Work on the Grand Junction Canal was begun in 1793, to provide a london link with the rest of the UK canal system. The construction was overssen by William Jessop as Chief Engineer, and the Chairman of the Company was William Praed. The Canal opened as a through route in 1805, though sections of it had been opened earlier. In 1929 the Grand Junction Canal merged with the Regent's Canal and the Warwick Canal to become the Grand Union Canal Company.
In 1764, the British government introduced various financial Acts into the American colonies, prompted by a need for greater revenue to support the growing empire. These acts forbade the importation of foreign rum; put a modest duty on molasses from all sources; and levied duties on wines, silks, coffee, and a number of other luxury items. To enforce them, customs officials were ordered to show more energy and strictness. British warships in American waters were instructed to seize smugglers, and "writs of assistance" (blanket warrants) authorized the King's officers to search suspected premises.
During the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713), Britain occupied Gibraltar (1704) and Minorca (1708). Both were officially ceded to Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) which ended the war.
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.
Frederick VI (1768-1839) was King of Denmark (1808-39) and Norway (1808-14). He was responsible for many liberal reforms in both countries, and had a peaceful and prosperous reign until the Napoleonic Wars, when, despite Danish neutrality, its opposition to the British ruling on neutral shipping resulted in an English attack on the Danish fleet (Battle of Copenhagen) in 1801. Again, in 1807, England attacked neutral Denmark and bombarded Copenhagen. Frederick thereupon allied himself with Napoleon I and was punished at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) by the loss of Norway to Sweden.
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.
No information available at present.
Lady Beversham was the administrator of the estate of Sir William Beversham who owned land in Holebrook, Co. Durham; Kesale, Suffolk and property in London.
In 1695 William III appointed a new Committee of the Privy Council by the name of 'the Lords Commissioners for promoting the Trade of our Kingdom and for inspecting and improving our plantations in America and elsewhere'. The main concern of these 'Lords of Trade' was the American colonies, and following the American War of Independence they were abolished (1782), their responsibilities being assumed by the Privy Council and the Secretary of State for the Home Department.
The Republic of Venice was created around 1140. It was headed by the Doge, and led by the Great Council, who controlled all political and administrative business. Ludovico Manin, the last doge, was deposed by Napoléon Bonaparte on May 12, 1797. A provisional democratic municipality was set up in place of the republican government, but later in the same year Venice was handed over to Austria.
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.
Charles Stewart Loch was born in Bengal on 4 September 1849. He was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond and Balliol College, Oxford. From 1873 to 1875 he was a clerk at the Royal College of Surgeons. He was a member of the Commission on Aged Poor, 1893-1895, Durkin Trust Lecturer at Manchester College Oxford 1896 and 1902. He was also a member of the Institut International de Statistique, Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble Minded and the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws. Loch was the Tooke Professor of Economic Science and Statistics at King's College, London between 1904 and 1908 and Secretary to the Council of the London Charity Organisation Society 1875 to 1914. He published works on charities and the poor. His publications include, Charity and Social Life ; 1910, Aspects of the Special Problem, 1895 and Methods of Social Advance, 1904. He also contributed to academic journals. Loch died on 23 January 1923.
William Brenchley Rye was born on 26 January 1818. He was educated at the Rochester and Chatham Classical and Mathematical School. In 1834 he came to London and entered the office of a solicitor, where he met John Winter Jones, principal librarian of the British Museum. After working at several posts in the British Museum, he became the supernumerary assistant in 1844. Rye was responsible for supervising the removal and subsequent arrangement of the Thomas Grenville Library at the British Museum. In 1857, Rye became the assistant keeper in the department of printed books, where he remained until his retirement in 1875. Rye's principal published work was England as seen by foreigners in the days of Elizabeth and James I, 1895. This work comprised of a collection of narratives by foreign visitors. Rye died on 21 December 1901. Rye's younger son, Reginald Arthur Rye became the Goldsmith's Librarian at the University of London.
Samuel Jones Loyd was born on 25 September 1796. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a BA in 1818 and an MA in 1822. Loyd's father, the Reverend Lewis Loyd, accepted a partnership in Jones' Manchester Bank to form Jones, Loyd & Co. On Lewis Loyd's retirement in 1844, Samuel Loyd took control of the bank which merged with the London and Westminster Bank in 1863. Samuel Loyd was also involved in politics. He sat as the Liberal member for Hythe from 1819 to 1826 and in 1832 he unsuccessfully contested Manchester as a Liberal. In 1832, Loyd gave evidence before a parliamentary committee which was working on the Bank Act. Loyd warned against multiplying the issue of paper and permitting more than one bank of issue. He later went on to publish his evidence in 1837 in a work entitled Reflections on the State of the Currency. He again gave evidence before the committee of the House of Commons upon the banks of issue in 1840. The Bank Act, 1844, incorporated many of the ideas expressed by Loyd. During the 1840s and 50s Loyd published many pamphlets on financial matters and became a parliamentary advisor. Loyd was chairman of the Irish Famine Committee of 1846-9, received a peerage as Baron Overstone of Overstone and Fotheringhay in 1850. That same year he became a trustee of the National Gallery and, in 1851, he was a Commissioner of the Great Exhibition. He died at his house, 2 Carlton Gardens, London on 17 November 1883.
Louis René de Caradeuc de La Chalotais (1701-1785) was a French magistrate, who served as Advocate General (1730-1752) and Attorney General (from 1752) of the Breton Parlement. He led a protracted personal and political battle with the Duke of Pivot, who was Governor of Brittany and the King's representative, concerning the influence and fate of the Jesuit order. This led him to be seen as the head of the parliamentary opposition, and in 1765 he was imprisoned by Louis XV and later exiled. He was restored by Louis XVI in 1775.For an account of the circumstances in which his memoir was originally composed see Nouvelle Biographic Générale sub La Chalotais. The work was printed in several editions.
Francis Wormald was born on 1 June 1904. He was educated at Eton and Magdalene College, Cambridge. From 1927 to 1949 he served as Assistant Keeper at the Department of Manuscripts at the British Museum. During the Second World War Wormald served in the Ministry of Home Security, producing Civil Defence training films. He was Professor of Paleography at the University of London between 1950 and1960. In 1960 he was appointed Professor of History and Director of the Institute of Historical Research (IHR). Wormald was a member of the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton University, USA, from 1955 until 1956; the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments in 1957; the Advisory Council on Public Records from 1965 to 1967 and President of the Society of Antiquaries from 1965 to 1970. In 1967 he became a Trustee of the British Museum and Governor of the London Museum in 1971. His major publications include English Kalendars before AD 1100 (1934); English Benedictine Kalendars after 1100 (2 volumes, 1939 and 1946) and English Drawings of the 10th and 11th Centuries (1952). He also contributed articles to Archaelogia, Antiquaries Journal and the Walpole Society. He was appointed Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1961 and awarded a CBE in 1969. He died on 11 January 1972.
Tower was born in 1860 and went on to be educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with an MA in 1887. He entered the Diplomatic Service and became the Attaché for Constantinople before becoming Second Secretary to Madrid, Copenhagen, Berlin and Washington between 1892-1896. In 1897 he received the Jubilee Medal. He was the Secretary to the Legation for Peking, 1900 before adopting the position of Envoy Extraordinary to Siam, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Mexico and Argentina during the rest of his career. He was awarded the Coronation Medal in 1902 and again in 1911. He died in 1939.
Not available at present.
Beilby Porteus was born in York in 1731; his parents were Virginian colonists who had moved back to England. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1752 and tutored until 1757 when he was ordained. In 1759 he won the Seatonian Prize for his poem 'Death: a poetical essay'. By 1762 Porteus had been appointed domestic chaplain to Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury; in 1769 he became Chaplain to King George III, and was created Bishop of Chester in 1776. When Porteus was appointed Bishop of London in 1787, the British overseas colonies came under his jurisdiction. He had already shown a keen interest in the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and now organised missions to India and the West Indies. He also took part in House of Lords debates which opposed the slave trade, and was foremost amongst those trying to pass Sir William Dolben's Slave Carrying Bill in 1788. Porteus also published volumes of sermons and tracts on political and spiritual topics. He died in 1808.
Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) was a Roman advocate and senator, who acted as tutor and, following his accession, political advisor to the Roman emperor Nero. He was implicated in a conspiracy and forced to commit suicide. His writings included a series of Moral Essays, which included 'De Beneficiis' ('On Benefits'), in which he discussed favours and the nature of gratitude and ingratitude.
St Jerome (c340-420) wrote a large number of theological works. Amongst his earliest were his revisions of the Latin version of the New Testament, including the Epistles of St Paul in 385.
The Clementinae is a collection of canon law, promulgated (1317) by John XXII, and drawn mostly from the constitutions of Clement V at the Council of Vienne.
The Missal is a liturgical book which contains the prayers said by the priest at the altar as well as all that is officially read or sung in connection with the offering of the holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the ecclesiastical year.
Eric Edward Mockler-Ferryman was born on 27 June 1896 at Maidstone, Kent. After attending the Wellington Royal Military Academy he joined the Royal Artillery in 1915. During the First World War he served in France and Flanders. In 1919 he was promoted to the rank of Captain. Between the wars he served with the army in Ireland and Australia. Early in the Second World War he served in military intelligence and was promoted to Brigadier in August 1940 to head the intelligence branch of General Headquarters Home Forces. He served in the intelligence branch of General Eisenhower's Anglo-American Army and the Special Operations Executive, where he became its director of operations in North West Europe. After the war he had a spell with the Allied Control Commission in Hungary from 1945 to 1946. He retired from the army in 1947. He was awarded a CBE in 1941 as well as high orders from the United States, Belgium, France and Holland. He received an honorary MA from the University of London. He died in 1978.
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.
This manuscript was probably prepared in connection with the proceedings for the Union of 1707. The Act of Union was a treaty (1 May 1707) that effected the union of England and Scotland under the name of Great Britain.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
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.
Frank Sydney Milligan was born in 1894 and was educated at Liverpool University. At the outbreak of World War One, despite being a pacifist, Milligan enlisted as a private in the West Lancashire Field Ambulance Corp. He was at first a stretcher-bearer but later joined the ranks and while in the 7th King's Regiment (Liverpool), he was promoted to lieutenant. He received the Military Medal as a non-commissioned officer for immobilising an enemy machine gun and, as an officer, he received the Military Cross. Wounded and unfit for further service, Milligan resumed his education in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Birmingham where he obtained a degree and later an MA with Honours (1921). While at Birmingham, Milligan was president of the Guild of Undergraduates and was involved in the setting up of the National Union of Students. Milligan stayed on in Birmingham as a tutor under the Birmingham University Joint Committee for Tutorial Classes (Birmingham University and the Worker's Education Association) before joining the Beechcroft Centre for the unemployed in Birkenhead in 1924 as Warden. In 1929, Milligan, along with many avant-garde thinkers of the time, visited Russia where he was able to investigate the advanced methods in worker's education there. Milligan's view of adult education was that much more could be achieved by removing the student from their home environment, away from the pressures of work, family and peer group. An opportunity arose for an experiment in residential worker's education in summer 1933 when Darnhall, a large house in Cheshire, was made available to the National Council of Social Service for three months. Milligan would be involved in various educational institutions for years to come. Frank Milligan's development of a residential centre for unemployed men was overtaken by events before it could leave an influential legacy. The outbreak of World War Two dispensed with unemployment overnight and not until the 1970s was Britain to suffer again. Alternative methods of assistance were in place by then including schemes such as the Youth Training Scheme and Government intervention in job creation.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
Noel Gilroy Annan was born in 1916 and attended Stowe School and King's College, Cambridge. He served during World War Two in the War Office Cabinet Offices and Military Intelligence, 1940-1944, and as GSO1 at the Political Division of the British Control Commission, 1945-1946. He became a Fellow at King's College, Cambridge, in 1947, and remained there as a Lecturer in Politics from 1948 to 1966, during which period he was Provost of the College, 1956-1966. In 1966 he was appointed Provost at University College London, a post which he held until 1978. Annan was Vice-Chancellor of the University of London from 1978 to 1981. His other positions included acting as a Governor of Stowe School, 1945-1966, and Queen Mary College, London, 1956-1960; Trustee of Churchill College, Cambridge, 1958-1976, the British Museum, 1963-1980, and the National Gallery, 1978-1985; and the Director of the Royal Opera House, 1967-1978. He sat on numerous committees, most notably the Public Schools Commission, 1966-1970, and the Committee on the Future of Broadcasting, 1974-1977. In addition, Annan published several books, including Our age: portrait of a generation (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1990); Leslie Stephen: his thought and character in relation to his time (MacGibbon and Kee, London, 1951); Leslie Stephen: the godless Victorian (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1984); Changing enemies: the defeat and regeneration of Germany (HarperCollins, London, 1995); and The dons: mentors, eccentrics and geniuses (HarperCollins, London, 1999).Annan was given a life peerage in 1965. He died in 2000.
John Churchill (1650-1722) was an English general and statesman. His active part in suppressing Monmouth's rebellion led to him being raised to the peerage (1685), and following his support of William of Orange during the Glorious Revolution, he was created Earl of Marlborough in 1688. Mainly due to his wife Sarah's position as Queen Anne's main confidant, Marlborough rose to the height of his powers during the early part of Anne's reign, enjoying military success in the War of the Spanish Succession, and becoming politically powerful in England. Accusations of the mishandling of public funds led to his dismissal in 1711, and though he was returned to favour under George I and was again the chief commander of the Army, he played little part in public life until his death in 1722.
The term 'customs' applied to customary payments or dues of any kind, regal, episcopal or ecclesiastical until it became restricted to duties payable to the King upon export or import of certain articles of commerce. A Board of Customs for England and Wales was created in 1671.
Laurie Gardiner was a professor of Tudor history at Melbourne University. He died in 1991.
Charles Harding Firth was born in Sheffield on 16 March 1857. He received his education from Clifton College, New College, Oxford and Balliol College, Oxford where he graduated with a degree in Modern History in 1878. After lecturing for a period at his uncle's foundation, Firth College, he moved to Oxford in 1883. He was a history lecturer at Pembroke College, from 1883 to 1893, Ford's lecturer 1900-1901, in 1902 he became a research fellow at All Souls and he was Regius Professor of Modern History from 1904 to 1925. He was one of a group of historians who established the English Historical Review in 1886. He served as president of the Royal Historical Society from 1913-1917 and twice as president of the Historical Association, 1906-1910, and 1918-1920.
Firth received honorary degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Durham, Cambridge, Sheffield, Manchester and Oxford. He was given a knighthood in 1922. Firth's areas of historical interest included the military, travel, colonisation and Oliver Cromwell. Firth's works include, the Life of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, 1886, Oliver Cromwell 1900 and The House of Lords During the Civil War, 1910.
Smoldon was born at Forest Gate and trained as a teacher. His training included a period at Trinity College of Music: he was also a pupil of C H Kitson and took the University of London BMus and PhD. He held senior music posts at Stratford Grammar School (1934-47) and Cheshire Training College, Alsager (1948-62). He was an authority on medieval liturgical music drama, and wrote 'The Music of the Medieval Church Dramas' (ed Cynthia Bourgealt, Oxford University Press, 1980) and transcribed various medieval dramas, including 'Daniel' (Faith Press, 1960), 'Herod' (Stainer and Bell, 1960) and 'Peregrinus' (Oxford University Press, 1965). He died on 17 August 1974.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Born in 1923, Brown was a scholar of medieval manuscripts and Palaeography. He wrote and edited several publications towards the end of his life. Some of his most significant papers were published posthumously under the title of A Palaeographer's view - the selected writings of Julian Brown, 1993. He died in 1987.
The collection contains material from James Cook's student days at Imperial College, London in the 1920s and 1930s, papers relating to the Ipswich Unemployed Workers' League and other political activities in this period. There are papers relating to Cook's period in the South Place Ethical Society and general correspondence on national and international politics. The collection also contains papers relating to Cook's parliamentary campaigns in Henley-on-Thames in Berkshire and Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey; local political parties in Windsor; his time as Senator at the University of London and his involvement with the University of London Society; his membership of the Labour Party and his work in the General Municipal Workers Union. There is also material relating to Cook's personal life.
Joshua Gee was a London merchant, who was frequently consulted by the Government, particularly the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, on matters of trade, manufacturing and the colonies. He died in 1730, leaving a large fortune to his family. Publications: The trade and navigation of Great-Britain considered (Sam. Buckley, London, 1729).
Harold Foster Hallet was born in 1886, and was an engineering pupil at the work and shipyard of Messrs Young and Co at Poplar from 1904 to 1908, during which time he gained a BSc in Engineering from the University of London. In 1912 he gained an MA in Mental Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh, and went on to become a Lecturer in Logic, and Assistant in Logic and Metaphysics (1912-1916) and an Assistant in Moral Philosophy, 1915-1916. In 1919 Hallett was appointed Assistant Lecturer, 1919-1922, and Lecturer, 1922-1931, in Philosophy at the University of Leeds. He became Professor of Philosophy at King's College London from 1931 to 1951. Hallett was also the British Secretary of the Societas Spinoza, 1929-1935, Chairman of the Board of Philosophical Studies at the University of London, 1935-1945, and the author of numerous books and articles on philosophy.
Aretas Akers was born on the island of St Kitts in 1734, the eldest son of Edmund Akers, a man of English descent, who owned land on St Vincent. Akers acquired his own estates on St Kitts, and much later, inherited his father's estates on St Vincent. Akers added to his position of strength and influence in the islands through his marriage to Jean Douglas, the niece of the Governor of the Leeward Islands. He maintained his connections with Great Britain - having his children educated in Scotland and England. Jean Douglas died in 1768, soon after the birth of her seventh child - Akers did not remarry.
As a substantial landowner on St Kitts and St Vincent, Akers played an important role in finance, business, trade and politics of the islands. The influence of his position is demonstrated by the fact that he was appointed Receiver of the Casual Revenue or Droits of Admiralty for the Leeward Carribee Islands by the British government at the outset of the American War of Independence. This meant that he was responsible for the sale of ships and cargo captured during the war and distributed prize money to ships' crews. He was also appointed by Lord Rodney as one of the joint agents responsible for the distribution of prize money after the British conquered the island of St Eustatius in 1779.
Akers was also active in political life on St Kitts. He served as a represntative on the legislative assembly, but resigned from this position in 1769 as a result of a dispute ostensibly over the Governor's attempt to prevent assembly members who also acted for the British Government from voting for new representatives. As a result of this, Akers and his 6 fellow protestors were jailed for more than a month. After his release Akers may have travelled to London to bring the matter before the House of Commons, although it is unclear what the result of this was. In time all seven members of the assembly were re-elected to it. Akers also appears to visited England in 1774 in order to protest against the war with America because of the effect that it would have trade in the West Indies.
Aretas Akers and his family left St Kitts in 1782 when the island was captured by the French. The family settled in England, but Akers travelled to Paris in order to petition the French government concerning a problem with the Stubbs estate on St Vincent. He spent the remaining three years of his life working to bring some order to his financial and business affairs which had been thrown into chaos as a result of British losses in the West Indies. He was in dispute with the British government concerning the sale of ships and cargo in Tortola, where as a result of the lack of availability of currency he had accepted bonds from purchasers rather than cash. The government regarded Akers as been responsible for the subsequent debts. The Government also had a large claim against him for Droits of Admiralty for Greenwich Naval Hospital, which received unclaimed and forfeited shares of prize money. His financial position had been further weakened by the effect that the War and poor weather conditions had had on the management of his estates and trade.
Akers died in 1785, and in his will vested his estate in Alexander Douglas, his two sons, Edmund Fleming Akers and Aretas Akers, and William Forbes in trust for his heirs. Edmund and Aretas Akers then began the long process of ordering their father's tangled affairs so that the terms of the will could be executed. This process continued for more than twenty years, Edmund Akers managing affairs in the West Indies, and Aretas Akers II working from London.
Robert Saudek was born in Koln, Czechoslovakia on 21 April 1881. Between 1903 and 1909, he wrote several plays, essays, epigrams and novels, including A Child's conscience and Jewish Youths (1903), Eine gymnasisltragödie (1904), Und über uns leuchtende Sterne (1907) and Das Märchen des Meere (1909). Around the same time, he also studied at the University of Prague, Leipzig and the Sorbonne. During the First World War, Saudek maintained an Intelligence Unit in The Hague and at the end of the War in 1918 he entered the diplomatic service for the Czechoslovakian Government, serving in Holland and in England before finally settling in London. In that same year, Saudek also completed 'Die diplomaten' which was published in German, Czech, Dutch, French and Italian, and dealt with problem of graphology. In 1925 he published Wissenschaftliche Graphologie (Psychology of handwriting) which was followed by Experimentelle Graphologie (Experiments with handwriting) the following year, the latter published in Czechoslovakia and Holland. Saudek also lectured about experimental graphology at Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels and Prague. In 1931, he was one of the founders of the quarterly journal Character and Personality: An international quarterly for psychodiagnostics and allied studies in which he regularly published articles during the early 1930s. He completed the more populist work, What your handwriting means in 1932. Saudek died in London in 1935.
No further information available
Born 1852; published Les Surprises du Coeur in 1881; wrote an article in 1894: "The End of Books", which predicted that books would eventually become overtaken by other media. He founded the magazine The Book.
The Forth Bridge Railway Company was set up in 1873 with the aim of building a bridge across the Firth of Forth at Queensferry, thereby extending the Scottish railway system north from Edinburgh. The Forth Bridge Railway Company (though it was part of the LNER network) legally survived in name until it was absorbed by the British Transport Commission in 1948 in the aftermath of the nationalisation of the railways.
William Coney lived at 61 Wardour Street in London when he published this proposed Act in 1859.
Joan Gili was born into a publishing family in Barcelona in 1907 and emigrated to Britain in 1934. He helped found the Dolphin bookshop near Charing Cross Road, London and began his career as a publisher of Hispanic works in 1938. In the following year, Stephen Spender and Gili produced a translation of Nadal's selection of Lorca's poems. Gili wrote the influential "Introductory Catalan Grammar" in 1943. Several volumes of his translations of Catalan poems were published in the next few decades. Gili became a founding member of the Anglo-Catalan Society in 1954 and was later its president. He was also known as the "unofficial consul of the Catalans in Britain". Gili died in 1998.
Hanley, James (1901-1985), novelist and playwright, was born in Dublin in 1901, the son of Edward Hanley, a ship's stoker. The only school Hanley attended was St Alexandra's Roman Catholic primary school, near his home. At the age of twelve he left school and joined the merchant navy, serving in a submarine during the First World War. Three years later he jumped ship at New Brunswick to enlist in the Canadian Black Watch and eventually saw action in France. Invalided out of the army suffering from the effects of gas, he returned to the sea, working as a stoker on troop carriers, which he featured in some of his novels. He continued to educate himself, mainly by reading Russian literature, and having come ashore in the late 1920s earned a precarious living in a variety of jobs in docks, on the railway, and for a while at Aintree racecourse. Many of his early stories were published in the Liverpool Echo, the editor of which, E. Hope Prince, became his mentor.
Hanley's first novel, Drift (1930), and his first volume of stories, The German Prisoner (1930), were published shortly before his move to Wales, where he settled first at Glan Ceirw, Ty-nant, near Corwen in Merioneth, and then, in the autumn of 1941, at Bodynfoel Lodge and Tan-y-ffridd in the village of Llanfechain, Montgomeryshire. His second novel, Boy (1932), was originally published in an edition of 145 copies for subscribers only. An expurgated trade edition followed, but when in 1934 it was issued in a cheap edition, copies were seized by the police and the book was successfully prosecuted for obscenity. The publisher was fined £400 and copies of the book were burnt. Hanley forbade republication of the novel during his lifetime and it was not reissued until 1990.
The first of Hanley's novels about the Furys, a Liverpool Irish family, appeared in 1935 and a volume of autobiography, Broken Water, in 1937. On the outbreak of the Second World War he found work with the BBC and later with the Ministry of Information, but his home remained in Llanfechain until 1963, when he and his wife moved to London. During the war he wrote three novels of the sea which are among his best work: Hollow Sea (1938), The Ocean (1941), and Sailor's Song (1943). He also wrote the autobiographical No Directions (1943). Many of his stories and radio plays were broadcast on the BBC Third Programme during the 1940s. During his long residence in Wales, Hanley wrote four books: a collection of essays, Don Quixote Drowned (1953), and the novels The Welsh Sonata (1954), Another World (1971), and A Kingdom (1978). His 'Selected Stories' appeared in 1947 and 'Collected Stories' in 1953. Hanley died of bronchial pneumonia in November 1985.
The Cusichaca Trust (1977-2018) was established by Ann Kendall, as a non-profit organisation whose initial aim was to excavate and analyse Peruvian Inca materials. When the Trust's full-scale programme of fieldwork began in 1978 it did so as the Cusichaca Archaeological Project.
The first phase of work, as carried out by the Cusichaca Archaeological Project (CAP) under the auspices of the Cusichaca Trust, took place between 1978 and 1987. The CAP worked in various sites in and around the valley of the Cusichaca River, including Huillca Raccay [sometimes referred to as Huillca Racay], Patallacta, Pulpituyoc, Olleriayoc Trancapata, Quishuarpata, Huayna Quente and the Huillca Raccay Tableland. The work involved excavation, processing finds, archaeological reconnaissance, and analysis. There was an abundance of finds relating to pottery and ceramics, which led to a number of articles and publications.
Archaeological excavation at the Inca site of Huillca Raccay and at other sites around and above the junction of the Cusichaca and Urubamba rivers, revealed a sequence of distinct occupations from c.700 BC to the time of the Spanish conquest in the 1530s. Excavation work indicated that before the appearance of the Inca the area was already well cultivated and populated, and that they extensively remodelled the landscape, constructing formidable systems of agricultural terraces, extending earlier irrigation canals and building new ones. Local populations were relocated to exploit the land more intensively, and one of the area's main functions would almost certainly have been to provide Machu Picchu, 25 kms down the Urubamba river, with maize and other crops.
As a part of the initial archaeological survey, the CAP discovered that most of the ancient irrigation canals in the Cusichaca area, were in relatively good condition. They included the 4 km- long Quishuarpata canal that had once watered extensive pre-Inca and Inca terraced lands. The CAP proposed that they and the local community should collaborate to restore the canal and return neglected agricultural land to productive use. This led to an arrangement with the Peruvian National Institute of Culture (INC), who allowed the CAP to undertake the rehabilitation of the canal. Work began in 1981 and, within two seasons, restoration work on the canal had extended back to its original intake off the Huallancay River. By then the local beneficiaries had taken over and ran the implementation of the project. In October 1983, the canal became operational in its entirety. Newly irrigated, the terraced uplands produced many varieties of Andean cultivars including potatoes, tarwi (Lupinus mutabilis), quinoa, and varieties of kiwicha, which complemented local maize in a crop rotation. Rehabilitating the remains of the past to help improve the economic conditions of poor farmers in the present made the work of the Cusichaca Trust an innovative and significant example of 'applied archaeology', demonstrating a valuable, practical relationship between archaeology and rural development.
The second major phase of CAP work took place in the Patacancha Valley, between 1987 and 1997. In 1987, communities from along the valley approached the CAP for assistance, having been impressed by the rehabilitation work achieved at Cusichaca. The Patacancha work received funding from a number of aid agencies in the United Kingdom and Europe, reflecting the increased focus on rural development. The main achievement was the rehabilitation of the 6 km-long Pumamarca canal, an original pre-Inca structure extended during the Inca period, along with the restoration of agricultural terracing in the surrounding valley. Around this canal and terrace restoration centrepiece, other components of a wider rural development project were designed, which addressed the many other needs of farming communities in the valley. For a long time, pressure on the land, without adequate management, had created a vicious circle of damage to the environment. Overworked soils were thin and eroded, while native tree and forest cover had largely gone, to be replaced by extensive stands of eucalyptus. CAP agronomists and field workers ran courses for local farmers in soil conservation and embarked on an extensive reforestation programme with native species of trees. Health was another concern in the region. In particular, local people were used to taking water from streams running close to their villages. These were often contaminated and infections were commonplace, prompting the trust to support low-cost potable water schemes, piping water from springs and high altitude streams. Encouragement was also given to the introduction of kitchen gardens to grow vegetable crops not previously cultivated such as cabbage, lettuce, carrots, and onions. The gardens were irrigated by the newly-piped water systems. Extended family greenhouses were also installed to augment the high-altitude diet and provide extra opportunities for the marketing of produce. When the CAP work ended in 1997, local staff formed their own independent NGO, which acquired funding for further work in the area. There was a significant archaeological component to the work in the Patacancha valley, especially at the pre-Inca and Inca sites at Pumamarca and around the impressive promontory site of Hatun Aya Orqo. CAP work in the valley culminated in the establishment of a cultural centre and museum in Ollantaytambo, designed to act as a local resource, training centre, and store of indigenous knowledge.
The third major phase of work carried out under the auspices of the Cusichaca Trust, between 1997 and 2013, focused on the remote Apurimac and Ayacucho areas to the north-west of Cuzco, some of the poorest parts of Peru and badly affected by the activities of the 'Shining Path' in the 1980s and early 90s . Many of the strategies developed in the Patacancha valley were adopted here too, and, after a period of research and feasibility studies, a series of integrated projects was put together with local communities. These focussed on health and nutrition, conservation of the environment, agricultural extension and the establishment of a series of skills centres, including carpentry and blacksmith's workshops and horticultural centres. Increasing agricultural production required major works to restore pre-Hispanic irrigation canals and terrace systems. This work was bolstered by awareness-raising programmes for local communities, as well as local and national government, and a series of seminars, courses, and major conferences were designed to promote traditional Andean technology more widely. The programmes included a National Seminar, organized by the Cusichaca Trust and other agencies in Lima in 2006, where it was agreed that a coordinated national plan to rehabilitate irrigated terrace systems would make a significant contribution to rural development and to water conservation in the Peruvian highlands. In June 2014, the second International Terraces Conference was held in Cuzco, the first having taken place in China in 2012.
In 2003, the Asociación Andina Cusichaca was founded, as a successor body to the Cusichaca Trust. The AAC became an independent Peruvian NGO, its purpose being to act as an advisor to the Peruvian government agency Agro Rural in its involvement in a programme of terrace rehabilitation funded by the Inter-American Development Bank. The Cusichaca Trust was active for some 40 years. The Trust's legacy includes the quality and extent of its archaeological work, which has contributed significantly to the understanding of the pre-Inca and Inca periods in the Inca heartlands. As important is the Trust's collaboration with local communities and active demonstration of "applied archaeology". The work undertaken to cultivate the land and to utilise the environment as effectively as possible was highly unusual for an archaeological project. The Inca were extremely effective at managing their terrain to feed and nourish their population in a pre-industrial society, and the Cusichaca Trust found a way to make ancient knowledge and practices relevant in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The Cusichaca Trust was notable for its large scale and the multiplicity of its projects and activities. The Cusichaca and the Patacancha became magnets for archaeologists, ethnographers, social historians, geographers, environmentalists and rural development workers. Many CAP staff and volunteers went on to specialise in their fields, using the data and experience gained during work in Cusichaca and the Patacancha in academic papers and dissertations.
El Cusichaca Trust (1977-2018) fue establecido por Ann Kendall, como una organización sin fines de lucro cuyo objetivo inicial era excavar y analizar materiales incas peruanos. Cuando el programa de trabajo de campo a gran escala del Trust comenzó en 1978, lo hizo como el Proyecto Arqueológico de Cusichaca.
La primera fase del trabajo, realizada por el Proyecto Arqueológico de Cusichaca (PAC) bajo los auspicios del Cusichaca Trust, tuvo lugar entre 1978 y 1987. El PAC trabajó en varios sitios dentro y alrededor del valle del río Cusichaca, incluidas las zonasde Huillca Raccay [a veces llamado Huillca Racay], Patallacta, Pulpituyoc, Olleriayoc Trancapata, Quishuarpata, Huayna Quente y la meseta Huillca Raccay. El trabajo incluyó excavación, procesamiento de hallazgos, reconocimiento arqueológico y análisis. Hubo una gran cantidad de hallazgos relacionados con la cerámica, lo que condujo a una serie de artículos y publicaciones.
La excavación arqueológica en el sitio inca de Huillca Raccay y en otros sitios alrededor y por encima de la unión de los ríos Cusichaca y Urubamba, reveló una secuencia de ocupaciones distintas desde el año 700 a. C. hasta la época de la conquista española en la década de 1530. El trabajo de excavación indicó que antes de la aparición del Inca el área ya estaba bien cultivada y poblada, y que remodelaron ampliamente el paisaje, construyeron sistemas formidables de terrazas agrícolas, extendieron canales de riego anteriores y construyeron otros nuevos. Las poblaciones locales fueron reubicadas para explotar la tierra de manera más intensiva, y una de las principales funciones del área habría sido proporcionar a Machu Picchu, a 25 kilómetros río abajo del río Urubamba, maíz y otros cultivos.
Como parte del estudio arqueológico inicial, el PAC descubrió que la mayoría de los antiguos canales de riego en el área de Cusichaca, estaban relativamente en buenas condiciones. Incluían el canal Quishuarpata de 4 km de largo que una vez había regado extensas tierras en terrazas pre-incas e incas. El PAC propuso que ellos y la comunidad local colaborasen para restaurar el canal y devolver las tierras agrícolas abandonadas a un uso productivo. Esto llevó a un acuerdo con el Instituto Nacional de Cultura del Perú (INC), que permitió que el PAC emprendiera la rehabilitación del canal. El trabajo comenzó en 1981 y, en dos temporadas, los trabajos de restauración en el canal se habían extendido a su toma original del río Huallancay. Para entonces, los beneficiarios locales se habían hecho cargo y llevaron a cabo la implementación del proyecto. En octubre de 1983, el canal comenzó a funcionar en su totalidad. Recién regadas, las tierras altas en terrazas produjeron muchas variedades de cultivos andinos, incluyendo papas, tarwi (Lupinus mutabilis), quinua y variedades de kiwicha, que complementaron el maíz local a través de rotación de cultivos. La rehabilitación de los restos del pasado para ayudar a mejorar las condiciones económicas de los agricultores pobres en el presente hizo que el trabajo del Cusichaca Trust sea un ejemplo innovador y significativo de "arqueología aplicada", demostrando una relación práctica y valiosa entre la arqueología y el desarrollo rural.
La segunda fase principal del trabajo delPAC tuvo lugar en el valle de Patacancha, entre 1987 y 1997. En 1987, las comunidades de todo el valle se acercaron al PAC en busca de ayuda, impresionados por el trabajo de rehabilitación realizado en Cusichaca. El trabajo de Patacancha recibió fondos de varias agencias de ayuda en el Reino Unido y Europa, lo que refleja el mayor enfoque en el desarrollo rural de la zona. El logro principal fue la rehabilitación del canal de Pumamarca de 6 km de largo, una estructura original preincaica extendida durante el período inca, junto con la restauración de las terrazas agrícolas en el valle circundante. Alrededor de esta pieza central de restauración de canales y terrazas, se diseñaron otros componentes de un proyecto de desarrollo rural más amplio, que atendió las muchas otras necesidades de las comunidades agrícolas en el valle. Durante mucho tiempo, la presión sobre la tierra, sin una gestión adecuada, había creado un círculo vicioso de daños al medio ambiente. Los suelos excesivamente trabajados eran delgados y erosionados, mientras que la cobertura de árboles y bosques nativos había desaparecido en gran medida, para ser reemplazados por extensos rodales de eucaliptos. Los agrónomos y los trabajadores de campo de PAC impartieron cursos para agricultores locales sobre conservación del suelo y se embarcaron en un extenso programa de reforestación con especies nativas de árboles. La salud era otra preocupación en la región. En particular, la gente local estaba acostumbrada a tomar agua de los arroyos que corren cerca de sus aldeas. Estos a menudo estaban contaminados y las infecciones eran comunes, lo que provocó la necesidad de apoyar sistemas de agua potable de bajo costo, tuberías de agua de manantiales y arroyos de gran altitud. También se alentó la introducción de huertos familiares para introducir cultivos de hortalizas no cultivados previamente, como repollo, lechuga, zanahorias y cebollas. Los jardines fueron regados por los sistemas de agua recién conectados. También se instalaron invernaderos familiares para mejorar la dieta a gran altitud y generar oportunidades adicionales para la comercialización de productos. Cuando el trabajo de PAC terminó en 1997, el personal local formó su propia ONG independiente, que adquirió fondos para seguir trabajando en el área.
Hubo un componente arqueológico significativo en el trabajo en el valle de Patacancha, especialmente en los sitios preincaicos e incas en Pumamarca y alrededor del impresionante promontorio de Hatun Aya Orqo. El trabajo deL PAC en el valle culminó con el establecimiento de un centro cultural y museo en Ollantaytambo, diseñado para actuar como un recurso local, centro de capacitación y lugar depositario del conocimiento indígena.
La tercera fase principal de trabajo realizada bajo los auspicios del Cusichaca Trust, entre 1997 y 2013, se centró en las áreas remotas de Apurímac y Ayacucho al noroeste de Cuzco, algunas de las partes más pobres del Perú y gravemente afectadas por las actividades de 'Sendero Luminoso' en la década de 1980 y principios de los 90. Aquí también se adoptaron muchas de las estrategias desarrolladas en el valle de Patacancha y, después de un período de investigación y estudio de viabilidad, se reunió una serie de proyectos integrados con las comunidades locales. Estos se centraron en la salud y la nutrición, la conservación del medio ambiente, la extensión agrícola y el establecimiento de una serie de centros de formación y capacitación, incluidos talleres de carpintería y herrería y centros hortícolas. El aumento de la producción agrícola requirió grandes obras para restaurar los canales de riego prehispánicos y los sistemas de terrazas. Este trabajo se vio reforzado por programas de sensibilización para las comunidades locales, así como por el gobierno local y nacional, y se diseñó una serie de seminarios, cursos y conferencias para promover más ampliamente la tecnología tradicional andina. Los programas incluyeron un Seminario Nacional, organizado por el Cusichaca Trust y otras agencias en Lima en 2006, donde se acordó que un plan nacional coordinado para rehabilitar los sistemas de terrazas irrigadas contribuiría significativamente al desarrollo rural y a la conservación del agua en las tierras altas peruanas. En junio de 2014, se celebró la segunda Conferencia Internacional de Terrazas en Cuzco, la primera tuvo lugar en China en 2012.
En 2003, se fundó la Asociación Andina Cusichaca (AAC), como organismo sucesor del Cusichaca Trust. La AAC se convirtió en una ONG peruana independiente, con el propósito de actuar como asesor de la agencia gubernamental peruana Agro Rural en su participación en un programa de rehabilitación de terrazas financiado por el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo.
El Cusichaca Trust estuvo activo durante unos 40 años. El legado del Trust da cuenta de la calidad y el alcance de su trabajo arqueológico, que ha contribuido significativamente a la comprensión de los períodos preincaico e inca en el corazón de las regiones dominadas por los incas. De especial importancia fue fue la colaboración de Trust con las comunidades locales y la demostración activa de "arqueología aplicada". El trabajo realizado para cultivar la tierra y utilizar el medio ambiente de la manera más efectiva posible fue muy algo poco usual en un proyecto arqueológico. Los incas fueron extremadamente efectivos en la gestión de su terreno para alimentar y nutrir a su población en una sociedad preindustrial, y el Cusichaca Trust encontró una manera de hacer que los conocimientos y prácticas ancestrales fueran de nuevo relevantes en los siglos XX y XXI.
El Trust Cusichaca se destacó por la gran escala y la multiplicidad de sus proyectos y actividades. Los proyectos Cusichaca y Patacancha se convirtieron en imanes para arqueólogos, etnógrafos, historiadores sociales, geógrafos, medioambientalistas y trabajadores de desarrollo rural. Muchos empleados y voluntarios de PAC se especializaron en sus campos, utilizando los datos y la experiencia adquiridos durante el trabajo en Cusichaca y Patacancha en diversos trabajos académicos y disertaciones.
Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Fifeshire in 1835, and emigrated with his family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, aged 13. In 1853 he started working for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, becoming a divisional superintendent in 1859, aged 24. He continued to work in the railway and steel industries, and by c1863 his work and investments had made him a dollar millionaire. Carnegie retired to the Scottish Highlands aged 65 and became known as a philanthropist; his name is particularly associated with the founding of free public libraries. Carnegie died in 1919.