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Sir John Cass was interested in the (practical and religious) education, clothing and advancement of the poor children of Portsoken Ward. His school was opened in 1710, but a ward school was probably maintained by voluntary subscriptions from about 1689. The 1748 Chancery Scheme provided for 21 trustees, a schoolmaster to oversee 50 boys and a schoolmistress for 40 girls. The trustees were to provide the children with clothing and a daily dinner. Boys were to be given a suit of clothing and apprenticeship fee at 14 and girls received clothing when they went into service at the same age. The school built by Cass and the rooms used above the Aldgate were demolished when the Aldgate was pulled down for road widening. The trustees leased a house in Church Row from 1762 (previously used as a Quaker boarding school). The Cass School moved from Church Row in 1869 to 25 and 26 Jewry Street which the trustees bought and rebuilt as a school. By 1869 the school was attended by 110 boys and 90 girls, all Church of England, in receipt of free education, clothing and dinners. In 1871 the Foundation also supported a school in Church Row and an infant school in Goodman's Yard. The school in Church Row was open to any child over 7 residing in the parish. "Well conducted" children were encouraged to proceed to the Cass School in Jewry Street. The Church Row school was taken over by the School Board for London in 1890.The infant school in Goodman's Yard, was maintained by the Foundation from 1871-91.

The school in Jewry Street was demolished in 1898 and a new School and Institute Building erected on the site and adjacent property. In 1908 the School was transferred to a new building erected on a site extending from Duke Street to Mitre Street, surrounding the disused churchyard of St James Duke's Place, where it now remains as a Primary School. The 1944 Education Act required separate provision for primary and secondary education. As a result the Secondary School amalgamated with the Red Coat School, Stepney, to form the Sir John Cass's Foundation and Red Coat School in Stepney Way. Before 1895, there was little separation of the administration of the Cass School and the Cass charity. The schoolmaster acted as clerk to the trustees, writing letters and taking minutes of their meetings. Before 1870 when the school managers' minutes begin, the board minutes (Ms 31010) are much concerned with the school. In particular Ms 31010/4-14 include (unindexed) admissions of children 1758-1894. The minutes and accounts groups of the archive also include other records from 1720 which relate to the school.

Sir John Cass was born in Rosemary Lane, in the parish of St Botolph Aldgate, on 20 February 1660/1, son of Thomas and Martha Cass. Thomas Cass was a master carpenter at the Tower of London, but in 1665 the Cass family moved to Grove Street in Hackney and where Thomas acquired considerable land. John Cass was involved in Hackney affairs, becoming a select vestryman in 1699, but became wealthy as a City of London merchant. He was a colonel in the Orange Regiment of the City militia by 1707 and was elected as an MP for the City in 1710 and served until 1715. He was knighted in 1712. Cass was elected as Alderman for the Portsoken Ward three times in 1710, but was rejected by the Court of Aldermen for his Jacobite tendencies until 1711. He remained Alderman until his death in 1718 and served as Sheriff in 1711-12. His father had been master of the Carpenter's Company and he used the Company to enter City politics; he bought his way to the mastership in 1711 by paying 11 years quarterage and fines for the three subordinate offices he had not filled. In 1713 he transferred to the Skinners' Company (one of the great twelve which perhaps suggests Mayoral ambitions) and was master of that company in 1714. He was married to Elizabeth (perhaps nee Franklin), but they had no children. In 1709 he made a will which mentioned his intention to build a school for the poor children of the ward. This school was built in a room over the passage between the porch and south gate of St Botolph Aldgate and opened in 1710.

When John Cass made his first will in 1709 he endowed his intended school with his property in Althorne and West Tilbury, Essex and Bromley by Bow and Hackney, Middlesex. Thereafter he bought land in Poplar Marsh and Stepney, Middlesex, but he died in 1718 while signing his second will which added this land to the endowment. The land in Poplar and Stepney went to his heirs-at-law, but his widow Elizabeth maintained the school until her death in 1732. Thereafter Valentine Brewis, deputy of Portsoken Ward, had Cass's second will proved and kept the school until he died in 1738. The vestry of St Botolph Aldgate started a suit in Chancery in 1742, but it was only in 1748 that a Chancery scheme emerged for the charity and 21 trustees were appointed. The school was then re-established, in rooms above Aldgate. The charity's income derived largely from the rents of the lands left by Sir John Cass. In 1847 its annual income was £2,300; in 1868 £5,300. The largest property holding was in South Hackney where in 1817 it was estimated to be ca. 87 acres around Grove Street, Well Street and Well Street Common. Another 13 acres at the south end of Grove Street lay in Bethnal Green and the trustees held ca. 50 acres in Hackney Marsh.

The income from estates increased in the later 19th century, particularly from the Hackney estate which was let on short building leases from 1846. The rising income led to pressure for reform of the charity, both from Hackney residents who wanted to establish another Cass school there, and from the Charity Commissioners. The trustees disliked the Commissioners' proposals and successfully resisted them until 1894 when a Charity Commission Scheme (approved in 1895) provided for the establishment of a Technical Institute. The Sir John Cass Technical Institute was built in Jewry Street and opened in 1902. The Charity Commissioners' scheme also reorganised the charity into a Foundation with governors replacing the trustees previously appointed for life. The scheme also led to the establishment of a Sir John Cass Hackney Technical Institute, at Cassland House, with three of the Foundation's governors on the Board. This institute was taken over by the London County Council in 1909. Various ward schools and St Botolph Aldgate Parochial School amalgamated with the Cass School at the beginning of the 20th century. The records of these schools prior to amalgamation were deposited with the Sir John Cass's Foundation archive.

Sir John Cass was born in Rosemary Lane, in the parish of St Botolph Aldgate, on 20 February 1660/1, son of Thomas and Martha Cass. Thomas Cass was a master carpenter at the Tower of London, but in 1665 the Cass family moved to Grove Street in Hackney and where Thomas acquired considerable land. John Cass was involved in Hackney affairs, becoming a select vestryman in 1699, but became wealthy as a City of London merchant. He was a colonel in the Orange Regiment of the City militia by 1707 and was elected as an MP for the City in 1710 and served until 1715. He was knighted in 1712. Cass was elected as Alderman for the Portsoken Ward three times in 1710, but was rejected by the Court of Aldermen for his Jacobite tendencies until 1711. He remained Alderman until his death in 1718 and served as Sheriff in 1711-12. His father had been master of the Carpenter's Company and he used the Company to enter City politics; he bought his way to the mastership in 1711 by paying 11 years quarterage and fines for the three subordinate offices he had not filled. In 1713 he transferred to the Skinners' Company (one of the great twelve which perhaps suggests Mayoral ambitions) and was master of that company in 1714. He was married to Elizabeth (perhaps nee Franklin), but they had no children. In 1709 he made a will which mentioned his intention to build a school for the poor children of the ward. This school was built in a room over the passage between the porch and south gate of St Botolph Aldgate and opened in 1710.

When John Cass made his first will in 1709 he endowed his intended school with his property in Althorne and West Tilbury, Essex and Bromley by Bow and Hackney, Middlesex. Thereafter he bought land in Poplar Marsh and Stepney, Middlesex, but he died in 1718 while signing his second will which added this land to the endowment. The land in Poplar and Stepney went to his heirs-at-law, but his widow Elizabeth maintained the school until her death in 1732. Thereafter Valentine Brewis, deputy of Portsoken Ward, had Cass's second will proved and kept the school until he died in 1738. The vestry of St Botolph Aldgate started a suit in Chancery in 1742, but it was only in 1748 that a Chancery scheme emerged for the charity and 21 trustees were appointed. The school was then re-established, in rooms above Aldgate. The charity's income derived largely from the rents of the lands left by Sir John Cass. In 1847 its annual income was £2,300; in 1868 £5,300. The largest property holding was in South Hackney where in 1817 it was estimated to be c 87 acres around Grove Street, Well Street and Well Street Common. Another 13 acres at the south end of Grove Street lay in Bethnal Green and the trustees held c 50 acres in Hackney Marsh.

The income from estates increased in the later 19th century, particularly from the Hackney estate which was let on short building leases from 1846. The rising income led to pressure for reform of the charity, both from Hackney residents who wanted to establish another Cass school there, and from the Charity Commissioners. The trustees disliked the Commissioners' proposals and successfully resisted them until 1894 when a Charity Commission Scheme (approved in 1895) provided for the establishment of a Technical Institute. The Sir John Cass Technical Institute was built in Jewry Street and opened in 1902. The Charity Commissioners' scheme also reorganised the charity into a Foundation with governors replacing the trustees previously appointed for life. The scheme also led to the establishment of a Sir John Cass Hackney Technical Institute, at Cassland House, with three of the Foundation's governors on the Board. This institute was taken over by the London County Council in 1909. Various ward schools and St Botolph Aldgate Parochial School amalgamated with the Cass School at the beginning of the 20th century. The records of these schools prior to amalgamation were deposited with the Sir John Cass's Foundation archive.

Sir John Cass was born in Rosemary Lane, in the parish of St Botolph Aldgate, on 20 February 1660/1, son of Thomas and Martha Cass. Thomas Cass was a master carpenter at the Tower of London, but in 1665 the Cass family moved to Grove Street in Hackney and where Thomas acquired considerable land. John Cass was involved in Hackney affairs, becoming a select vestryman in 1699, but became wealthy as a City of London merchant. He was a colonel in the Orange Regiment of the City militia by 1707 and was elected as an MP for the City in 1710 and served until 1715. He was knighted in 1712. Cass was elected as Alderman for the Portsoken Ward three times in 1710, but was rejected by the Court of Aldermen for his Jacobite tendencies until 1711. He remained Alderman until his death in 1718 and served as Sheriff in 1711-12. His father had been master of the Carpenter's Company and he used the Company to enter City politics; he bought his way to the mastership in 1711 by paying 11 years quarterage and fines for the three subordinate offices he had not filled. In 1713 he transferred to the Skinners' Company (one of the great twelve which perhaps suggests Mayoral ambitions) and was master of that company in 1714. He was married to Elizabeth (perhaps nee Franklin), but they had no children. In 1709 he made a will which mentioned his intention to build a school for the poor children of the ward. This school was built in a room over the passage between the porch and south gate of St Botolph Aldgate and opened in 1710.

When John Cass made his first will in 1709 he endowed his intended school with his property in Althorne and West Tilbury, Essex and Bromley by Bow and Hackney, Middlesex. Thereafter he bought land in Poplar Marsh and Stepney, Middlesex, but he died in 1718 while signing his second will which added this land to the endowment. The land in Poplar and Stepney went to his heirs-at-law, but his widow Elizabeth maintained the school until her death in 1732. Thereafter Valentine Brewis, deputy of Portsoken Ward, had Cass's second will proved and kept the school until he died in 1738. The vestry of St Botolph Aldgate started a suit in Chancery in 1742, but it was only in 1748 that a Chancery scheme emerged for the charity and 21 trustees were appointed. The school was then re-established, in rooms above Aldgate. The charity's income derived largely from the rents of the lands left by Sir John Cass. In 1847 its annual income was ££2,300; in 1868 ££5,300. The largest property holding was in South Hackney where in 1817 it was estimated to be c 87 acres around Grove Street, Well Street and Well Street Common. Another 13 acres at the south end of Grove Street lay in Bethnal Green and the trustees held ca. 50 acres in Hackney Marsh.

The income from estates increased in the later 19th century, particularly from the Hackney estate which was let on short building leases from 1846. The rising income led to pressure for reform of the charity, both from Hackney residents who wanted to establish another Cass school there, and from the Charity Commissioners. The trustees disliked the Commissioners' proposals and successfully resisted them until 1894 when a Charity Commission Scheme (approved in 1895) provided for the establishment of a Technical Institute. The Sir John Cass Technical Institute was built in Jewry Street and opened in 1902. The Charity Commissioners' scheme also reorganised the charity into a Foundation with governors replacing the trustees previously appointed for life. The scheme also led to the establishment of a Sir John Cass Hackney Technical Institute, at Cassland House, with three of the Foundation's governors on the Board. This institute was taken over by the London County Council in 1909. Various ward schools and St Botolph Aldgate Parochial School amalgamated with the Cass School at the beginning of the 20th century. The records of these schools prior to amalgamation were deposited with the Sir John Cass's Foundation archive.

Sir John Cass (1666-1718) was a City of London politician and builder, who founded a charity school near St. Botolph's, Aldgate, which opened in 1710 (in his will of 1709, he also left £1000 to endow another school in Hackney). His charity continued to fund the Sir John Cass Foundation School as well as providing for the establishment of the Sir John Cass Technical Institute, which was founded in 1899 and moved into newly built premises at 31 Jewry Street, London, in 1902. It changed its name to Sir John Cass College in 1950. In 1965 the College's Department of Fine and Applied art merged with the Department of Silversmithing and Allied Crafts from the Central School of Art to form the Sir John Cass School of Art, which moved into its own new premises at Central House, opposite the Whitechapel Art Gallery. The College's Department of Navigation of merged with part of the King Edward VII Nautical College in 1969 and moved to a new building at Tower Hill, London. The Sir John Cass College merged with the City of London College in 1970 to form the City of London Polytechnic.

James Mackenzie (1853-1925) was born on April 1853 in Pickstonhill Farm, Scone, where his father was a tenant farmer and was the third child and second son. He attended the local school at Scone and he went to Perth Academy in 1865 but left after three years to serve an apprenticeship as a dispensing chemist at Reid & Donald chemists, George Street, Perth, for four years. After working as an assistant chemist in Glasgow for a year, he decided to study medicine. After some private tuition in Latin, he passed the university entrance examination and entered the medical school at Edinburgh University, qualifying M.B. & C.M. in 1878. He worked as a locum in a colliery practice at Spennymoor, County Durham from June of that year till November when his resident post at Edinburgh Royal infirmary became available. On completing his residency in 1879, he joined Dr. Briggs and Brown in general practice in Burnley, an industrial town in England.

He found himself in a very busy practice where the patients did not correspond to those in the teaching hospital or the textbooks. In Victorian England, infectious disease was rife, and in Burnley in 1879 there were 56 deaths from scarlet fever and the infant mortality was 205/1000 births. He saw 60 to 70 patients daily and attended an average of three deliveries a week but still he found time to complete his MD thesis on Hemi-paraplegia Spinalis in 1882.

In his spare time, he studied Greek and German, played golf and started to write a novel, which was concerned with the social deprivation prevalent at that time. In 1885, he was able to afford the time and the money for a holiday in America. The highlight of his visit was to Yellowstone Park. Two years later, he married Frances Jackson and honeymooned in Italy. He had two daughters Dorothy born in 1888 and Jean in 1893.

While engaged in this very busy practice, he made original observations and had over fifty papers published. Although many of his articles were on cardiology, he also wrote on many other topics particularly neurology and pain mechanisms. He was among the first to own a motorcar in Burnley and a photograph in one of his biographies shows him in this car with a driver.

In 1890 he made the seminal observation that the chambers of the heart could beat out of their correct order, when he discovered extra systoles. But it was not until the distinguished pharmacologist, Professor Cushny, demonstrated extra systoles experimentally in the mammalian heart that Mackenzie's findings were generally accepted. Before his discoveries were widely known, many people were made cardiac invalids by the anxiety of their doctors who, on discovering the irregularity due to extra systoles, confined the patient needlessly to bed or ordered them to curtail their activities.

By carefully following up his patients with extra systoles, Mackenzie showed their benign nature. At first he used a sphygmograph for graphically recording a peripheral pulse. The tracings were made on a smoked drum which was then varnished to preserve the record, a very time consuming process. He then developed the polygraph, a portable clockwork, ink-writing instrument with two tambours with which he was able to record radial and jugular pulses simultaneously and to measure the atrioventricular interval. He used the polygraph to diagnose the various types of heart block. This work was all done in the course of the usual busy medical practice. At this time his knowledge of cardiology was growing very fast cardiac irregularities were regarded with concern by the profession and the laity, as none knew their significance.

In 1897 he noted that in a patient with mitral stenosis, the presystolic murmur disappeared with the onset of irregularity of the pulse but he also noted that the 'a' waves in the jugular venous pulse had also disappeared and concluded that the auricle was paralyzed, which functionally it was. This disordered irregularity described by Mackenzie was later called auricular fibrillation.

Another of his discoveries was the action of digitalis on conduction in the atrio-ventricular bundle, so slowing the ventricular response in atrial fibrillation. He also devised a safer and simpler regimen for prescribing digitalis.

He managed to find the time to do an immense amount of research together with a heavy workload of family practice, he had an enormous capacity for work and was driven by an intense desire to advance his understanding of disease. Mackenzie was expert with the polygraph and painstaking in storing and interpreting those records. He filed his notes and tracings for further reference and as illustrations in his textbooks. At the age of 49, the first of his books, "The Study of the Pulse" [1902] was published after twenty-three years in general practice.

By this time he had become the world clinical authority on heart disease. His publications attracted the attention of many famous medical personages and including Weckenbach [from 1902] and Sir Arthur Keith in 1903. Mackenzie sent the hearts of patients obtained at autopsy to Keith who studied the pathology particularly the conducting system.

In 1906 he attended the BMA meeting in Toronto and the GP from Burnley became engaged in a lively debate with Dr. Morrow, professor of physiology at McGill University and it appears Mackenzie got the best of the argument. The following year saw the formation of The Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland, the membership of which was limited to 200 hospital physicians and lectures in clinical medicine. Mackenzie, although a general practitioner, was elected and opened the discussion on the heart at the first meeting.

He left Burnley for London and set up as a consultant in November 1907. He was invited to join the staff of the West End Hospital for nervous disease under Sir James Purves-Stewart and was appointed to the staff of Mount Vernon Hospital Hampstead. His second book, "Diseases of the Heart", was published in 1908. The following year, he rented consulting rooms in Harley Street and in a very short time, was very busy with private patients. Although he was he was elected FRCP in 1909 but his main objective, a place on the consultant staff of the London Hospital eluded him although he was appointed lecturer in cardiac research, in 1911 to that hospital and was allowed the use of six beds.

Mackenzie's third textbook, "Symptoms And Their Interpretation", was published in 1909 and the following year he was made an LLD of Aberdeen University. More honours followed in 1911 when he delivered the Oliver Sharpey lecture on heart failure to the Royal College of Physicians and the Schorstein lectures on auricular fibrillation to the London Hospital. In 1913 he was appointed physician in charge of the new cardiac department at the London hospital and was involved in setting up the military cardiac department at Mount Vernon hospital. In his eleven years in private consultant medicine, he did not charge excessive fees but still earned a considerable amount of money.

In 1915, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; a knighthood followed later that year. The following year he published "Principles of Diagnosis and Treatment in Heart Infections". To all intents he had made it in London, become a consultant to the prestigious London Hospital, and had done well financially. So, it seems strange that two years later, at the age of sixty-four, he decided to leave London and move to St. Andrews to set up an institute for research in general practice.

By October 1919 he had established his research institute in St. Andrews and managed to involve all the general practitioners in the town in his project. He also found the time to publish another work "The Future of Medicine". The various programmes considered at the institute included the investigation of pain, of glandular enlargement, disease of children and consumption, a somewhat daunting task for five GPs. He was very keen to get the general practitioner involved in keeping good records and in the epidemiology of the maladies occurring in practice. He was probably one of the first to think of epidemiology in terms of non-infectious diseases. In 1920 he was appointed Honorary Physician to the King and he put forward proposals for a postgraduate school for training panel doctors.

In 1923 his large output of textbooks was expanded with the two publications, "Heart Disease in Pregnancy" and "Angina Pectoris". The achievements of the institute were modest and it did not last long after his death but he did draw attention to the importance of family doctors and their need for special training. It is worth noting that three university chairs of general practice in Britain are named in his honour.

Mackenzie had suffered from angina pectoris for many years and died on a visit to London in January 1925. A postmortem examination was carried out by his former assistant, Sir John Parkinson who on Mackenzie's prior instructions, had his heart taken to the anatomy department of St. Andrews University.

The Hospital was a weekly journal established in 1886 by Sir Henry Burdett, who also edited the title, at first alone and later jointly. From 1888 Burdett also published an annual directory entitled Burdett's hospitals and charities: being the year book of philanthropy and The Hospital annual. From October 1921 The Hospital was published on a monthly basis as The Hospital and Health Review. From 1935, The Hospital was merged with The Hospital Gazette, which itself had been founded in 1905 and was the official organ of The British Hospitals Association and The Incorporated Association of Hospital Officers. Latterly it was published as The Hospital and Health Services Review (from 1972) by the Institute of Health Service Management, London, which also publishes The IHSM Health Services year book. From 1988 the journal was known as Health Services Management.

An order made by the Middlesex Quarter Sessions in 1705 that the "petty sessions" for the several divisions of the county should be held "at the known and usual place" indicates that their existence must have been well recognised by then. The divisional arrangement in the County was based to a large extent upon the old administrative area known as a 'hundred'.

Lord Howard had been accused of being the author of a seditious pamphlet, "The True Englishman", which advocated the overthrow of the King and his replacement by the Duke of Monmouth. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "With two footmen he assaulted an informer in April 1681, and the victim repaid him by accusing him of seditious language. Falsely charged with having written The True Englishman, which accused Charles of arbitrary rule, he was arrested on 11 June. In the king's bench he protested his innocence, and, with Algernon Sidney's assistance, persuaded the government to drop the case in the absence of credible witnesses." Richard L. Greaves, 'Howard, William, third Baron Howard of Escrick (c.1630-1694)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2009

Sion Hospital was formally separated from Sion College by Act of Parliament in 1875, to administer charitable payments to pensioners from the revenues of estates given to it. Sion College had formerly maintained a number of almspeople at its buildings on London Wall, but these had been removed in 1845 beacuse of poor conditions. Plans for re-establishing them came to nothing. Sion Hospital's supporting estates comprised some of the College's estates in Essex and Hertfordshire and one quarter of the London property. It was run by twelve Trustees, consisting of 8 Fellows or ex-Fellows of Sion College and 4 appointees of the Charity Commissioners. Meetings were held at Sion College. Candidates for pensions were nominated by various bodies. Sion Hospital was wound up in 1957.

Sion College was a society of Anglican clergy rather than an educational establishment. It was established in 1624 out of the bequest of Dr Thomas White, rector of Saint Dunstan in the West, who left £3000 to found a college for City clergy and an almshouse. The charter was recieved in 1630, constituting all "Rectors, Vicars, Lecturers and Clergy in or close to the City" as Fellows of the College. Management of the College lay with a President, two Deans and their assistants. The addition of a library was the suggestion of John Simpson, rector of Saint Olave Hart Street and executor of White's bequest. The reason for the name of the College is unknown. The original site was at London Wall. The buildings and all the books were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, but rebuilding took place by 1678. The Library continued to expand and by 1850 was estimated to hold 40,000 volumes. In 1879 the College bought land on Victoria Embankment and constructed a new building, opened in 1886. The almshouses were separated and renamed Sion Hospital. By the 1980s the Library was thought to hold 100,000 volumes. The College was closed in 1996.

Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).

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The company was established in 1895 to take over existing tea estates in Assam and Dooars, India. It had offices at 60 Gracechurch St 1895-1912, 2A Eastcheap 1912-68 and 13 Rood Lane 1968-71. The Caparo Group took over its records in 1982.

Singlo Holdings Limited was established in 1960 to acquire the entire share capital of Singlo Tea Company Limited. The company had offices at 2A Eastcheap 1960-68 and 13 Rood Lane 1968-71. The Caparo Group took over the records in 1982.

Sundar Singh: born in a Punjab village, 1889; of mixed Sikh and Hindu stock; his early dislike of Christianity resulted in a symbolic burning of the Bible; soon after followed a vision of Jesus Christ and he was baptized, 1905; determined to become a Christian sadhu (holy man); associated briefly with a semi-Franciscan brotherhood and attended an Anglican theological college for a few months, but had no formal church affiliations; travelled and preached in mountain regions from his centre at Kotgarh, c1910-c1916; wrote about the many hardships in the Urdu Christian press, his accounts forming the basis of books about him by Alfred Zahir, 1916, and Rebecca J Parker, 1918; began to travel abroad, 1918; visited Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and China; travelled to Europe, North America, and Australia, 1920; visited Europe again, 1922; following the publication of B H Streeter and A J Appasamy's The Sadhu (1921), Sundar Singh was identified as a living mystic and several more books were published about him; some people did not accept his accounts of his early adventures and his later years were dogged by controversy and ill health; set off to travel once more, 1929; his fate, and the circumstances of his death, are unknown.

Rebecca Jane Parker: born, 1865; née Perkins; a church member in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire; married Arthur Parker (1858-1935, a London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary in South India) in Calcutta, 1888; adoptive mother to Sundar Singh; working with her husband in the Trivandrum area, she ran a hostel and boarding home for Christian girls and Bible women; established an embroidery industry, employing over 1,000 Christian women; awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind medal by the British government for social service, 1921; retired, 1925; died at Leamington Spa, England, 1946. Publications: Sadhu Sundar Singh, called of God (1918 and subsequent editions); Sundar Singh, At the Master's Feet, translated by the Rev Arthur and Mrs Parker [1922]; Children of the Light in India: biographies of noted Indian Christians [1929]; Father of Twenty-Five Thousand: Arthur Parker, missionary in India [1939]; How They Found Christ: Stories of Indian Christians (1940).

Charles Joseph Singer (MA, DM, D.Litt., Hon D.Sc., FRCP) was born on 2 November 1876 in London. He studied at University College London, and from 1896-99 he studied zoology at Oxford, graduating BA, BCh. In 1903 he qualified from St Mary's Hospital Medical School MRCS LRCP. He gained other degrees honours during his career: MA MD; FRCP; Honorary DSc. From 1904-1908 Singer held various hospital posts in England and abroad, including Sussex County Hospital; Brighton; Government House, Singapore; Abyssinia (Medical Officer to expedition); Malta and Salonica, where he returned during the First World War when he served with the RAMC.

Singer held various posts throughout his career: Registrar to the Cancer Hospital, London; Physician to Dreadnought Hospital; Lecturer in history of medicine at University College London, as well as work abroad, including Visiting Professor at University of California, Berkley.

He married Dorothea Waley Cohen, eldest daughter of Nathaniel L Cohen and Julia M Waley in 1910, with whom he was awarded the Sarton Medal of the History of Science Society of America.

He held a number of secretaryships and presidential posts, including Honorary Secretary of the Royal Society of Medicine (Historical Section), 1916-1919; President RSM (Historical Section), 1920-1922; President of Third International Congress of History of Medicine, 1922 and President of Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences. He retired in 1942.

Charles Singer died on 10 June, 1960 at home in Par, Cornwall. Dorothea Singer died on 24 June, 1964.

Charles Joseph Singer (MA, DM, D.Litt.,Hon D.Sc., FRCP), born 2 Nov 1876, London; studied University College London, and from 1896-1899 studied zoology at Oxford, graduating BA, BCh.; qualified from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School MRCS LRCP, 1903. He gained other degrees honours during his career: MA MD; FRCP; Honorary DSc. From 1904-1908 Singer held various posts in England and abroad, including Sussex County Hospital; Brighton; Government House, Singapore; Abyssinia (Medical Officer to exhibition); Malta and Salonica, where he trained during the First World War when he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps.

Singer held various posts throughout his career: Registrar to the Cancer Hospital, London; Physician to the Dreadnought Hospital; Lecturer in the history of medicine at University College London, as well as work abroad including Visiting Professor at University of California, Berkeley.

John Sinclair was born on 10 May 1754 at Thurso Castle in Caithness, Scotland. He was educated in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Oxford. He read law but had no intention of practising. At the age of sixteen he inherited, by his father's death, extensive estates in Caithness. In 1780 Sinclair became a Member of Parliament for Caithness. In 1785 his first wife died and he abandoned public life for a time and started on a foreign tour. In 1786 he received a baronetcy from Pitt. He started to devote much energy to the collection of statistics and became one of the earliest statisticians. In 1790 he designed a 'Statistical Account of Scotland', asking all the parish ministers of Scotland for information on the natural history, population and productions of their parishes. The results were published at various periods during the next ten years. Sinclair also devoted a lot of time to improvement of his estates in Caithness. He persuaded Pitt to establish a Board of Agriculture and in 1793 he was appointed President of it. He attempted an account of England by parishes but this was abandoned mainly due to opposition. Sinclair died on 21 December 1835.

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.

John Sinclair was born in Thurso, Caithness, and 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 ecnomics 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.

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.

John Sinclair was born in Thurso, Caithness, and 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 ecnomics 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.

Archibald Riddell Sinclair (1917-) was cultural attaché at the British Legation in Budapest, 1962-1963.

Lois Lang-Sims (fl 1936-1995) was a distant relation of Agnes Maude Royden and a member of her congregation at the Guildhall in 1936. Through this, the two became friends until the latter's death. Lang-Sims had a strong interest in spiritual matters, which was exhibited in a number of books which she published over a series of decades from One Thing Only: A Christian Guide to the Universal Quest for God, to The presence of Tibet in 1963 and Canterbury Cathedral in 1979. She also had a brief friendship with the writer Charles Williams whose letters to her were published as Letters to Lalage in 1989.

The company was formed in 1825 by James Simpson, an engineer from the Chelsea Waterworks Company, and George Thompson, an engine maker of Queen Street, Chelsea. Their works were at a messuage on the north side of mews leading east from Eccleston Street, near Hanover Square.

Una Mary Simpson (nee Roberts), born on June 1st 1910; educated at All Saints School, Maidstone and Maidstone Grammar School; joined Royal Holloway College in 1929; began an Intermediate Arts course before graduating with a 2:II in History in 1932; Secretary of the Historical Society at Royal Holloway; held a post at Grayford Girls Central School, 1934, October 1935 sailed to Bombay to take up a position as Assistant Mistress at Queen Mary High School, Girgaum, Bombay; returned to England, October 1938; back in Bombay by October 1939.

James Young Simpson graduated from Edinburgh University in 1832. He was made President of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh in 1835 and became Professor of Midwifery there in 1839. He was especially famous for his advocacy and use of chloroform in obstetric practice, but was also renowned for his work in gynaecology and obsterics, particularly in the use of forceps and for various methods of ovariotomy.

Alexander Simpson was born in Bathgate, Scotland in 1835. He was the nephew of Sir James Young Simpson, Professor of Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh. Simpson studied at Bathgate Academy and later at the University of Edinburgh where in 1856 he received his M.D. He worked for seven years with his uncle in Edinburgh before moving to be a general practitioner in Glasgow. He succeeded to the Chair of Sir James Young Simpson following the latter's death in 1870. In 1872 he married a Miss Barbour. In 1905 he retired at the age of 70, and a year later he was knighted. He was killed in a road accident during a wartime blackout in 1916.

Born, 1855; attended school in Jersey, graduated MB CM at Aberdeen University in 1876, and in 1880 proceeded MD (Aberdeen) and took the diploma of public health at Cambridge; medical officer of health at Aberdeen, 1881; medical officer of health for Calcutta, 1886; chair of hygiene at King's College, London, 1898-1923; co-founder of the London School of Tropical Medicine; lectured on tropical hygiene at the London School of Tropical Medicine, 1898-1923; taught hygiene at the London School of Medicine for Women, 1900-1914; member of a commission to inquire into dysentery and enteric fever among the troops in South Africa, 1900; commissioner to investigate plague in Hong Kong, 1902; investigated sanitation in Singapore, 1906; investigated plague on the Gold Coast, and public health in Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Southern Nigeria, 1908; reported on plague and public health in east Africa, Uganda, and Zanzibar, 1913, member of a yellow fever commission in west Africa; studied sanitation and plague in the mines and mining villages in the Gold Coast and the Asante kingdom, 1924; co-founder of the Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases at Putney, where he became the first Director of Tropical Hygiene, and physician to the attached hospital, 1926; visited Chester-Beatty group of copper mines in Northern Rhodesia, 1929; died, 1931.

Norman Douglas Simpson was born in Carlton Miniott, near Thirsk in the North Riding of Yorkshire on the 23rd September 1890, the son of a vicar, Reverend James Douglas Simpson (d. 1936) and Elizabeth Saunders of Airy Hill, Whitby, Yorkshire, who was the daughter of a wealthy landowner, Charles Saunders. Simpson was encouraged by his father who had an interest in botany and began to form his Herbarium of British plants in 1903, aged 12. He attended Aysgarth School in Yorkshire and became friends with the Foggitt family who were also keen botanists and it was William Foggitt (c.1835-1917) and others who founded the Botanical Exchange Club which later became the Botanical Society of the British Isles of which Simpson became a life-long member.

In 1904, Simpson attended Clifton College, Bristol and in 1908 he went to Trinity College, Cambridge (his father’s college) and read Botany and Zoology graduating BA with a third in Natural Sciences Tripos in 1911. By this time Simpson had a Herbarium of over 1,400 species and varieties and he had become an expert Microscopist and was made Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society in 1912. He remained a member until his death. He was keen to take a position at Kew Herbarium but they had no post to offer him. However, Assistant Director A W Hill suggested he might undertake the identification of specimens collected the previous year in North-Western Mongolia and Chinese Dzungaria by Morgan Philips Price (c.1885-1973). In November 1911 Morgan agreed to pay Simpson 30/- a week for six months to identify and list his plants with a view to publication. Simpson worked on this with the help of Otto Stapf (c.1857-1933) until 1912 and it also led him into studying the genus Astragalus. Simpson’s resulting enumeration was submitted to the Linnean Society by Stapf and was published in October 1913 and included new species.

He returned to college and gained a Cambridge Diploma in Agricultural Studies in 1914. Simpson was a keen mechanic, motorcyclist and motorist and in 1915 he joined the Red Cross as a motorcyclist and was sent to the Hospital at Poperinghe in Belgium. In November 1915 he enlisted in the Army Transport Corps and rose through the ranks being promoted to Captain and served until 1920 when he was discharged.

After the war, Simpson went to live with his father at ‘Maesbury’ in Bournemouth, who had retired in 1916 and moved to Bournemouth from Yorkshire as he had family there and after his father’s death Simpson lived at ‘Maesbury’ until his death. Simpson would have liked a post at Kew but there were none available. In February 1921, he joined the staff at the Cotton Research Board’s Station at El Giza, Egypt where he became an Economic Botanist. In the November of 1921, he started the Botanical Section’s Herbarium and when he left Egypt in 1930 it had grown to 8,450 specimens and many were duplicated in his own Herbarium. His Cotton (Gossypium) collection was presented to Sir George Watt (c.1851-1930) which is now at Edinburgh and another set was presented to Kew. In 1926, Simpson moved to the Irrigation Services, Ministry of Public Works, Egypt and was partly employed in the Sudan where he became knowledgeable in water plants. His contract expired in 1930 and was not renewed and he returned to England via travelling through Europe. In September 1930, the Colonial Office offered him a job as Systematic Botanist in the Agricultural Department at the Peradeniya Botanic Garden, Ceylon on a wage of £720 per annum and a pension. He bought his beloved car, the Alvis 12/50 for £395 which he took to Ceylon and was still driving this car until his death in 1973. The position ended abruptly in 1932 as they abolished his post and he returned to England in September 1932 via the Far East, Japan and the United States of America.

Simpson then settled at ‘Maesbury’ and as his family were wealthy, he never sought paid work again. He spent his time collecting, indexing and arranging his Herbarium. He travelling much in order to collect specimens and map the flora of various countries, such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia (Simpson had a knowledge of Arabic), Ireland (where he botanised Ireland with various others) and Jordan – all in his Alvis car which had a plant press in the boot. Simpson added many new species to his Herbarium. He also spent much of his retirement collecting books and assembled a large and comprehensive botanical library. He also collected works by Richard Burton, John Buchan, T E Lawrence and books relating to North Africa and the Near East which sold at auction after his death for £13,077. Simpson published little himself, but in 1960, he published at his own cost of £2,000 ‘A Bibliographical Index of the British Flora’ which started to be compiled in 1941. This provided an invaluable compilation of classified referencing to books and articles in periodicals relating to the flora of the British Isles.

Simpson died on the 29th August 1974 just short of his 84th birthday from a heart condition. On his death his Herbarium included 5,800 sheets from Egypt, 1,580 from the Sudan, 400 from Jordan, 600 from Morocco, 800 from Algeria, 500 from Tunisia, 600 from Cirenaica, 18,100 of British and Irish plants and 1,300 of Continental European plants which he collected from 1903-1973. The Sudan, Egypt and Jordan collections were deposited to The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the rest to the Natural History Museum. His main collections of botanical books were presented to the Botany School at Cambridge, The Natural History Museum, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Reading University.

Born, 1881; educated, Exeter College, Oxford, 1900; travelled in the Sahara, 1903; expedition to Kasai region of the Congo with Emil Torday; expedition to North Africa to study the Shawia Arabs, 1912; Royal Army Service Corps, 1914-1918; died, 1938.

Unknown

Born 14 March 1888, Bethnal Green, London; studied Physics with Mathematics, King's College London, 1907-1910; BSc (First class honours) 1910; awarded Jelf medal, 1910; elected an Associate of King's College, 1910; Student Demonstrator, King's College London, 1910-1911; Demonstrator, Armstrong College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1911-1914; Senior Lecturer, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, 1914-1917; Senior Lecturer, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 1917-1922; DSc, University of London, 1921, for 'contributions to the study of energy transformations when x-radiations are absorbed by or emitted from a substance'; Reader in Physics, Birkbeck College, London, 1922-1948; Fellow of the Institute of Physics, 1920; died 10 January 1972.

John Simons, OBE, MRCS, LRCP, JP (1900-1971) studied medicine at Guy's Hospital, London, after being invalided out of the Regular Army during the First World War. He qualified in 1925 and spent several years in the Sudan Medical Service,during which time he was Chief Medical Officer, Kordofan Province, retiring in 1931. His subsequent career as an Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon, first at the London ENT Hospital and from 1936 at Crowborough Hospital in Kent, was interrupted by distinguished service in the Second World War, with the Phantom reconnaissance unit and later as senior medical officer, 1 Tank Brigade, and Commanding Officer, 220 Field Ambulance, in North Africa, Italy and Germany. Died 1971.

Born, 1810; educated at Bungay Grammar school; Veterinary College in Camden Town, London, 1828-1829 and also attended external lectures; joined his uncle Robert Beart's veterinary surgery at Bungay, 1829-1836; inherited a veterinary practice in Twickenham, 1836; founder member of the Veterinary Medical Association, 1836; member of the English (later Royal) Agricultural Society, 1838; first Professor of Cattle Pathology at the Veterinary College in London, 1839; consulting veterinary surgeon to the Royal Agricultural Society, 1839-1904; active in the movement for obtaining the charter to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons; head of the veterinary department of the Privy Council, 1865-1871; President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, 1862-1863; Principal of the Royal Veterinary College, 1872-1881; completed the incorporation of the Royal Veterinary College by royal charter, 1875; retired 1881 and farmed and served as a JP; died, 1904.

John Simon was born 10 October 1816 and educated in England and Germany. In 1833, he was became a pupil apprentice to Mr Green at St Thomas's Hospital. In 1838, he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1938 and was elected a fellow in 1844. Simon was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at King's College London, a post he held for nine years, and was Assistant Surgeon at King's College Hospital from 1840 to 1847. In 1844, he won the Astley Cooper Prize for his illustrated essay on the thymus gland. Electoed Fellow of the Royal Society, 1845.
In 1847, Simon was appointed lecturer in Pathology at St Thomas's Hospital, where he was also Surgeon from 1853-1876. He was Officer of Health to the City of London, 1848-1855; Chief Medical Officer of Health to the General Board of Health, 1855-; member of the Privy Council, 1858-1876; President, Royal College of Surgeons, 1878-1879; President, Royal Society, 1879-1880. Simon built up a state medical department for public health and developed the vaccination system, and was particularly concerned with eradicating the smallpox virus; influential in bringing about the Sanitary Act, 1866 and Public Health Act, 1875. Awarded KCB 1887 (CB 1876); In 1848 Simon married Jane O'Meara (died 1901). He retired in 1876, and died 23 July 1904.
Publications include: A Physiological Essay on the Thymus Gland (London, 1845); General Pathology, as conducive to the establishment of rational principles for the diagnosis and treatment of disease (London, 1850); Report on the Sanitary Condition of the City of London, for the year 1853-4 (London, 1854); Report on the last two Cholera-epidemics of London, as affected by the consumption of impure water (Stationery Office, London, 1856); Inflammation in T Holmes A System of Surgery, ... in treatises by various authors, vol 1 (1860); English Sanitary Institutions, reviewed in their course of development, and in some of their political and social relations (Cassell & Co, London, 1890).

Born, 1816; educated, Preparatory School, Pentonville, private school, Greenwich; apprenticed to Joseph Henry Green, Surgeon at St Thomas's Hospital, 1833; Member, 1838 and Fellow, 1844, Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1838; Senior Assistant Surgeon, King's College Hospital, 1840-1847; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1845; Lecturer in Pathology, King's College Hospital, 1847; Officer of Health to the City of London, 1848-1855; Chief Medical Officer of Health to the General Board of Health, 1855-1876; built up a state medical department for public health and developed the vaccination system, and was particularly concerned with eradicating the smallpox virus; influential in bringing about the Sanitary Act, 1866 and Public Health Act, 1875; Surgeon, St Thomas's Hospital; member, Privy Council, 1858-1876; member of Council, 1868-1880, Vice-President, 1876-1878 and President, 1878-1879, Royal College of Surgeons of England; President, Royal Society, 1879-1880; knighted, 1887; died, 1904.

Publications include: A Physiological Essay on the Thymus Gland (London, 1845); General Pathology, as conducive to the establishment of rational principles for the diagnosis and treatment of disease (London, 1850); Report on the Sanitary Condition of the City of London, for the year 1853-4 (London, 1854); Report on the last two Cholera-epidemics of London, as affected by the consumption of impure water (Stationery Office, London, 1856); Inflammation in T Holmes A System of Surgery, ... in treatises by various authors, vol 1 (1860); English Sanitary Institutions, reviewed in their course of development, and in some of their political and social relations (Cassell & Co, London, 1890).

Francis (Franz) Simon received a classical education, but developed a strong interest in science and went to Munich in 1912 to read physics. He was called up for military service in 1913, and from 1914-1918 served as lieutenant in field artillery. He resumed his studies at University of Berlin in 1919, and in 1920 started work for his Ph.D under Nernst who is known for his heat theorem or third law of themodynamics. Simon's research concerned measurement of specific heats at low temperatures, which remained the basis of his scientific interest throughout his life. He received his doctorate in 1921 and in 1924 became 'Privatdozent', then associate professor in 1927. In 1931 he was appointed to the chair of Physical Chemistry at the Technical University of Breslau, and spent part of 1932 as visiting professor at Berkeley. In June 1933 he resigned and accepted the invitation of FA Lindemann (later Lord Cherwell) (1886-1957) to work at the Clarendon Laboratory in Oxford, where KAG Mendelssohn (1906-1980), one of his former co-workers, had set up a helium liquefaction plant. He was accompanied by Nicholas Kurti (1908-1998), another member of his Berlin School. In 1935 he was appointed Reader in Thermodynamics, and Professor, 1945-1956. He succeeded Lindemann as Lee Professor of Experimental Philosophy, but died only a few weeks after his appointment. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1941, and received the Rumford Medal in 1948; received the first Kamerlingh Onnes Medal of the Dutch Institute of Refrigeration in 1950; and the Linde Medal in 1952. Also in 1952 he was elected a honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. For his war work on atomic energy he received the CBE in 1946. He was knighted in 1955.

Shena Potter (1883-1972), later Lady Simon of Wythenshawe, was born 21 Oct 1883, to John Wilson Potter and Jane Boyd Potter. She was privately educated at Newnham College, Cambridge and graduated in Economics, gaining an MA. Later she became an Associate of Newnham College. Her post-graduate studies took her to the London School of Economics. In 1911 Shena Simon became an active secretary of a committee for safeguarding women's rights under Lloyd George's insurance bill. In 1912 Shena married Sir Ernest Darwin Simon with whom she had two sons. Shena Simon was responsible for founding 'The Women Citizens' Association' a local branch of the National Women Citizens' Association, whilst in 1921 she became Lady Mayoress of Manchester. It was during her tenure that she made mayoral history by refusing to grace a function at St Mary's Hospital for Women because no women served on either the Board or with the medical staff. Her professional postings included Member of Manchester City Council 1924-1933, Member of the Royal Committee on Licensing 1929, Member of Estate Council 1931-1933. Shena Simon was the first woman to hold the office of Chair of Education Committee 1932-1933 and from 1933 she was actively involved in the Spens Report on aspects of secondary education. Also in 1933 Lady Simon was voted off the council by the Conservatives due to a disagreement. From 1935 onwards, Lady Simon became a member of the Labour Party and a member of the Departmental Committee on Valuation of Dwelling Houses in 1938. In the following year Lady Simon published A Hundred Years of City Government, Manchester 1838-1938 as well as various pamphlets on education. Lady Simon was prominent in proposing free secondary education, which was refused in 1939. However, her proposals were later used by RA Butler in preparation for his 1944 Act. Lady Simon then spent seven years as Chair of the Further Education Sub-Committee. She also stood as Chair of the Workers Educational Associations' Educational Advisory Committee in 1946 and became an Honorary Freeman of Manchester in 1964. She died 17 Jul 1972.

Born 1760; served as a volunteer in the American War of Independence, on the side of the colonialists, 1776; remained an army officer, 1777-1781; returned to Paris and became a businessman and speculator, 1781-1804; took little part in the French Revolution, though imprisoned for 11 months for commune activities; made a fortune through land speculation, and squandered his wealth financing a salon for scientists and economists; due to bankruptcy, became a copyist at the Monte de Piété in 1805, and tried to make a living as a writer and journalist, 1805-1825; founded the periodical Industrie, [1817], and took on Auguste Comte as his secretary; following a suicide attempt in 1823, he was supported by Olinde Rodrigues, an admirer of his work, until his death in 1825. Saint-Simon is seen by many as the founder of French socialism.
Publications: Introduction aux travaux scientifiques du dixneuvième siècle (1807); Memoire sur la science de l'homme (1813); New Christianity (1825).

Brian Simon was Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Leicester. He was best known for his 4 volume history of the English education system from 1780-1990 (a standard text today), and his continued campaigning for comprehensive schooling. Simon came from a privileged background. His parents were great civic figures in Manchester. His father, Ernest Simon, head of the family engineering firm, was made first Lord Simon of Wythenshawe for public services. His mother, Shena, served 50 years on Manchester's education committee, working to improve the state system. Among close family friends was RH Tawney, also strongly committed to secondary education for all. As a schoolboy, Simon had encountered German fascism at first hand, having been sent in the early 1930s to Kurt Hahn's progressive school at Salem, which was already under Nazi attack. During his time at Trinity College, Cambridge, Simon was part of the generation which, horrified by fascism, turned to communism. Allegations that Simon recruited Guy Burgess for the KGB were refuted by him. His communist beliefs, unlike those of many of that generation, survived the war and the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary. Simon wanted to become a teacher and following the Second World War, in 1950, he went to Leicester University School of Education, where academics were doing field work devising a comprehensive school system. He was to stay at Leicester for the rest of his professional life until his retirement in 1980. Simon wrote a draft autobiography, which was published in a shortened version as A Life In Education (1998). Today he is recognised as a great educationalist by those who work in the field.

Publications:
Studies in the History of Education, 1780-1870 (1960), later retitled The Two Nations and the Educational Structure
Education and the Labour Movement, 1870-1920 (1965),
The Politics of Educational Reform, 1920-1940 (1974)
Education and the Social Order, 1940-1990 (1991).

The premises at 46 High Street, Yiewsley, now appears to be a shop.

Bayard Simmons (fl.1906), author, poet and contributor to 'The Freethinker', was a member of the Men's Social and Political Union for Women's Suffrage. He was the first man to go to prison for the cause of women's suffrage, spending two weeks in Brixton Prison in 1906.

An 'indenture' was a deed or agreement between two or more parties. Two or more copies were written out, usually on one piece of parchment or paper, and then cut in a jagged or curvy line, so that when brought together again at any time, the two edges exactly matched and showed that they were parts of one and the same original document. A 'right hand indenture' is therefore the copy of the document which was on the right hand side when the parchment was cut in two.

A bargain and sale was an early form of conveyance often used by executors to convey land. The bargainee, or person to whom the land was bargained and sold, took possession, often referred to as becoming 'seised' of the land.

From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".

Thomas Hookham Silvester (1799-1877) MD, was founder of the Clapham General Dispensary. He was a pupil of Sir Astley Cooper, and after studying in Paris set up practice at Clapham in 1835, where he founded the Clapham General Dispensary. He retired in 1863.

Paul de Hookham Silvester (1827-?) Rector of St Levan Cornwall, was the older son of T.H. Silvester (1799-1877).

Henry Robert Silvester (1828-1908) MD, physician to the Royal Humane Society, was the younger son of T.H. Silvester (1799-1877). He qualified in London in 1885, and was later physician to the Clapham Hospital and the Royal Humane Society.

Carteret was the son of Rear-Admiral Philip Carteret and adopted the name of Silvester in 1822. He entered the Navy in 1792 and joined the LION under Captain Sir Erasmus Gower on Lord Macartney's Embassy to China. He continued to serve under Gower in the TRIUMPH in 1795 in the Channel and was promoted to lieutenant in that year. He then served in the IMPERIEUSE, Channel and North Sea, 1795 to 1796, in the GREYHOUND, 1796 to 1798 in the Channel and the CAMBRIAN, 1801, to St. Helena. His first command was the BONNE CITOYENNE in the West Indies in 1802. In 1804 he was appointed to the SCORPION, North Sea, until 1806, after which she went to the West Indies until 1807. In 1809 Carteret commanded the gun boats in the Walcheren Expedition. Carteret was given command of the NAIAD for a year in 1811 and then the POMONE, 1813 to 1814, both on the Lisbon Station. After the war he commanded the ACTIVE on the Jamaica Station but saw no further service after 1817.

Sir John Silvester was a lawyer who belonged to the Middle Temple. He was Common Sergeant of the City of London and, from 1803-22, Recorder of the City of London.

The Silver Studio of design was opened in 1880 by Arthur Silver, with the aim of "bringing together a body of men to establish a studio which would be capable of supplying designs for the whole field of fabrics and other materials used in the decoration of the home." He had trained at Reading School of Art and as an apprentice to the freelance designer H W Batley. The Silver Studio became successful: in the early 1890s it was regularly producing more than 500 designs a year and was selling between 170-300 designs yearly, mainly to buyers of the major textile, wallpaper and carpet producer. Silver showed at the Arts and Crafts Society Exhibitions between 1889-1896 and was elected a member of the Royal Society of Arts in 1893. By the time of his early death at 43 in 1896, he had created Britain's most important independent studio, selling to leading manufacturers and stores at home, in America and in Europe. Clients included Liberty's, Turnbull and Stockdale, Sanderson and Warner and Sons Ltd, all of which used the Silver Studio's designs for their own ranges of wallpapers and textiles.

In 1901, Silver's son Reginald (known as Rex) took over direction of the Studio. He ran it until 1963, two years before his death. He kept excellent records, many of which have survived, providing good evidence of the activities of the Studio during these 62 years. The Studio's fortunes fluctuated, partly due to external conditions. In 1914, many of the staff were serving in the forces and the remaining designers were put on half salaries until trading conditions improved. When Rex was called up, the Studio closed for a year. Working hours were cut in 1921 due to the high cost of raw materials, which had a disastrous effect on the textile industry. The size of the Studio varied over the years: there were around 5 staff in 1908, 11 in 1922, and 14 in 1938. During the Second World War, production of domestic textiles and wallpapers virtually ceased and there was only one designer (Frank Price) in the studio. He was joined by another former employee, Lewis Jones, after the war. When Jones died in 1952, Price continued as the Studio's sole designer until the closure of the Studio in 1963. The Studio's most productive periods were 1891-1896 and 1924-1938. During the latter period, the studio produced over 800 designs annually. Between 1940-1962, output averaged only 175 per year.

The Studio was always able to produce work in a variety of styles at any one time. Even though it participated in the latest fashions, such as the Japanesque of the 1880s or the Moderne sunbursts and geometrics of the 1930s, it also continued to offer more traditional, often floral patterns. As a commercial studio it had to satisfy its customers, relatively few of whom were prepared to take a risk with cutting-edge designs. The Studio's output therefore tended to reflect existing trends rather than break new ground. Because the Silver Studio sold its designs to other manufacturers, its name is not well known in its own right. However, its ability to respond to changing fashions in domestic interiors contributed to its commercial success for over eighty years, and the Studio's output provides a vivid insight into changing tastes in the English home throughout this period.

Harold Silver (b.1928) has written researched and written extensively on educational history and policy. He and his wife, Pamela, have also collaborated on research projects and co-authored articles, reports and books. Between 1980 and 1983 Harold Silver, then Principal of Bulmershe College Reading, and Pamela Silver undertook a research project funded by the Social Science Research Council entitled 'British and American educational strategies against poverty in the 1960s and 1970s'. This work was expanded in subsequent years and the results were eventually published as An Educational War on Poverty: American and British Policy-making, 1960-1980 (Cambridge University Press, 1991). This book analysed the role of education in the American 'war on poverty' from 1964, and in Britain from the appointment of the Plowden Committee on primary schools. It examined attempts in the two countries to use education to break the 'cycle of disadvantage'. During the course of their research, the Silvers not only drew on a large number of written sources, but also conducted taped interviews with a wide range of individuals, such as educationists and policy-makers, in both the United States and Britain.

This company was part of the Inchcape Group of companies.