Born in Chalfont-St-Giles, Buckinghamshire, 1904; son of Roland Allen (a missionary in North China with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel until his resignation in 1907, and a radical critic of the Church) and his wife (Mary) Beatrice (née Tarleton); educated at Westminster School; studied classics at St John's College Oxford; travelled to the Sudan to work on the Gezia Cotton Scheme Project for the Sudan Plantations Syndicate as Assistant Inspector of a cotton plantation, 1927; learnt to speak Arabic and developed an interest in Islamic culture and the Islamic world; returned to England and entered the Colonial Service as Superintendent of Schools in Tanganyika (later Tanzania), 1929; married Winifred 'Winkie' Ethel Emma Brooke (d 1991), 1930; became increasingly interested in the Swahili language; gained a diploma in Swahili from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, by distance learning, 1932; Political Officer and then Deputy British Agent in the Western Aden Protectorate, 1947-1952; returned to Tanganyika, 1952; left the Colonial Service, 1958; Secretary of the Inter-Territorial Swahili Language Committee from 1959; a close friend of many East African writers, notably Shabaan Robert; appointed Honorary Research Fellow at University College, Dar-es-Salaam, with a Rockefeller Foundation grant to document Swahili, 1965; collected, edited and published Swahili and Arabic manuscripts; with his wife, made extensive collections on the East African coast in connection with his academic post and in conjunction with the East African Swahili Committee; Director of the Institute of Swahili Research, University of Dar-es-Salaam, 1968-1970; after retirement from the University, with his wife ran the special Swahili language programme at the Danish Volunteer Training Centre in Tengeru, near Arusha, 1970-1973; continued to translate and publish Swahili texts; four children; died, 1979. For further biographical details see Friederike Wilkening, Der Swahilist John Willoughby Tarleton Allen - Biographie, Werk und Bibliotek (Universität zu Koln, 1998). Publications include: Maandiko ya Kizungu yaani kitabu cha kusomea herufi wanazozitumia wazungu, etc (Swahili-Arabic reader) (Longmans & Co, London, 1938, and later editions); Utenzi wa Vita vya Wadachi Kutamalaki Mrima: the German conquest of the Swahili coast (Beauchamp Printing Co, Arusha, 1955); Utenzi wa Kutawafu Nabii: the release of the Prophet (Beauchamp Printing Co, Arusha, 1956); The Swahili and Arabic manuscripts and tapes in the Library of the University College, Dar-es-Salaam: a catalogue (E J Brill, Leiden, 1970); Tendi: six examples of a Swahili classical verse form (Heinemann Educational, Nairobi and London, 1971); The customs of the Swahili people: the Desturi za Waswahili of Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari and other Swahili persons (University of California Press, Berkeley and London, 1981); A Poem concerning the death of the prophet Muhammad: Utendi wa kutawafu Nabii, a traditional Swahili epic (Edwin Mellen, Lewiston and Lampeter, 1991).
Ifor Ball Powell was born on 12 September 1902, at Llanfihangel Talyllyn, Brecon. He was a student at Aberystwyth in the early 1920s, where he came under the influence of C. K. Webster and Sidney Herbert in the then newly founded department of International Politics. A Rockefeller fellowship took him to the University of Michigan to study American history. While there he became interested in the Far East. Powell became particularly interested in the Philippines, when he arrived there as a Rockefeller scholar in 1926. He spent three years visiting islands in the central and southern Philippines, collecting a vast amount of information and material on the government, economy and history of the islands. He was particularly interested in the history of the British in the Philippines and collected material on British firms and society. After his return to Britain, and for the rest of his life, Ifor Powell continued his interest in and links with the Philippines, writing to many Filipino friends and colleagues and maintaining an extensive collection of press cuttings.
During the 1930s, Ifor Powell taught history at Barry County Grammar School for Boys. In 1940 he took up wartime duties as a temporary civil servant in the Ministry of Labour. He also visited the United States as a representative of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. In 1945 he was appointed to the Department of History, University College, Cardiff, to teach modern European history. In this position he introduced courses on the expansion of Europe, Far Eastern and American history. From 1949 his teaching was entirely in these fields. Cardiff was thus among one of the first history departments in the UK to widen its syllabus to accommodate new areas of interest created by the Second World War.
He married Anne Nora Lewis (d. 9 March 1983) on 18 August 1931. There were no children. Ifor Ball Powell died on 11 December 1986, at Barry, Glamorgan.
Gledhill Stanley Blatch was born in 1916. He worked for Unilever in the cocoa trade on the Gold Coast between 1937-1938, and then during World War II served the British Government as an intelligence officer. He remained in Germany after the War, attached to the British Forces, until his retirement in 1979. He died in 1987.
From the early 1960s, Gledhill Blatch developed an active interest in Ethiopian affairs, visiting Eritrea regularly before the fighting became too intense and his own health began to fail. His original interest was in the history and archaeology of the country, but as his knowledge and circle of acquaintances grew, he developed an interest in its socio-political affairs.
Wilfred Lawson Blythe was born on 9 November 1896 and was educated at the Universities of Liverpool and Grenoble. He served in the First World War, 1915-1919, and joined the Malayan Civil Service in 1921. He studied Chinese in Canton during 1922-1924 and became the Protector of Chinese in various parts of Malaya during 1926-1936. He served as the Deputy President of the Municipality in Penang, 1936-1937, and again in 1939-1940 and as Deputy Controller of Labour (Chinese) during 1941-1942. He served with the Army in Malaya in 1942 and was interned from 1942-1945. In 1946 he became the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, Federation of Malaya. From 1948-1950 he became the President of the Municipal Commission in Singapore. In 1950 he became Colonial Secretary of Singapore and remained there until his retirement in 1953. In 1969 he wrote Secret Societies in Malaya. He married Muriel Gertrude Woodward in 1925. He died in 1975.
Tom Pearson Cromwell was born in 1909 and educated at Bradford High School, and at Christ's College, Cambridge. He joined the Colonial Administrative Service in 1932 and served as a cadet in Malaya until 1939. He was interned from 1942-1945. In 1945 he conducted a survey on Chinese schools in Malaya. He became the Assistant Secretary for Chinese Affairs in Malaya in 1946, holding the Portfolio of Labour in Sarawak by 1947. In 1953, he was appointed Director of Social Welfare in Singapore. From 1957 until he retired in 1960, he held the post of Departmental Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Lands and Housing.
William Millman was born on 1 March 1872. His upbringing was strict and puritanical, his parents being devout Congregationalists. He trained as a pupil-teacher in Wolverhampton in 1885, and then moved with his family to Leicester in 1888, where he became a teacher in 1893. In 1897 he was accepted by the Baptist Missionary Society and in the same year left England for the Congo. Shortly after his arrival in Yakusu, Walter Stapleton, the missionary responsible for the station, left on furlough, leaving Millman in charge. During his own first furlough in 1901, he married. Tragically, shortly after their return to Yakusu, his wife died. In 1906, Walter Stapleton died. Millman took it upon himself to visit his widow, Edith, to return various personal effects left behind in the mission field. In 1908 Millman and Edith were married and returned together to Yakusu. In 1909 their daughter, Litwasi, was born. In 1912 Litwasi was taken to live in England while William and Edith continued their missionary work in Africa. During their time there, they undertook the building of a hospital and a church premises, and William used his language skills to translate much of the New Testament into Lokele. Upon their retirement from the mission field, they returned to live in Worthing, England. Edith died of natural causes in 1952, and William Millman died on 14 March 1956.
Melvin Lee Perlman was born in 1933, in Pampa, Texas. He entered Yale University in 1951 having won a four-year fellowship to do a B.A. degree in Human Culture and Behaviour. From 1955 to 1956 he studied Hebrew language and culture at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. After securing a Graduate Assistantship at Oxford University he did a one-year diploma in Anthropology at Oxford and passed with distinction in 1957. During 1957 and 1958 he read for a B.Litt degree in Social Anthropology at the same university. In 1963 he obtained the degree of D.Phil in Social Anthropology from Oxford University.
Between 1959 and 1962 he was engaged as Research Fellow of the East African Institute of Social Research (EAISR) of Makere University College, Kampala, Uganda, where he undertook a research study on marriage and family life in Uganda with special reference to Toro. In 1961, while on contract to the EAISR, he also undertook a study with recommendations for the Uganda Company on: Factors Affecting Labour Stability on the Uganda Company Tea Estates in Toro District, Uganda. Melvin Perlman died in May 1988.
William, sixth Lord Paget, was born on 10 February 1637, the eldest son of William, fifth Lord Paget. On 25 November 1678 he took up his seat in the House of Lords. In 1681 he signed a petition against the Parliament being held at Oxford. On the landing of the Prince of Orange, he was one of the Peers who petitioned the King to call a 'free parliament'. He subsequently voted for the vacancy of the throne and for settling the Crown on William and Mary, the Prince and Princess of Orange. On their accession, he was constituted the Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire in March 1688-1689.
In September 1690 he was appointed Ambassador at Vienna. He held this post until February 1693, when he was appointed as Ambassador-Extraordinary to Turkey. In this role he participated in the negotiations for a treaty of peace between the Imperialists, Poles and Turks, resulting in the Treaty of Carlowitz on 26 January 1699. Shortly afterwards he was instrumental in the peace between Muscovy, the State of Venice and the Turks. The Sultan and Grand Vizier of Turkey wrote to William III in March 1699, asking that Paget would not be recalled home, as Paget himself desired. Paget consented to stay, finally quitting the Turkish Court at Adrianople in May 1702. Between July and November 1702, Paget stayed in Vienna to settle the dispute that had arisen between the Emperor and the Grand Seignior concerning the limits of their respective territories in the Province of Bosnia. In December 1702, he attended the Court of Bavaria to offer England's mediation in adjusting the differences between the Prince and the Emperor. He arrived back in London in April 1703. On 24 June 1703, he was re-appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire. Paget died on 26 February 1713.
George Gordon Hake was born in 1847. He spent thirteen years from 1891 working in southern Africa, initially with the British South Africa Company and later with the Tanganyika Telegraph Service during 1889 and 1903 in the Mashonaland area. He died in 1903 and was buried at Port Herald.
George Gordon Hake was closely connected to the Rossetti family in their later years, acting as a 'minder' to Dante Gabriel Rossetti during one of their family holidays. Christina Rossetti was also godmother to his daughter Ursula.
Frederick William Parsons was born on February 9 1908. After studying Classics at Marlborough College, he went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained a first class honours degree in Classical Moderations. He entered the Colonial Administrative Service in the early 1930's and spent 13 years in the northern provinces of Nigeria. In 1946, Parsons was appointed as Lecturer in Hausa at the School of Oriental and African Studies, assisting the Reverend George Percival Bargery in the provision of language training for colonial officials. He was appointed Reader in Hausa in 1965, a position he held until he retired in 1975. He is universally recognised as the pivotal figure in Hausa linguistic studies during the post-Second World War period. He died in 1993.
Parsons is probably best known for his influential publications on the Hausa verbal system: Afrika und Ubersee 44(1): 1-36, 1960; Afrika und Ubersee 55(1/2): 44-96; Afrika und Ubersee 55(3): 188-208, 1971/2; Journal of African Language, 1(2): 253-72, 1962, and also on the operation of grammatical gender: African Languages Studies, 1960/61/63, 1: 117-36, 2: 100-24, 4: 166-207. His earlier (1959) translation into Hausa of the Northern Nigerian Penal Code is also widely recognised as an outstanding piece of scholarship.
Publications on Parson's work include Writings on Hausa Grammar: the Collected Papers of F. W. Parsons (Graham Furniss & Ann Arbor, ed., University Microfilms, 1981), and Studies in Hausa Language and Linguistics (Graham Furniss & Philip J. Jaggar ed., Kegan Paul International, London, 1988).
The Club de Dakar was founded on 2-3 December 1974 as a French initiative to improve industrial relations between western industries and Francophone African countries. It was instigated by Mohammed T. Diawara (later President of the Club), Minister for Planning, Ivory Coast. Following conferences in Birmingham in 1978, a British branch was established and interests were expanded to include Anglophone African countries. It seems that the Club de Dakar ceased its activities in c1988.
Hannah Stanton was born on 30 November 1913. She was educated privately at Summerleigh, Teddington, and went on to read English at London University, and to take a diploma in Social Science at the School of Economics. She worked for some time as a Hospital Almoner in Liverpool and London. From 1947 to 1948 she worked with the Friends Relief Service with refugees in post war Europe. In 1954, she began a Theology degree at Oxford.
Following the completion of her degree in August 1956, she visited her brother Tom who worked for the Community of the Resurrection in South Africa. She became involved in the Tumelong Mission in Lady Selborne, a black township near Pretoria, and in December 1956 took over as Warden. Whilst working at the Mission, she endeavoured to undertake her spiritual and material work for the people of Lady Selbourne despite the forces of apartheid. However, following the increased violence and activities of the police culminating in the Sharpeville Massacre of 21 March 1960, she found herself under surveillance. On 30 March 1960 she was arrested and held without charge, and without access to a lawyer until 21 May 1960, when she was deported. During this time she was held at Pretoria Central Gaol. She shared a cell with Helen Joseph. In 1962 she worked as Warden for the Mary Stuart Women's Hall at Makere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Following her return to England she wrote Go Well, Stay Well: South Africa, August 1956 to May 1960, describing her experiences in South Africa. Once she had returned home to Hampton Hill, she became involved in various campaigns including support for the Anti-Apartheid Movement. She also served as Secretary and Assistant Treasurer of the United Kingdom and Ireland Group of the World Conference on Religions and Peace. Hannah Stanton died on 9 December 1993.
Mary Elizabeth (Diane) Noakes (née Bixby) was born on 30 December 1911 in Mile End, East London. She had a number of secretarial jobs, including working for the Toynbee Hall Settlement. In 1941 she volunteered into the Women's Royal Air Force, where she carried out welfare, educational and administrative duties, and attained the position of Sergeant. After the War she trained as a teacher at Borthwick Teacher Training College, London, and worked from 1947-1949 at Peckham Secondary School for Girls teaching commercial subjects.
In 1951, Diane Noakes was invited by the Ugandan African Farmers' Union to help resolve disputes. She was already Secretary of the Working Party of the Congress of Peoples Against Imperialism (later amalgamated with other organisations to become the Movement for Colonial Freedom), and went to Uganda in this capacity. She reached agreement over cotton ginning and established the Abalini Co-operative for farmers; she established a school and clinic, and a weaving factory was also set up for women. Although the Abalini Cooperative folded, the Abesigwa Coffee Co. Ltd. was established. In 1965 Diane Noakes was appointed to the paid position of Executive Secretary of the Central Council of the Indian Associations in Uganda. She was also involved with the establishment of the Uganda Children's Welfare Society.
Following her return from Uganda in 1958, she gained employment at the Kellogg International Corporation in London, and advanced to the position of Assistant Metallurgist. Socially, she was a member of the Labour Party and Political Education Officer for Thornton Ward, and was involved with the running of the Kellogg Corporation photography club. She retired in 1971 and bought a house near Shap, in the Lake District, where amongst other things she campaigned for 'Cumbrians for Peace'. Diane Noakes died on 21 November 1983, following a period of illness.
Thomas Stanley Lane Fox-Pitt was born on 27 November 1897. From the age of 12 he attended the Royal Navy College, Osborne, and two years later the Royal Naval College, Dartford. When war was declared in 1914 he was mobilised for active service. He retired from the navy after the war and joined the Colonial Administrative Service in Northern Rhodesia in 1927. He was stationed at Balovale, then part of Barotseland, as a cadet in 1928 and appointed District Officer in 1930. In the same year he married Marjory Hope Barton.
From 1923 to 1939 he served on the Copperbelt, first as a District Officer at Ndola and then at Mpika. He was particularly concerned at the conditions of the mineworkers and represented their complaints to the Colonial Government. During the Second World War, Fox-Pitt served in the Royal Navy with a convoy escort in the North Atlantic. Afterwards he returned to the Copperbelt, this time to Kitwe. He spent two evenings a week teaching English in an African night school. In the face of great opposition from the Colonial Government he encouraged the emergent trade unions and helped them to forge links with the European miners' trade unions. As a result he was transferred from the Copperbelt to become acting Provincial Commissioner in Barotseland in 1948, and a year later to Fort Jameson in the Eastern Province. Again he became involved in a dispute over African labour, concerning the sale of flu-cured tobacco. In 1951 he was put on the retired list. He remained in Northern Rhodesia, living on a smallholding in Kitwe and working with African organisations in opposition to the growing possibility of a Central African Federation.
One of the most fervent opponents of federation was a Lithuanian, Simon Ber Zukas, who had returned to Northern Rhodesia at the beginning of 1951 but was deported the following year for 'conducting himself so as to be a danger to peace and good order in the territory'. He and Fox-Pitt worked very closely together for the same cause after Fox-Pitt's return to England in December 1952. Fox-Pitt's term as Secretary of 'Racial Unity' (1952-1953) spanned the advent and birth of the Central African Federation which received the Queen's Assent on 1 August 1953. In 1953 he became Secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society, co-operating closely with other anti-federation movements such as the Movement for Colonial Freedom and the nationalist Congress parties in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It was decided after the return of Harold Macmillan's Conservative Government in November 1959, which supported federation, that the work of the campaign would have to go underground. From 1960, Fox-Pitt's energies were channelled largely into the London Committee of Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP). As a consequence he found himself embroiled in a libel case with Sir Roy Welensky. The magazine produced by the Committee had, in Fox-Pitt's absence, made an unsubstantiated claim that Welensky was involved in the death of the Secretary General of the United Nations. UNIP was fined 1000 dollars.
The Central African Federation was dissolved on 31 December 1963. Fox-Pitt attended the Zambia Independence celebrations in 1964 at which he received the Order of the Freedom of Zambia. For the next two years he served in the Local Government Department of the Independent Zambian Government and on a commission concerning civil service salaries. In 1966 he retired to England. He died in 1989.
The Restatement of African Law Project was a research initiative based at the Department of Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), active from the 1950s to the 1970s. Dr Antony N Allott (1924-2002), successively Lecturer, 1948, Reader, 1960, Professor, 1964, and Emeritus Professor, 1987, of African Law at SOAS, was involved in the project and edited the resulting series of publications (published by Sweet and Maxwell from 1968).
Trained and worked as a nurse; served as a missionary with the China Inland Mission from 1902; undertook medical, educational, and evangelistic work. Publications: The Clock Man's Mother, and other stories (London, 1930); The Tin Traveller (London, 1931). Her name is often found spelt Tippett.
No information available.
Arthur Cowper Raynard was born in Kent in 1845; studied at University College London, co-founding a mathematical society with George De Morgan (son of Augustus De Morgan), before entering Pembroke College, Cambridge, from which he graduated MA in 1868. Ranyard was called the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1871 and thereafter practised law, but his income was sufficient to allow him to spend much of his time studying astronomy. He became a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1863 and spent many years serving on its council. Ranyard died in 1894.
Andrew Lang was born in Selkirk, Scotland in 1844, and educated at the Edinburgh Academy, the Universities of St Andrews and Glasgow, and Balliol College, Oxford. From 1875 he lived chiefly in London working as a professional journalist, critic and independent scholar. He was a prolific writer and became eminent in several fields, including prehistory, early religion, mythology and folkore, and Scottish history; he was also a novelist and poet.
Publications include 'Coloured' Fairy Books (1889-1910), 12 volumes of fairy tales intended for children.
Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire in 1782, and educated at Dartmouth College. He became a lawyer and was elected to the House of Representatives (1812-1817) before rising to national prominence after arguing several cases before the Supreme Court. He was first elected to the Senate in 1827. Webster's attempts to become US President were unsuccessful, but he served twice as Secretary of State, under Presidents Harrison and Tyler (1841-1843) and President Fillmore (1850-1852); the second term ended with his death from injuries sustained after falling from his horse in 1852.
Arthur Christopher Benson was born in Berkshire in 1862; educated at Eton College and at King's College, Cambridge, from which he graduated with a first in 1884. He taught at Eton for 18 years before becoming a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he lived from 1904 until his death in 1925; he became master of Magdalene in 1915. Benson's father, Edward White Benson, became Archbishop of Canterbury, and several of his sibling were known as writers and scholars. Arthur Christopher Benson is perhaps best remembered today as the author of the words to 'Land of Hope and Glory'.
Augustus Sauerbeck was an authority on the British wool trade and became well known in statistical circles after devising the Sauerbeck Index Number. He became a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in 1886 and was a regular contributor to the Society's journal; the Society awarded him a Guy Medal in silver in 1894 and made him an honorary fellow in 1920; he died in 1929.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Ann Benson Skepper was born in 1799; married the lawyer and poet Bryan Waller Procter in 1824; settling in London, they had 2 sons and 4 daughters, including the poet Adelaide Procter (1825-1864). The legal writer and reformer Basil Montagu was Ann's stepfather and the pathologist Bryan Charles Waller (mentor of Arthur Conan Doyle) was her nephew by marriage. Proctor died in 1888.
Anne Isabella Ritchie was born in 1837, the elder daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1861), a well-known Victorian novelist. Anne (Anny) was a prolific novelist, essayist and writer of memoirs. By 1875, The Works of Miss Thackeray had been published in eight volumes (Smith, Elder and Company), extended to 15 volumes by 1866. Most of her critical essays appeared in The Cornhill Magazine. Her first contribution appeared in the magazine's first year, 1860, and most of her fiction appeared serially in the magazine including, The Village on the Cliff, Old Kensington, Miss Angel and Mrs Dymond. Anne Thackeray married her cousin, Richmond Thackeray Willoughby Ritchie, in 1877; their son's wife Margaret Paulina Ritchie was the daughter of Charles and Mary Booth. Richie died in 1919.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Henrietta Rowland was born in Clapham, Surrey, in 1851, and educated at boarding school in Dover, Kent. As a young woman, she assisted in Octavia Hill's charitable work; through Hill, Rowland met Rev Samuel Augustus Barnett, whom she married in 1873. The husband-and-wife team worked hard at social reform and poverty relief, their projects included the founding of Toynbee Hall, the 'University Settlement' in East London, and the creation of Hampstead Garden Suburb. Henrietta Barnett was appointed CBE in 1817 and DBE in 1924. The Dame Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead Garden Suburb is named in her honour. Barnett died in 1936.
Benjamin Disraeli was born in 1804 and educated in London. His family were of Italian Jewish origin, but he was baptized as Anglican aged 13. He worked for a solicitor and then as a journalist and novelist, and travelled widely before entering politics. Disraeli entered the House of Commons as MP for Maidstone in 1837, and subsequently served as MP for Shrewsbury (1841-1847) and Buckinghamshire (1847-1876). He was leader of the Conservative Party between 1868 and 1881 and served twice as Prime Minister; as premier, his working relationship with Queen Victoria was particularly good. Disraeli's wife Mary Anne (the widow of the manufacturer Wyndham Lewis) was a strong supporter of his political career. He was created Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876; the title became extinct on his death.
Montagu William Lowry Corry was born in London in 1838 and educated at Harrow School and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1863. In 1865, Corry met the politician Benjamin Disraeli, who became a close friend; he remained Disraeli's supporter, confidant and unofficial secretary until the latter's death in 1881. Corry was created Baron Rowton in 1880 and became a member of the privy council in 1900. In later life he was also involved in developing accommodation for poor people. He had several illegitimate children but never married; his title became extinct on his death.
Granville George Leveson-Gower was born in Westminster in 1815 and educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford. He served as Whig MP for Morpeth (1837-1840) and Lichfield (1841-1846) before succeeding his father in the House of Lords as Earl Granville. Granville held several political posts, but is best known for serving as Foreign Secretary under William Gladstone (1870-1874, 1880-1885).
Aldous Leonard Huxley was born at Godalming, Surrey, in 1894; educated at Eton and at Balliol College, Oxford. His very poor eyesight prevented him from becoming a doctor and he initially became a teacher before turning to professional writing. Huxley emigrated to the United States in 1937, and worked as a Hollywood screenwriter for several years. In later life he was better known for essays, critical work and lecturing. Many of Huxley's relations became prominent in various fields, including the zoologist Julian Sorell Huxley (his brother), the novelist Mrs Humphrey Ward (his maternal aunt), the poet Matthew Arnold (his maternal great uncle) and the scientist Thomas Henry Huxley (his paternal grandfather). Huxley died in 1963.
Publications include Brave new World 1930.
The illegitimate son of the keeper of a debtors' prison, Francis Place was apprenticed aged 14 to a breeches-maker and practised the trade for many years, eventually becoming successful. From 1794 to 1797 he was a member of the radical London Corresponding Society, which had a strong influence on his political and philosophical views. In the first two decades of the 19th century he was instrumental in the successes of radical candidates for the borough of Westminster . Place wrote extensively and his papers comprise one of the largest 19th century collections in the British Library.
Charles Pritchard was born in Shropshire and brought up in London. He entered St John's College, Cambridge, in 1826, graduating BA in 1830 and MA in 1833. He was briefly (1833-1834) headmaster of Stockwell Grammar School before becoming head of the new Clapham Grammar School (1834-1862). After living on the Isle of Wight for several years, he became Savilian professor of astronomy at the University of Oxford in 1870, where he pioneered the use of stellar photography. Pritchard was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a member of several other learned societies, and received several honours from both Oxford and Cambridge universities. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1834 and lectured widely on both religious and scientific subjects.
John Sinclair was born in Thurso, Caithness in 1754. He was educated at the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Oxford. He qualified as a lawyer in both Scotland and England but never practised law. In 1780 he entered the House of Commons as MP for Caithness, subsequently serving as MP for several English and Scottish constituencies between 1784 and 1811. Sir John wrote several works on economics and agriculture and became the first
President of the Board of Agriculture in 1793. His Statistical Account of Scotland popularized the use of the word 'statistics' in English.
Samuel Smiles was born in Haddington, East Lothian in 1812. He studied medicine in Edinburgh. He also became a journalist, lecturer and campaigner for political reform, writing radical articles for regional newsapers, most often in Leeds. In later years he worked for railway companies and the National Provident Institution, and also became a noted biographer. Smiles's radical views mellowed into liberalism and his writings turned towards advocating self-improvement. His book Self Help, with illustrations of character and conduct (1859) became a bestseller and was translated into more than ten languages.
Joseph Rayner Stephens was born in Edinburgh in 1805 and was the son of the Methodist minister John Stephens (1772-1841). He was educated in Leeds and Manchester before becoming a schoolteacher and preacher. He was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1826 and worked in Sweden before returning to hold several posts in England. His political opinions were radical and he was much concerned with workers' rights and the condition of the poor. Stephens's expression of his strong opinions in his speeches and sermons brought him into conflict with both the Methodist hierarchy (he seceded in 1834) and the law (he once served 18 months for sedition, disturbing the peace and infractions). He took up writing for magazines in the 1840s and became a poor-law guardian in 1848. He died in Stalybridge, Lancashire in 1879.
Magnús Stephensen studied law at the University of Copenhagen before becoming a government official in Danish-controlled Iceland. He was also a prolific author in many fields and the dominant book publisher in Iceland for over 30 years. He was the first Chief Justice of the Icelandic High Court from 1800 until his death in 1833.
Thomas Perronet Thompson was born in Kingston upon Hull in 1783. He was educated at Hull Grammar School and Queens' College Cambridge. He joined the navy in 1803, transferring to the army three years later and rising though the ranks of officers steadily to lieutenant-colonel by the time of his retirement from active service in 1829. After retiring he received several more promotions by brevet and was made a general the year before his death. Firmly opposed to slavery and exploitation, Thompson introduced extensive reforms whilst colonial governor of Sierra Leone (1808-1810). He was also interested in economics and politics, being active in the Anti-Corn Law League, writing several books, and serving as radical MP for Hull (1835-1837) and for Bradford (1847-1852, 1857-1859). He died in Blackheath, Kent in 1869.
Louis XIV, the elder son of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, succeded to the French throne in 1643 aged 4. His mother served as regent until he came of age in 1651, but he did not take personal control of the government until the death of his First Minister, Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661. In 1660 he married Maria Theresa, daughter of King Philip IV of Spain; she died in 1683 and he later contracted a morganatic marriage to the Marquise de Maintenon. Throughout his reign, Louis was often involved in wars with neighbouring countries, including the War of the Grand Alliance and the War of the Spanish Succession. His lavish spending at court and patronage of the arts and academia earned him the nickname of 'the Sun King'. A large French territory in North America was named Louisiane (Louisiana) in his honour. Louis XIV died in 1715 aged almost 77. His eldest son and grandson having predeceased him, he was succeeded by his 5-year-old great grandson, who became Louis XV.
Charles George Gordon was born in Woolwich, Kent, and educated at the Royal Military Academy there. He was commissioned as an army officer in 1852. He took part in the Crimean War and served in China for several years, but is best known for his service in Sudan in the 1870 and 1880s. He became Governor General of Sudan in 1874. He was killed when Khartoum was captured by forces of the Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad, after a siege of 317 days; at the time of his death he held the rank of major-general. His nicknames 'Chinese Gordon' and 'Gordon of Khartoum' were derived from the places with which he was most associated in the public imagination.
Samuel Plimsoll was born in Bristol in 1824. He was brought up in northern England. He became a clerk and later a businessman before entering parliament as Liberal MP for Derby in 1868, retaining the seat until 1880. Plimsoll was concerned with the struggles of the poor and with sailors' interests. He spoke out against the common practice of overloading ships with goods and devised the Plimsoll line, marked on ships to show the safe depth at which they may sit in the water. Plimsoll gym shoes, so-called because their outer rubber band is reminiscent of a Plimsoll line, are indirectly named after him.
Godfrey Lushington was born in Westminster in 1832. He was educated at Rugby School and Balliol College, Oxford. His father, Stephen, was a judge and his twin brother, Vernon, was an eminent lawyer; both twins were strongly influenced by Auguste Comte's positivist philosophy. An early supporter of the labour movement, Godfrey Lushington was one of the first teachers at the Working Men's College in London, founded in 1854. He became a civil servant, rising to permanent under-secretary at the Home Office in 1885, and was knighted in 1892. On his retirement, Sir Godfrey became an alderman of the London County Council from 1895 to 1898.
Henry Peter Brougham was born and educated in Edinburgh and practised as a lawyer in Scotland and England. He served as Whig MP for Camelford (1810-1812), Winchelsea (1815-1830), Knaresborough (1830) and Yorkshire (1830) before receiving a peerage. He was Lord Chancellor from 1830-1834.
John Russell was Whig MP for Tavistock from 1788 until 1802, when he succeeded his elder brother Francis as Duke of Bedford. He had little active interest in politics after becoing a peer, prefering botany and horticulture, but his country house at Woburn was fashionable among the political elite. He was married twice and had 13 children, among them Lord John Russell (1792-1878), afterwards 1st Earl Russell.
Robert Owen was born in Newtown, Wales in 1771. He was apprenticed to a draper in Stamford, Northamptonshire. In 1787 Owen moved to Manchester, where he set up a small cotton-spinning establishment, and also produced spinning mules for the textile industry. 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 in 1834, and the Association of All Classes and All Nations in 1835. Owen died in 1858.
Ferdinand became King of Bohemia in 1526 and succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor when his elder brother, Charles V, abdicated in 1556. His eldest son, Maximilian II, succeeded him as Emperor on his death in 1564. Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII of England, was his aunt and Phillip II of Spain (husband of Catherine's daughter Mary I of England) was his nephew.
Charles Stanhope was born in London and educated at Eton College and the University of Geneva. He became MP for High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in 1780, keeping the seat until 1786, when he became Earl Stanhope on his father's death. Politically, his opinions were liberal and strongly democratic: he supported the abolition of slavery and was sympathetic to religious dissenters and to the French Revolution. Stanhope was also strongly interested in science: he became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1772 and conceived several inventions, including a new type of printing press. William Pitt the Younger was his brother-in-law from his first marriage and Lady Hester Stanhope, who travelled widely in the Middle East, was his eldest daughter.
Wilhelmina Stirling (1865-1965) was a collector of artefacts. She was the younger sister of the painter Evelyn De Morgan, a member of the Pre-Raphaelite art circle.
George Meredith was born in Portsmouth on 12 February 1828. He received his education at St Paul's School, Southsea and at the Moravian School at Neuwied on the Rhine, 1842-1844. Meredith returned to England in 1844, where he was articled to a solicitor in London, under whose encouragement Meredith began to write poetry. He contributed to Chambers Edinburgh Journal. In 1860 Meredith became a reader for the publishing company, Chapman and Hall. During his life he wrote poetry, seven novels and contributed essays to periodicals. After 1895 Meredith stopped writing prose, but continued to write poetry. His last collection of poems was published in 1901. In 1905 he was awarded the Order of Merit. George Meredith died on 18 May 1909.
John Ruskin was born in London in 1819. He was educated by his mother and various tutors before attending Oxford University. His study there was interrupted for two years by illness. He embarked upon a foreign tour with his parents in 1840. After resuming his education, he received his BA in 1842 and his MA in 1843. He taught art at Working Men's Colleges and at Oxford. While at Oxford he was appointed the first Slade Professor of Fine Art in 1869. During his life he wrote many books on art, social criticism and politics. In 1871 he purchased Brantwood near Coniston in the Lake District. Ruskin died of influenza in 1900.
Henry John Pye was the son of the Poet Laureate Henry James Pye (1745-1813) and his second wife Martha. He married Mary Anne Walker in 1825 and they had 9 children, of whom the eldest, also Henry John Pye (1827-1903) became a clergyman and hymn-writer.
William Ewart Gladstone was born in Liverpool in 1809, the youngest son of Sir John Gladstone, 1st Baronet (1764-1851). He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in 1831 with a double first. He was elected to parliament in 1832 and served successively as MP for Newark, Oxford University, South Lancashire, Greenwich and Midlothian; intially he was a Conservative, but he joined the Liberal party in 1859. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer 4 times before serving as Prime Minister, also 4 times (1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886 and 1892-1894). He tried twice unsuccessfully to introduce Home Rule in Ireland (1886 and 1893). His working relationship with Queen Victoria was famously difficult. Gladstone was much involved in efforts to 'rescue' and rehabilitate London prostitutes, and he read and wrote widely on religion, literature, economics and politics. In later life he was nicknamed 'Grand Old Man'.
Oliver Elton was born in Norfolk in 1861. He was educated at Marlborough College and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He worked as a private tutor in London for several years before becoming a lecturer at the University of Manchester, 1890-1900, followed by a chair in English Literature at the University of Liverpool, 1901-1925. Elton's best known works are perhaps his 6-volume Survey of English Literature, covering 1730-1880, and for his translation of Puskin's Evgeny Onegin. His youngest son was the ecologist Charles Sutherland Elton.
George Chalmers was born at Fochabers, Moray, Scotland, in 1742. He received his education from the parish school at Fochabers and from King's College Aberdeen. He went on to study law in Edinburgh and then in 1773 put these skills into practice as a lawyer in Baltimore, USA in 1773. He returned in 1775 to settle in London, where he devoted his life to writing books about Ireland, affairs of America and the British monarchy. In 1786 he was appointed chief clerk of the committee of the Privy Council for trade and foreign plantations. Chalmers wrote numerous biographies and in 1807 his first volume of Caledonia, a work intended to record the history and antiquities of Scotland was published. Volumes 2 and 3 of Caledonia were published in 1820 and 1824 but Chalmers died, on 31 May 1825, before he could finish the series although he left a manuscript collection intended for its completion.
Chalmers was a prolific writer on history throughout his life as well as a collector of books and manuscripts. His library was sold in three parts between September 1841 and November 1842, yielding £6189 in total. Publications: An Answer from the Electors of Bristol to the Letter of Edmund Burke, Esq. on the affairs of America (T. Cadell, London, 1777); An Appeal to the Generosity of the British Nation, in a statement of facts on behalf of the afflicted widow and unoffending offspring of the unfortunate Mr. Bellingham (M. Jones, London, 1812); An Estimate of the Comparative Strength of Britain during the Present and Four Preceding Reigns; and of the losses of her trade from every war since the Revolution (C. Dilly & J. Bowen, London, 1782); An Introduction to the History of the Revolt of the Colonies (Baker & Galabin, London, 1782); Another Account of the Incidents, from which the title, and a part of the story of Shakspeare's Tempest, were derived; and the true era of it ascertained (R. & A. Taylor, London, 1815); Caledonia: or, an Account, historical and topographic, of North Britain; from the most ancient to the present times: with a dictionary of places, chorographical and philological (T. Cadell, London, 1807-24); Comparative Views of the State of Great Britain and Ireland; as it was, before the war; as it is, since the peace (T. Egerton, London, 1817); Considerations on Commerce, Bullion and Coin, Circulation and Exchanges; with a view to our present circumstances (J. J. Stockdale, London, 1811); Opinions of Eminent Lawyers, on various points of English Jurisprudence, chiefly concerning the Colonies, Fisheries, and Commerce, of Great Britain (Reed and Hunter, London, 1814); Opinions on Interesting Subjects of Public Law and Commercial Policy; arising from American independence (J. Debrett, London, 1784); Political Annals of the Present United Colonies, from their Settlement to the Peace of 1763 (J. Bowen, London, 1780); Proofs and Demonstrations, how much the projected Registry of Colonial Negroes is unfounded and uncalled for (Thomas Egerton: London, 1816); The Life of Daniel De Foe (John Stockdale, London, 1790); The Life of Mary, Queen of Scots; drawn from the State Papers(John Murray, London, 1818); The Life of Thomas Ruddiman (John Stockdale, London, 1794); Churchyard's Chips concerning Scotland: being a collection of his pieces relative to that country, with historical notices, and a life of the author (Longman & Co, London, 1817); A Collection of Treaties between Great Britain and other Powers (John Stockdale, London, 1790); Parliamentary Portraits (T. Bellamy, London, 1795); Facts and Observations relative to the coinage and circulation of counterfeit or base money; with suggestions for remedying the evil (London, 1795);The Arrangements with Ireland considered (John Stockdale, London, 1785); editor of The Poetical Works of Sir David Lyndsay (Longman, London, 1806); An Apology for the believers in the Shakspeare Papers [forged by W. H. Ireland], which were exhibited in Norfolk Street (T. Egerton, London, 1797); A short view of the proposals lately made for the final adjustment of the commercial system between Great-Britain and Ireland (John Stockdale, London, 1785); A Vindication of the privilege of the people, in respect to the constitutional right of free discussion, with a retrospect to various proceedings relative to the violations of that right (London, 1796); Thoughts on the present Crisis of our Domestic Affairs (London, 1807).