An apprenticeship indenture bound a young person to a master, to learn from him his art, trade or business, and to serve him during the time of his apprenticeship, which could only last until he reached his majority.
Quarter Sessions were sessions of a court held in each county four times a year by a local Justice of the Peace to hear criminal charges as well as civil and criminal appeals. The history of quarter sessions traces to 1327, when King Edward III appointed men in every county to keep the peace.
Admiral John Forbes (1714-1796) was the second son of George Forbes, 3rd Earl of Granard. He entered the Royal Navy at a young age, and had risen to the rank of Rear Admiral by 1747. in 1749 he was created Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean. As a Lord of the Admiralty, Forbes refused to sign the death warrant of Admiral John Byng in protest at the harshness of the sentence, and as a consequence of this disagreement with his colleagues retired from the Board of Admiralty on 6 April. He was reappointed on 29 June 1757. Created a Vice Admiral in 1755, Forbes became an Admiral of the Blue, 1758, General of Marines, 1763, Admiral of the White, 1770, and Admiral of the Fleet, 1781. He also published a Memoir of the Earls of Granard (1868). He died in 1796. Admiral John Byng (1704-1757) was court-martialed, convicted and sentenced to death in 1757, following an abortive attempt in 1756 to to relieve the British garrison in Port Mahon, Menorca, from French forces. He was executed by firing squad on the deck of HMS Monarch on 14 March 1757.
The English Royal Mint was responsible for the making of coins according to exact compositions, weights, dimensions and tolerances, usually determined by law. English minting was run from the Royal Mint in London by the Master and Warden of the Mint. For several centuries control of policy relating to the coinage rested soley with the monarch, with Parliament finally gaining control following the Revolution of 1688. The Mint itself worked as an independent body until that date, when it came under the control of the Treasury.
John Phillips was born at Marden in Wiltshire on 25 December 1800. On the death of both his parents, his uncle, the geologist, William Smith (1769-1839), was responsible for bringing up the young John Phillips. Phillips worked alongside his uncle in London, until the spring of 1824. In 1825 he was appointed Keeper of the museum in York. Phillips held several academic posts. He was appointed Professor of Geology at King's College London 1834, Professor of Geology at Trinity College Dublin in 1844 and Reader in Geology at Oxford University in 1856. He wrote widely on different aspects of Geology. Phillips was Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum from 1857 to 1874. He received honorary degrees from Trinity College Dublin, Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Phillips died on 24 April 1874.
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Founded in the 12th century, Market Harborough is a market town situated 13 miles south of the city of Leicester in the East Midlands region.
John Sheffield was born on 8 September 1648. Sheffield served with the navy, rising to the rank of Vice Admiral for Yorkshire and Northumberland (1687-1689). He held several posts at the Royal Court and armed forces including Gentleman of the Bedchamber 1673-1682, Lord Chamberlain of the Household 1685-1688, Colonel of the Holland Regiment, 1673-1682 and 1684-1685. Sheffield also served as the Lord Lieutenant for the East Riding 1679-1682, North Riding 1702-1705 and 1711-1714 and Middlesex, 1711-1714. He was created Marquess of Normanby in May 1694 and Duke of the County of Buckingham and of Normanby in 1702. Sheffield died at Buckingham House in March 1721.
Diego de Estella (1524-1578) is also known by the names Didacus Estella and Diego de Ballesteros y Cruzat. He was born in Estella in Navarre in 1524, and entered the Franciscan Order in 1541, becoming active in Portugal as a preacher. He accompanied the Infanta Juana, sister of Philip II of Spain from 1552-1554, and later preached at Philip's court in Madrid, 1565-1569. His criticism of high officials and way of life at the royal court led to rebukes by the Order, and Diego's eventual removal to the Franciscan convent of Salamanca. There he produced many mystical writings, which were printed with the support of his brother. He died in 1578. Meditaciones devotisimas del amor de Dios was first published (by Mathius Gast) in Salamanca in 1576.
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.
Very little is known about Johannes Gratian, who was born in Italy, possibly in Chiusi, Tuscany. He became a Camaldolese monk, and taught at Bologna. At a date some time after 1139 (probably 1140), Gratian compiled the Church laws (`canons') from all available sources and called the collection Concordia Discordantium Canonum (the harmonizing of discordant canons). The collection became known as the Decretum Gratiani. He died before 1179, some say as early as 1160. Although the Dectretum was not an official collection, it was, for a time and for all practical purposes, accepted as the fundamental text of Church law.
The general election of April 1820 was won by the Tories; the Prime Minister was Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool.
St Mary Axe is a street in East London connecting Leadenhall Street with Houndsditch. The parish merged with St Andrew Undershaft in 1560/1.
Ludovico Manin was the last Doge of the Venetian Republic, and was deposed by the French under Napoleon in 1797; the Republic ceased to exist and was ceded to Austria.
The main branch of the Avogadro family died out in 1671 and the fief of Lumezzane came under the direct jurisdiction of Venice. In 1681, however, Francisco and Girolamo Avogadro, descendants of a cadet branch of the family tree, acquired the fief for 32,000 ducats, and it was held by that family until the collapse of the Republic in 1797.
Middleton Cheney is the largest village in Northamptonshire.Edmund Scambler was Canon of the 6th Prebendary, Westminster (1560-1561), Prebendary of Wistow, Yorkshire (1559-1564), Bishop of Peterborough (1561-1585) and Bishop of Norwich (1585-1594). He died in 1594.
St Anne's church was on the west side of Dean Street, Soho, in the Liberty of Westminster. It was formerly a Chapel of Ease to the Parish of St. Martin in the Fields, but was taken out of that, and made a distinct and proper Parish of itself by Act of Parliament, in 1678.
Francis George Newbolt was born in 1863 and educated at Clifton College and Balliol College, Oxford University. He entered the Inner Temple as a barrister in 1890. He was the Recorder of Doncaster, 1916-1920, and an Official Referee for the Supreme Court, 1920-1936. He also contested the Chertsey Division on behalf of the Liberal Party in 1910. During his career, Newbolt also showed an interest in science and the arts, delivering over 1000 lectures on experimental science to girls in Board Schools, and becoming a member of the Art Workers Guild (Master 1927) and the Clockmakers' Company (Master 1932). He was also Honorary Professor of Law in the Royal Academy and President of the Norwegian Society from 1920-1926. Newbolt was knighted in 1919 and died in 1940.
The Glasgow Union Banking Company was established in 1830. As a result of various amalgamations the company became known as the Union Bank of Scotland in 1843.
Charles Lawrence was Chairman of the Liverpool and Birmingham Railway Company from 1826-1830.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company was established in 1826. The Railway, a stretch of track 31 miles long linking the two cities, was opened on 15 September 1830, though the opening was marred by the death of William Huskisson MP when he was accidentally hit by the Rocket.
The Grand Junction Railway Company was established in 1833 to build a line linking Birmingham to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It opened in 1837.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway merged with the Grand Junction Railway in 1845. The following year, Grand Junction was merged with the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway to form the London and North Western Railway.
Dôle is located in the Franche-Comté region of France, between Dijon and Bescanon.
Alexander Howland Smith faked poems written by Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. Smith made most of his fakes between 1888 and 1892.
'Non-jurors' was the name given to the Anglican Churchmen who in 1689 refused to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary, and their successors under the Protestant Succession Act of that year. Years of sporadic persecution followed, during which they were deprived of their benefices and held secret services of their own which they believed maintained the true Anglican succession. Their difficulties terminated in 1788, when on the death of Charles Edward they saw no further reason for withholding the oath to George III.
Thomas Brett was born in Betteshanger, Kent, in 1667. He was educated at Queens' College and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, from 1684-1690. Brett was ordained as a deacon in 1690 and worked as curate at Folkestone until the following year, when he was ordained as a priest. He was a Lecturer at the church in Islington until his father's death forced a return to Kent in 1696, where he was curate to the parish of Great Chart. He was awarded the livings of Betteshanger in 1702 and Rucking in 1705. Brett was already publishing works on church government and edging towards the views of the non-jurors, and matters came to a head with the death of Queen Anne, when he refused to take the oath of allegiance to George I and resigned both his livings. From this point on he was a prominent member of the non-jurors, writing extensively on liturgical matters and being consecrated as bishop. Brett died in 1743/1744.
Thomas Brett's son, Nicholas, was also a non-juror priest, who acted as chaplain to Sir Robert Cotton for a time, but who later lived at the family estate in Spring Grove, Kent. He died in 1775.
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company was formed in 1847 by an amalgamation of several other railway companies. Competition between different companies was intense and much quibbling about the sharing of lines produced an alliance in 1858 with the Great Northern Railway Company. The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company eventually became the Great Central Railway Company.
The National Land Bank was founded by John Briscoe in 1695. The Bank went on to be known as the National Land Bank of England after a merger in 1696 with the Land Bank founded by John Asgill and Dr. Nicholas Barbon.
In Scotland, poor relief was organised using a system of voluntary contributions distributed under the direction of the minister and elders of the Kirk and, from 1752, more strongly by the direction of the landowners, who were the principal ratepayers. The able-bodied poor had no right to statutory relief as in England. A 'stent' was the rate levied on property owners.
Moorcroft was born in Lancashire and educated in Liverpool for the medical profession. While he was a student he was assigned to examine a local outbreak of cattle disease, as a result of which he switched to veterinary science. After amassing a considerable fortune in London he lost his wealth through the filing of numerous bad patents and in 1808 he took a position as veterinary surgeon with the Bengal Army. During this time he also took the position of Superintendent of the East India Company's stud.
He travelled widely in central Asia and became the first British traveller to cross the Himalayas. Falling out of favour with the Bengal Army for spending too much time in the Himalayan region he undertook a journey for trade to Kabul. On returning from Kabul in 1823 Moorcroft died and was taken to Balkh where he was buried outside the city walls.
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Thomas Raikes was a merchant in London and Governor of the Bank of England during the crisis of 1797. He was a personal friend of William Wilberforce and William Pitt the Younger. Raikes married Charlotte, daughter of Henry Finch, Earl of Winchelsea in December 1774. Their son, also named Thomas, became a well-known diarist.
The 'Speights Town' was a merchant ship based in Liverpool. Her captain was Jonathan Jackson, and she was owned by Allanson and Barton.
The St Helens Canal & Railway Company was created in 1843 when the St Helens Runcorn Gap Railway was bought out by Sankey Brook Navigation after a period of competition in the transportation of coal to the Mersey.
English bards and Scotch reviewers...a satire, was written by George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale, and first published by James Cawthorn of London in 1809.
The Exchequer was responsible for receiving and dispersing the public revenue.
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Robert Holcot (1290-1349) was a Dominican theologian and preacher. Born in Holcot, near Northampton, Holcot joined the Dominican Order and studied at Oxford. After gaining his doctorate in theology, he became Regent Master of Oxford University (1331-1333). It is also surmised that Holcot was Regent Master of Cambridge from 1334-1335. In 1343 he returned to the Dominican priory at Northampton, where he died of plague in 1349. Holcot wrote many theological works, including Commentaries on the Books of Wisdom, one of the best known works of the 14th century, which was printed in 1480 and went through 17 editions.
A Collectar is a manuscript containing the prayers (specifically 'collects') for the canonical hours of the Divine Office.
John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury, was the son of the Earl of Stafford. He held high political and religious office, being Bishop of Bath and Wells and Lord Chancellor to Henry V and VI; in 1443 he was created Archbishop of Canterbury, an office which he held until his death in 1452.
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Canon law is the body of laws and regulations made by or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members.
Richard Flatter was born in Vienna in 1891. He was well-known as a translator of Shakespearean sonnets and plays, and was the author of several works on the subject. Flatter emigrated to England in 1938, and was later deported to Australia, where he was held in an internment camp. Following the end of World War Two, Flatter lived in the USA before returning to Vienna in 1953. He died in 1960.
The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies was created by an Act of the Scottish Parliament in Jun 1695. Under this act the Company was granted exclusive privilege of trade between Scotland and America, and perpetual monopoly of trade with Asia and Africa. The Company undertook two disastrous voyages to the Darien Isthmus, Panama, in 1698-1699, where it hoped to establish a Scottish colony named Caledonia. The attempt failed and the colony was abandoned by 1700. The Company was dissolved in 1707.
Robert Owen was born in Newtown, Wales in 1771. He was apprenticed to a draper in Stamford, Northamptonshire at the age of 10, and continued his working education in London from the ages of 13 to 16. In 1787 Owen moved to Manchester, where he set up a small cotton-spinning establishment, and also produced spinning mules for the textile industry. Following this success, he became a manager for several large mills and factories in Manchester. In 1794 he formed the Chorlton Twist Company with several partners, and in the course of business met the Scots businessman David Dale. In 1799, Owen and his partners purchased Dale's mills in New Lanark, and Owen married Dale's daughter. At New Lanark, Owen began to act out his belief that individuals were formed by the effects of their environment by drastically improving the working conditions of the mill employees. This included preventing the employment of children and building schools and educational establishments. Owen set out his ideas for model communities in speeches and pamphlets, and attempted to spread his message by converting prominent members of British society. His detailed proposals were considered by Parliament in the framing of the Factories Act of 1819. Disillusioned with Britain, Owen purchased a settlement in Indiana in 1825, naming it New Harmony and attempting to create a society based upon his socialist ideas. Though several members of his family remained in America, the community had failed by 1828. Owen returned to England, and spent the remainder of his life and fortune helping various reform groups, most notably those attempting to form trade unions. He played a role in the establishment of the Grand National Consolidated Trade Union, 1834, and the Association of All Classes and All Nations, 1835. Owen died in 1858.
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.
Richard Stroud was born in December 1799. He joined the excise service in 1827 and began his training in the Dorchester 2nd division. By December 1827, Stroud was qualified to survey brewers, victuallers, tanners, soapmakers and other dealers. His career was peripatetic and took him to Bristol, Andover, Campbeltown, Oxford, and the Isle of Wight amongst other places. He retired on grounds of ill health in 1853.
Gough was born in London, 1735. He proved to be a scholastic child and, at the age of just 11, he wrote The History of the Bible, translated from the French, which was printed privately by his mother. In 1751 his father died, leaving him various properties and Gough went to study at Corpus Christi, Cambridge. While he was there some of his journals were included in the Gentlemen's Magazine, which he also contributed towards later in his life. Leaving Cambridge without a degree Gough travelled extensively throughout Britain compiling large amounts of notes and high quality sketches. In 1767 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in London and thirty years later became the Director of that society. He was also a fellow, 1775-95, of the Royal Society. The death of Gough's mother in 1774 brought him more land and the finances to fully pursue his interest as an antiquary. During this period of his life he embarked upon his most ambitious project, Camden's Britannica, 1789, the compilation and printing of which took sixteen years as well as many other topographical and historical publications. He died in 1809.
Southampton is an important port in the south of England.
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From the 16th century onwards, each parish was required to appoint Surveyors of Highways as officers of the parish. These surveyors were empowered to call upon residents to work on the roads to prevent them becoming neglected.