exhibition of 1851 Overseas Scholarship, 1933; carried out experimental research in nuclear physics with Ernest Rutherford; returned to Melbourne as Research Physicist and Lecturer, 1935; during the Second World War, undertook war-related research in Melbourne and Sydney; Deputy Director, Radio Research Laboratory, Melbourne, 1942-1944; joined the British team working on the atomic bomb project in the USA, working on isotope separation in the group led by H S W Massey, 1944; Technical Officer, DSIR Mission to Berkeley, California, 1944-1945; Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at University College London, 1945; appointed Reader, 1949; transferred to the Physics Department as Reader, 1950; Professor of Physics, 1960-1978; researched widely in atomic and nuclear physics, including the Auger effect and electronic and ionic impact phenomena; a founder member of the European K meson collaboration and prominent in the UCL Bubble Chamber group; strongly committed to the political left and sought rapprochement between the Soviet bloc and the West during the Cold War; with Bertrand Russell, C F Powell and J Rotblat, played an important role in the organisation of the first Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs at Pugwash, Nova Scotia, which brought together senior scientists from East and West to discuss the dangers of nuclear war, Jul 1957; the conference provided the model for a series of similarly organised Pugwash conferences on this and related topics; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1963; awarded the Joliot-Curie Medal of the World Peace Council, 1966; active in the work of the World Federation of Scientific Workers, of which he was President from 1971; awarded the Lenin International Peace Prize, 1972; Emeritus Professor of University College London, 1978; died, 1980. See Sir Harrie Massey & D H Davies, 'Eric Henry Stoneley Burhop', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol xxvii (1981), pp 131-152. Publications: with Philip B Moon, Atomic Survey. A short guide to the scientific and political problems of atomic energy [Birmingham, 1947]; with John Halsted, The Challenge of Atomic Energy (Lawrence & Wishart, London, 1951); with Sir Harrie Stewart Wilson Massey, Electronic and Ionic Impact Phenomena (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1952); The Auger Effect and other radiationless transitions (University Press, Cambridge, 1952); The Techniques of High Energy Physics ... An inaugural lecture delivered at University College, London, 23 January 1961 (published for the College by H K Lewis & Co, London, 1961); as editor, High energy physics (5 volumes, 1967-1972); with H S W Massey and H B Gilbody, Electronic and ionic impact phenomena (1969-1974); as editor, Selected papers of Cecil Frank Powell (1972); The social future of science [1975].
Born, 1917; educated: Wyggeston Boys School; University College School London; Trinity College Cambridge, 1935-1942; Friends Relief Service, Second World War; Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, 1945; Assistant Lecturer, Galton Laboratory, University College London, 1946; Lecturer, University College London; Reader, University College London; Weldon Professor of Biometrics, University College London, 1964; President of the Biometric Society (British Region), 1971-1972; died, 2002.
Thomas Webster: born in Scotland, c1772; attended Aberdeen University; trained as an architect in London; Clerk of Works at the Royal Institution, Albemarle Street, London, 1799; designed its lecture theatre, 1800; became a member of the newly-founded Geological Society, 1809; conducted geological investigations, including the Isle of Wight, 1811-1813; held various offices in the Geological Society from 1812; his publications from 1814 highlighted previously unknown aspects of British geology, including pioneering work on the stratigraphy of the Isle of Wight; an associate of G B Greenough, to whose Geological Map of England and Wales (1819) he contributed; one of the first Fellows of the Geological Society, 1825; granted a government pension of £50 a year for his services to geology; appointed first Professor of Geology at University College London, 1841; died in London Street, Fitzroy Square, London, 1844; buried in Highgate cemetery; associated with a rare British mineral, Websterite, and with various fossils. Publications include: edited John Imison's Elements of Science and Art (Cadell & Davies, London, 1808, and London, 1822); `On the fresh-water formations in the Isle of Wight, with some observations on the strata over the Chalk in the south-east part of England', Transactions of the Geological Society, ii, pp 161-254 (1814); papers for the Royal Society on the geology of the Upper Secondary and Tertiary strata of south-east England (1814-1825); with Sir Henry Charles Englefield, Description of ... the Isle of Wight (Payne and Foss, London, 1816); with Mrs William Parkes, edited Encyclopædia of Domestic Economy (London, 1844).
No information could be found at the time of compilation.
William Emerson was born in Hurworth, Durham, on 14 May 1701. He went into teaching but did not take to it, so he decided to devote himself entirely to the study of mathematics. In 1749 he published his treatise on 'Fluxions', the first of a series of books. 'Elements of Geometry' was published in 1763. He also published a regular course of mathematical manuals for young students. Emerson died on 20 May 1782.
John Morris was born in London in 1872, the eldest son of Jas. Morris, MD. He married Annie Elizabeth Frances Macgregor in 1917. He was educated privately and at University College London. He became an assistant to Professor Fleming at University College London, 1894-1898; specialising in subjects connected with illumination and cathode ray oscillographs. From 1930 to 1938 he was Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of London. He was Honorary Research Associate in Electrical Engineering at University College London from 1939, and Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at the University of London from 1938. He was a fellow of University College and of Queen Mary College, London. He was the inventor of a portable direct reading anemometer. He published 'Cathode Ray Oscillography' with J.A.Henley in 1936; 'Sir Ambrose Fleming and the birth of the valve', in 1954; and numerous papers in scientific journals. He died on 18 March 1959.
Ernest Gardner was born in London. He was educated in London and Caius College Cambridge. From 1884 he was continuously employed in archaeological work, excavation, study and teaching, on many sites, especially in Greece. From 1887 to 1895 he was Director of the British School of Archaeology at Athens. He was Yates Professor of Archaeology at University College London from 1896 to 1929. Gardner published many writings on archaeology, with emphasis on Greek art, archaeology and excavations.
Miers was born in Rio de Janeiro on 25 May 1858. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College Oxford. In 1882 he joined the British Museum as an Assistant, a post he held till 1895; he was also an Instructor in Crystallography at the Central Technical College in South Kensington from 1886 to 1895. Miers became Editor of the Mineralogical Magazine, 1891-1900. From 1895 to 1908 he was Waynflete Professor of Mineralogy at Oxford. He was Principal of the University of London from 1908 to 1915; and also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester and Professor of Crystallography, 1915-1926. Miers was Vice-President of the Chemical Society, 1901-1904; of the Geological Society, 1902-1904; and of the Royal Society of Arts, 1913. He was President of the Mineralogical Society, 1904-1909; President of the Museums Association, 1928-1933; Library Association, 1932; and the Council of the Royal Society, 1901-1903. He was a trustee of the British Museum, 1926-1939. Throughout his life, Miers published numerous scientific papers. He died on 10 December 1942.
Andrew Amos, lawyer and professor of law, was born in India in 1791. He attended Eton and Trinity College Cambridge. He was called to the bar by the Middle Temple and joined the Midland circuit, where he soon acquired a reputation for legal expertise, and his personal character secured him a large arbitration practice. When University College London was founded, Amos became the first Professor of English Law. Between 1829 and 1837 his lectures were very popular and well attended. He was appointed a member of the Criminal Law Commission in 1834. In 1837 he went to India as 'fourth member' of the governor-general's council, in succession to Lord Macaulay. Returning to England in 1843, he became one of the newly established county-court judges. In 1849 he was elected Downing Professor of Laws at Cambridge. He died in 1860. Many of the lectures Amos gave at University College London were published in the Legal Examiner and Law Chronicle.
John Marshall was a student in the Faculty of Arts at University College London from 1874 to 1876. He studied comparative philology and became a philologist.
Sir Samuel Bentham: born, 1757; youngest son of Jeremiah Bentham, an attorney, and brother of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham; educated at Westminster; aged fourteen, apprenticed to the master-shipwright of Woolwich Dockyard; lived in France, 1775; invited to accompany the Bienfaisanhim on the summer cruise of the Channel fleet, 1778; witnessed the battle of Ushant; suggested improvements in steering gear and gun fittings; travelled in order to study the shipbuilding and naval economy of foreign powers, arriving in St Petersburg, Russia, 1780; travelled over much of Russia, from Archangel to the Crimea, and through Siberia to the frontier of China, examining mines and methods of working metals; on his return to St Petersburg presented a report to the Empress, 1782; declined a commissionership in the British navy, because his prospects in Russia seemed more advantageous, 1783; accepted Potemkin's offer to send him to Cherson as lieutenant-colonel; settled at Kritchev, where the prince hoped to establish a shipbuilding yard; his military rank was made substantive and he was appointed commander of a battalion, 1784; owing to the limited number of officers at his disposal, introduced the plan of central observation, with workshops radiating from his own office, a scheme of which his brother Jeremy's 'Panopticon' was a modification; ordered to Cherson to direct the equipment of a flotilla against the Turks, 1787; Bentham's innovations allowed the fittings of recoilless guns of larger calibre than was previously thought possible for small craft, and were instrumental in defeating the Turks, 1788; was rewarded with the military cross of St George and the rank of brigadier-general; appointed to a command in Siberia, where he developed navigation of the rivers and promoted further exploration and trade with China; revisited England, 1791; on his return, spent the remainder of his career as Inspector-General of Navy Works, and later as one of the Commissioners of the Navy, urging and introducing improvements in machinery, equipment and administration of navy dockyards; pensioned off, 1812; moved to France, 1814; returned to England, 1827; during his retirement, prepared papers on professional subjects and continued correspondence with several navy departments until his death, 1831.
Robert Lindsay: born, possibly in 1500, at Pitscottie in the parish of Ceres, Fifeshire; Scottish historian; a cadet of the principal family of Lindsays, Earls of Crawford, and probably a descendant of Patrick, fourth Lord Lindsay of the Byres; according to the `Privy Seal Register', received a grant of escheat, 1552; a service in the Douglas charter-chest proves that he was alive in 1562; probably died c1565; his History includes the period of Scottish history, from the death of James I to that of James III, about which very little is known; its preface states the author's intention of continuing what had been left unwritten by Hector Boece and John Bellenden, the period after James I; the History includes narrative passages, but also other brief entries, and contains inaccuracies and confusion as to dates; Pitscottie's History was first published by the printer Robert Freebairn, 1728, and again in 1749 and 1778, and in 1814 (2 volumes) by Graham Dalyell; the History was used as a source by Sir Walter Scott and other writers.
Hector Boece (or Boethius): born at Dundee, Scotland, c1465; historian and humanist; educated at Dundee and the University of Paris; a friend of Desiderius Erasmus; chief adviser to William Elphinstone, bishop of Aberdeen, in the foundation of the University of Aberdeen (King's College, Aberdeen); first Principal of the University; lectured on divinity; received a pension from the Scottish court, 1527-1534; a canon of Aberdeen; vicar of Tullynessle; later rector of Tyrie; author of the Latin history Scotorum historiae a prima gentis origine (The History and Chronicles of Scotland), 1527; the work, based on legendary sources, glorified the Scottish nation; the History had wide currency abroad in a French translation; Boece died, 1536.
Fragments of medieval and early modern manuscripts on parchment can commonly be found inside the binding of printed works. This method of recycling was a common practice between the medieval period and the 17th century, when manuscripts superseded by printed editions were sold to printers and bookbinders. Medieval manuscripts are often visually appealing and parchment was robust but expensive, so folios from manuscripts were recycled for use as decorative covers and endpapers or to reinforce the binding of new printed works.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: born in 1090, probably at Fontaine-les-Dijon, near Dijon, Burgundy; monk and mystic; founder and abbot of the abbey of Clairvaux; among the most influential churchmen of his time; died at Clairvaux, Champagne, 1153; canonized, 1174.
The Order of Saint Benedict comprises the confederated congregations of monks and lay brothers who follow the rule of life of St Benedict (c480-c547), written c535-540 with St Benedict's own abbey of Montecassino in mind. The rule, providing a complete directory for the government and spiritual and material well-being of a monastery, spread slowly in Italy and Gaul. By the late Middle Ages the Benedictine Rule had been translated into many languages owing to the diffusion of the order through many European countries.
The large abbey at Ottobeuren, near Memmingen, Bavaria, was founded in 764 and was among the most important early Benedictine monasteries, famous in the Middle Ages for its large library.
John Nider (Johannes Nieder): born in Swabia, 1380; entered the Order of Preachers at Colmar; sent to Vienna for philosophical studies; finished his studies and was ordained at Cologne; active at the Council of Constance; returned to Vienna and taught as Master of Theology, 1425; prior of the Dominican convent at Nuremberg, 1427; served successively as socius to his master general and vicar of the reformed convents of the German province, in which capacity he maintained an earlier reputation as a reformer; prior of the convent of strict observance at Basle, 1431; became identified with the Council of Basle as theologian and legate; made embassies to the Hussites at the command of Cardinal Julian; as legate of the Council, succeeded in pacifying the Bohemians; travelled to Ratisbon to effect further reconciliation with them, 1434; proceeded to Vienna to continue reforming the convents; in dicussions following the dissolution of the Couneil of Basle joined the party in favour of continuing the Council in Germany, but abandoned it when the Pope remained firmly opposed; resumed his theological lectures at Vienna, 1436; twice elected dean of the University; author of various treatises, including (in German) the 'Goldene Harfen' (24 Golden Harps), based on the Collations of Cassianus; died at Colmar, 1438.
From the charterhouse 'zu Yttingen' (Ittingen, Thurgau, Switzerland).
'Edda' comprises a body of ancient Icelandic literature contained in two books, the Prose (or Younger) Edda and the Poetic (or Elder) Edda, and constitutes the fullest source for modern knowledge of Germanic mythology. The Prose Edda was written by the Icelandic chieftain, poet,and historian Snorri Sturluson, probably in 1222-1223, and is a textbook intended to instruct young poets in the metres of the early Icelandic skalds (court poets) and to provide the Christian age with an understanding of the mythological subjects referred to in early poetry. The Poetic Edda is a manuscript of the later 13th century, but containing older materials (hence the 'Elder' Edda), and contains mythological and heroic poems of unknown authorship, usually dramatic dialogues in a terse and archaic style, composed from the 9th to the 11th century.
Born in Ellidhavatn, Iceland, 1864; son of a leader of the Icelandic independence movement; received a law degree at Copenhagen, 1892; briefly edited a newspaper, Dagskrá, advocating the cause of Icelandic independence, 1896-1898; spent much of his life abroad, raising capital to develop Icelandic industries; published five volumes of Symbolist verse, which reflected his patriotism, mysticism, love of nature, and the influence of his extensive travels; died at Herdísarvík, 1940. Publications: Sögur og kvaedi (1897; 'Stories and Poems'); Hafblik (1906; 'Smooth Seas'); Hrannir (1913; 'Waves'); Vogar (1921; 'Billows'); Hvammar (1930; 'Grass Hollows'); translated Ibsen's Peer Gynt into Icelandic; a selection of his poems was translated into English as Harp of the North by Frederic T Wood (1955).
Gaetano Polidori: born, 1764; secretary to the Italian dramatist and poet Alfieri; teacher of Italian in London; author of educational works; father of the physician and associate of Byron, John William Polidori, and of Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori, who by her marriage to Gabriele Rossetti became the mother of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Christina Rossetti; died, 1853. Publications include his translation of Milton, Traduzione delle Opere poetiche di Giovanni Milton (London, 1840). François-Auguste-René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand: born at Saint-Malo, France, 1768; author and diplomat; among the first French Romantic writers, and a prominent and influential literary figure in early 19th-century France; died in Paris, 1848.
Written in southern Germany for Dominican use.
The Franciscan order, the largest religious order in the Roman Catholic church, was founded in the early 13th century by St Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226), and comprises three orders: the First Order (priests and lay brothers who have sworn to lead a life of prayer, preaching, and penance), divided into three independent branches, the Friars Minor, the Friars Minor Conventual, and the Friars Minor Capuchin; the Second Order (cloistered nuns who belong to the Order of St Clare, known as Poor Clares); and the Third Order (religious and lay men and women who try to emulate Saint Francis' spirit in performing works of teaching, charity, and social service). This manuscript was written in Italy.
Written in Italy, perhaps by Franciscus de Arimino.