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The Court of King's Bench was founded circa 1200 to hear common pleas, although it came to specialise in pleas of special interest and concern to the king, such as those which involved his own property interests, or breach of his peace, or an error of judgment by another royal court. By 1675 the King's Bench was the highest court of common law in England and Wales, with jurisdiction over both civil and criminal actions. Civil business was conducted on the 'Plea Side' and criminal business on the 'Crown Side'. It was absorbed into the High Court in 1875 (source of information: The National Archives Research Guides "Legal Records Information 34" and "Legal Records Information 36").

A writ is a written order issued by a court in the name of the sovereign, state, or other competent legal authority, directing the person to whom it is addressed to do or refrain from doing a specified action. In this case the Sheriff of Middlesex is being ordered to investigate the damage caused to Richard Biggs by the loss of money owed to him.

The Court of King's Bench (or Queen's Bench, depending on the monarch) was founded circa 1200 to hear common pleas, although it came to specialise in pleas of special interest and concern to the king, such as those which involved his own property interests, or breach of his peace, or an error of judgment by another royal court. By 1675 the King's Bench was the highest court of common law in England and Wales, with jurisdiction over both civil and criminal actions. Civil business was conducted on the 'Plea Side' and criminal business on the 'Crown Side'. It was absorbed into the High Court in 1875 (source of information: The National Archives Research Guides "Legal Records Information 34" and "Legal Records Information 36").

The Court of King's Bench was founded circa 1200 to hear common pleas, although it came to specialise in pleas of special interest and concern to the king, such as those which involved his own property interests, or breach of his peace, or an error of judgment by another royal court. By 1675 the King's Bench was the highest court of common law in England and Wales, with jurisdiction over both civil and criminal actions. Civil business was conducted on the 'Plea Side' and criminal business on the 'Crown Side'. It was absorbed into the High Court in 1875 (source of information: The National Archives Research Guides "Legal Records Information 34" and "Legal Records Information 36").

The Court of Exchequer originated after the Norman Conquest as a financial committee of the Curia Regis (the King's Court). By the reign of Henry II it had become separate, and was responsible for the collection of the king's revenue as well as for judging cases affecting the revenue. By the 13th century the court proper and the exchequer or treasury began to separate. The court's jurisdiction over common pleas now steadily increased, to include, for example, money disputes between private litigants. A second Court of Exchequer Chamber was set up in 1585 to amend errors of the Court of the King's Bench. These were amalgamated in 1830 when a single Court of Exchequer emerged as a court of appeal intermediate between the common-law courts and the House of Lords. In 1875 the Court of Exchequer became, by the Judicature Act of 1873, part of the High Court of Justice, and in 1880 was combined with the Court of Common Pleas (source of information: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008).

Until 1841, the legal status of being a bankrupt was confined to traders owing more than £100 (this was reduced to £50 in 1842). Debtors who were not traders did not qualify to become bankrupt, but stayed as insolvent debtors, who were held responsible for their debts but unable to pay them, they remained subject to common law proceedings and indefinite imprisonment, if their creditors so wished. The legal definition of 'trader' came to include all those who made a living by buying and selling and included all those who bought materials, worked on them and then re-sold them. Those who wished to qualify as bankrupts, and thus avoid the awful fate of an insolvent debtor, sometimes gave a false or misleadingly general description of their occupations: "dealer and chapman" was very common.

The Bankruptcy Act of 1571 allowed commissioners of bankrupts to be appointed; so that a bankrupt could discharge his debts by sale of his assets, and then begin trading again with his debts cleared. The bankrupt's creditors would petition the Lord Chancellor to allow a commission of bankruptcy. These Commissioners were independent assessors who would decide whether the debtor was eligible for bankruptcy proceedings, and oversee the sale of his assets and repayment of his creditors. In 1832 the Court of Bankruptcy was established.

Source of information: The National Archives Research Guide "Legal Records Information 5: Bankrupts and Insolvent Debtors: 1710-1869" (available online).

The Court of Common Pleas was founded by King Henry II to hear common pleas (matters between subject and subject). It was the only Court where personal actions of account, covenant, debt and detinue could be heard. The Court also had jurisdiction to review and change the decisions of older courts. From 1187 the Court sat at Westminster. The Court was headed by a Chief Justice, working with a team of lesser justices (between three and eight in number at various times) and a large number of clerks. The Court was abolished in 1875.

The Court of King's Bench (or Queen's Bench, depending on the monarch) was founded circa 1200 to hear common pleas, although it came to specialise in pleas of special interest and concern to the king, such as those which involved his own property interests, or breach of his peace, or an error of judgment by another royal court. By 1675 the King's Bench was the highest court of common law in England and Wales, with jurisdiction over both civil and criminal actions. Civil business was conducted on the 'Plea Side' and criminal business on the 'Crown Side'. It was absorbed into the High Court in 1875 (source of information: The National Archives Research Guides "Legal Records Information 34" and "Legal Records Information 36").

The Court of Exchequer originated after the Norman Conquest as a financial committee of the Curia Regis (the King's Court). By the reign of Henry II it had become separate, and was responsible for the collection of the king's revenue as well as for judging cases affecting the revenue. By the 13th century the court proper and the exchequer or treasury began to separate. The court's jurisdiction over common pleas now steadily increased, to include, for example, money disputes between private litigants. A second Court of Exchequer Chamber was set up in 1585 to amend errors of the Court of the King's Bench. These were amalgamated in 1830 when a single Court of Exchequer emerged as a court of appeal intermediate between the common-law courts and the House of Lords. In 1875 the Court of Exchequer became, by the Judicature Act of 1873, part of the High Court of Justice, and in 1880 was combined with the Court of Common Pleas (source of information: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008).

The Lord Chancellor and his deputies sat in the Court of Chancery to hear disputes about inheritance and wills, lands, trusts, debts, marriage settlements, apprenticeships and so on. As an equity court, Chancery was not bound by the stricter rules of common law courts. Please see The National Archives Research Guides "Legal Records Information 22", "Legal Records Information 42" and "Legal Records Information 28" for more information (all available online).

Originally Middlesex prisoners were kept in either of the City of London's gaols - Newgate or the Bridewell (near Blackfriars). In 1615-1616 a Middlesex Bridewell (also known as the Clerkenwell House of Correction) was built on a site between the present Corporation Row and Sans Walk (demolished in 1804). On the same site, adjacent and to the south of it, a House of Detention (for prisoners awaiting trial) was built in the late seventeenth century to ease the overcrowding in Newgate. This 'New Prison' was rebuilt in 1818, incorporating the site of the old Bridewell; and again in 1845; before being closed in 1877 and demolished in 1890, the Hugh Myddleton School being built on the site. A new Middlesex House of Correction had been built in 1794 in Coldbath Fields (on the present site of Mount Pleasant Post Office), and which was also closed in 1877, and demolished in 1889. Although debtors were one of the largest categories of prisoner, a separate gaol for them was not built in London until the beginning of the nineteenth century (in Whitecross Street); prior to this they were kept in Newgate.

The Court of King's Bench (or Queen's Bench, depending on the monarch) was founded circa 1200 to hear common pleas, although it came to specialise in pleas of special interest and concern to the king, such as those which involved his own property interests, or breach of his peace, or an error of judgment by another royal court. By 1675 the King's Bench was the highest court of common law in England and Wales, with jurisdiction over both civil and criminal actions. Civil business was conducted on the 'Plea Side' and criminal business on the 'Crown Side'. It was absorbed into the High Court in 1875 (source of information: The National Archives Research Guides "Legal Records Information 34" and "Legal Records Information 36").

The Court of Requests was constituted by an Act of Common Council of 1518, under which Commissioners were appointed to hear cases for the recovery of small debts. Its jurisdiction was confirmed by Acts of Parliament until it was transferred to the Sheriffs' Courts in 1847.

The Court of Wards and Liveries was established in 1540-42. Its function was to administer the monarch's feudal dues. When a tenant of the monarch died, the land reverted to the crown until the heir of the tenant paid a fee, known as a 'relief', after which they could take possession. If the heir was underage they became a ward of the crown.

Augustine Courtauld was born on 26 August 1904 at Bocking, Braintree, Essex; educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read engineering and geography, graduating in 1926. In 1926 he joined James Wordie's summer expedition to east Greenland as photographer and in 1927 Courtauld travelled with Francis and Peter Rodd to the mountains of Aïr in the southern Sahara. Courtauld attempted unsuccessfully to become a stockbroker and consequently returned to Greenland in the summer of 1929 on another expedition with Wordie.

In 1930 Courtauld met H. G. Watkins, who was planning an expedition to Greenland to explore the possibilities of an air route from the United Kingdom to western Canada over the ice cap. Part of the meteorological programme was the establishment of the ice-cap station some 140 miles north-west of the base camp manned continually by two men who would be relieved at approximately monthly intervals by dog sledge or aircraft. However, it took six weeks to reach the ice-cap station from the base camp and it became clear there was not enough food for two men to be left safely at the camp. Courtauld persuaded the party to allow him to man the station alone and he was left there on 5 December 1930. Courtauld spent five months alone, part of the time imprisoned beneath the snow and in darkness. In 1932 he was awarded the polar medal by George V.

Before World War Two Courtauld joined the organisation which was to become the Special Operations Executive, and in the summer of 1939 was asked by naval intelligence to take Duet up the Norwegian coast from Bergen to Trondheim gathering as much intelligence as he could. Courtauld served throughout World War Two in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as sub-lieutenant, 1939, and lieutenant, 1940-1945.

After the war, he devoted himself to local government and community service, serving on Essex County Council from 1945 to 1955; becoming a JP and Deputy Lieutenant in 1946 and High Sheriff of Essex in 1953. He was a governor of Felsted School, chairman of Essex Association of Boys' Clubs, and vice-president of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 1957. He served three times on the council of the Royal Geographical Society; was Honorary Secretary between 1948 and 1951 and served on the committee of management of the Scott Polar Research Institute. Courtauld died in hospital in London on 3 March 1959.

Sir William Courten (1572-1636) was a highly successful silk and linen merchant, possessing a fleet of over 20 ships which traded with Guinea, Spain and the West Indies. He lent money to both James I and Charles I, and was rewarded with a knighthood and grants of Barbados (which had been discovered by one of his ships). Courten sent colonists to Barbados in 1625 and 1628, but they were forcibly ejected by the Earl of Carlisle in 1629. Courten's grandson, William Courten (1642-1702) was a naturalist, and sometimes went by the name of Charleton. He tried to enforce his grandfather's claim on the money lent to the crown and to lands in Barbados, and failed in both attempts. He opened a botanical museum in London in 1684.

Born 1821; educated by Rev Saunderson Jemmit; admitted as a student to the School of Civil Engineering and Mining, King's College London, 1839.

Born 1908; educated at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; Mid, HMS RAMILLIES, 1925; served on HMS RENOWN during world cruise of HRH Albert Frederick Arthur George, Duke of York, and HRH Elizabeth Angela Marguerite, Duchess of York, 1927; Sub Lt, HMS CORNWALL, China Station, 1930; Lt, 1930; served on HMS MALAYA, 2 Battle Sqn, Home Fleet, 1931-1933; qualified as Interpreter in Russian after language study in Bessarabia, 1934; qualified in Signals and Wireless Telegraphy, HM Signal School, Portsmouth, 1935; served at Admiralty and on the staff of V Adm Hon Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, 1936; Flag Lt and subsequently Flag Lt Cdr to R Adm Lionel Victor Wells, Flag Officer commanding 3 Cruiser Sqn, Mediterranean Fleet, HMS ARETHUSA, 1937-1939; acting Sqn Signals and Wireless/Telegraphy Officer, 3 Cruiser Sqn, Mediterranean Fleet, 1937-1939; Lt Cdr, 1938; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Staff of Adm commanding 3 Battle Sqn and North Atlantic Escort Force, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1939-1941; Deputy Head of Naval Mission to USSR, 1941-1942; Flag Lt and Signals Officer to R Adm Sir Clement Moody, Flag Officer commanding Aircraft Carriers, Home Fleet, 1943; Signals Officer, Staff of V Adm Sir (William Eric) Campbell Tait, Flag Officer commanding South Atlantic Station, 1944; Signals Officer, Staff of R Adm Sir Harold Martin Burrough, Flag Officer, Gibraltar and Mediterranean Approaches, 1945; Naval and Marine Staff, Naval Intelligence Division, Admiralty, 1946-1948; acting Cdr, 1946-1953; awarded OBE, 1949; Chief Staff Officer (Intelligence), to R Adm Stephen Harry Tolson Arliss, Flag Officer Commanding British Naval Forces, Germany, and Chief British Naval Representative in the Allied Control Commission, HMS ROYAL ALBERT, Hamburg, Germany, 1949-1951; qualified as Interpreter in German; Intelligence Div, Naval Staff, Admiralty, 1952-1953; retired 1953; Export Consultant, ETG Consultancy Services, 1954-1965; contested Hayes and Harlington as Conservative Party candidate, UK General Election, 1955; Conservative MP for Harrow East, 1959-1966; Vice Chairman, Conservative Navy Committee, 1964; Chairman, Parliamentary Flying Club, 1965; Managing Director, New English Typewriting School Limited, 1969-1988; Chairman, Wiltshire Monday Club, 1977; Chairman of Governors, Urchfont School, 1982-1988; died 1988.Publications: Sailor in a Russian frame (Johnson, London, 1968).

Kathleen Courtney (1878-1974) was born in Chatham in 1878 to Alice Margaret Courtney (née Mann) and Major David Courtney of the Royal Engineers, one of seven children. She was brought up in Kensington and after attending an Anglo-French School in London, and boarding school in Malvern, she spent a year at boarding school in Dresden. She subsequently became a student in Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in Jan 1897 where she read French and German and met Maude Royden. After graduation, she volunteered at a girls club in Lambeth before returning to Oxford to work for the University Extension Delegacy. She became active in the non-militant section of the women's suffrage movement and accepted a post as a paid secretary for the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage in 1908. Subsequently, she was elected Honorary Secretary of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1911 and became a member of the first Election Fighting Fund Committee in 1912. However, after the outbreak of the First World War, she found herself in opposition to many of her colleagues within the NUWSS. The president, Millicent Fawcett, argued that members should focus on relief work as a means of showing that women would be worthy of the vote. In contrast to this, several executive members such as Isabella Ford, Maud Royden, Helena Swanwick, and Catherine Marshall wanted to oppose the war altogether. A meeting of the executive committee refused to send delegates to the International Women's Peace Congress at the Hague in Apr 1915, prompting several members of the committee to resign. Courtney was one of those. In the event, only a handful of British women were present at the Congress: Courtney herself, Chrystal Macmillan, both of whom were already in Holland, and Emmeline Pethick Lawrence, who travelled from America. There, a new organisation began, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, which formed the British branch of the International Committee for Permanent Peace. Courtney became its first vice president. In 1916 she also went to Salonika and Baxtia to carry out work with the Serbian Relief Fund for with she was later decorated by the Serbian government. After the war, Courtney helped her friend, Dr Hilda Clark, at the Friends' Relief Mission in Vienna, and also travelled to the Balkans and Poland.

In 1916 she became the joint secretary of the National Council for Adult Suffrage with James Middleton of the Independent Labour Party. Towards the end of the war, however, she rejoined the NUWSS and was re-elected to the executive committee in Mar 1918, despite her opposition to the limited nature of the franchise that was at last being offered to women. With the new electoral situation, the objectives of women's movement had to change and a new organisation emerged: the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship. Courtney became a member of the executive committee and as such attended the conference on the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship in Paris in 1923. In the 1930s she went on to become Vice President of NUSEC. However, this was a time when there was no consensus within the women's movement regarding the appropriate response to 'protective' legislation that applied only to women and had been created with the aim of 'protecting' them against industrial exploitation. An ideological split occurred at this time between those, on the one hand, who supported ideas such as an 'Endowment of Motherhood' being paid to women to ensure their financial independence and, on the other, those who adopted a more strictly equalist position. In the mid-1920s, the Labour government proposed a series of bills which would extend this protective legislation and many members of the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship of the time were keen to change its equalist policies to support the status of women in this manner. Unlike some, who left to form other organisations in opposition to this position, Courtney remained in the group and even went on to chair the committee of the Family Endowment Council, which shared many of these perspectives. However, her work on the status of women did not end her peace activities at this time, and she soon became the president of the British Section of the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, and organiser of the Women's Pilgrimage for Peace of 1926. Courtney was also active in the international effort that culminated in the presentation of a petition signed by several millions to the Disarmament Conference of 1932 and she was an observer at the conference on behalf of several women's organisations. In 1928 she was appointed to the executive of the League of Nations Union, of which she became the vice-chair in 1939. It was in this capacity that she travelled the world as a speaker in the 1930s. During the Second World War she worked with the Ministry of Information, particularly in relation to the UK's relations with the United States of America in that period. When the United Nations was formed after the war, she became its deputy Chair and was awarded the CBE in 1947. In 1949 she was elected Chair and joint president of the United Nations Association. She retired in 1951 from the organisation, but remained active in its work into her nineties. At the age of 80 she undertook a trip to the United States and Canada. In her 90s she was still an active participant in UNA business. Close friends of Courtney's included Agnes Maude Royden, Gilbert Murray, the classical scholar, and Lord Robert Cecil. Courtney was created Dame 1952. She died 7 Dec 1974.

Leonard Henry Courtney, 1832 - 1918, was born in Penzance and educated at St John's College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar in 1858 and became a Bencher in 1889. He left law to became Professor of Political Economy at University College, London in 1872, a post that he held until 1875. He also entered politics, becoming the Liberal Party MP for Liskeard from 1875 to 1885, and then MP for the Bodmin Division of Cornwall until 1900. He was made Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1880 - 1881, and for the Colonial Office 1881 - 1882. In 1884 he resigned the office of Financial Secretary to the Treasury. His last post was as Chairman of Committees and Deputy Speaker, which he held 1886 - 1892. Leonard Courtney was also a contributor to The Times and The Nineteenth Century. He married Catherine (née Potter, sister of Beatrice Webb) in 1883.

Ella Mayer was born in a village in the Rhine Palatinate in 1908, the daughter of a kosher butcher in a small Jewish community. In 1932 both Ella and her sister were brought to England to stay with an English uncle, who had lived in London since before the First World War. Having already met Ben Courts, on the threat of enforced return to Germany, due to the immanent expiry of her visa, they married and she made London her permanent home.

Constance (Ethel) Cousins was born on 22 September 1882, in Antananarivo (Tananarive), Madagascar. She was the daughter of the Rev. William Edward Cousins, missionary to Madagascar with the London Missionary Society, 1862-1899. By 1885, Constance and her siblings had returned to England, where they attended the Walthamstow Hall School for the daughters of missionaries. Constance then attended Oxford University, gaining first class honours in Physiology in 1904.

In 1911, Constance Cousins' application to serve with the London Missionary Society was turned down on the grounds that she displayed the symptoms of latent epilepsy (a diagnosis never subsequently confirmed). In November 1911, she went to the Almora Sanatorium for Tuberculosis in North India as an unpaid medical assistant. The Church of Scotland ran the Sanatorium and in November 1913 she transferred to the Church of Scotland's medical mission at Kalimpong (North India). Her appointment to the mission staff was confirmed in January 1914. During her period of service at Kalimpong (1913-1923) she was requested to help combat a cholera epidemic in neighbouring Bhutan. Thus, in August 1918, she and her assistant, Nurse Brodie, became the first European women to be admitted to that country. In 1923 Cousins returned as a permanent member of staff to the Almora Sanatorium. She also obtained a diploma from the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London. She continued to work at Almora until her death in May 1944.

Gunner in Edinburgh University Battery, OTC; volunteered for active service and commissioned as 2nd Lt, 1 Lowland Bde, Royal Field Artillery, 1914; Lt, 1915; Capt, 1915; served with Royal Field Artillery on Western Front, 1915-1918.

John Coverdale was the senior partner of 'Coverdale, Lee, Collyer Bristow and Withers' Solicitors in Bedford Row during the nineteenth century. He was also a London Commissioner, with power to administer oaths in the High Court of Chancery.

Born in 1869; studied engineering at University College, London; ship's engineer, 1893; moved to South Africa and worked as electrical engineer, Capetown Harbour Power Station, 1894; Assistant Engineer, later Resident Engineer, Johannesburg Municipal Power Station, 1895-1899, 1901-1904; volunteer stretcher bearer with Royal Army Medical Corps, South Africa, 1899-1900; Assistant Engineer, Victoria Falls Power Company, 1909-1911; 2nd Lt, later Lt, Rand Rifles, 1914; transferred to South African Engineer Corps and served in German South West Africa, 1914-1915; undertook signal training in UK, 1915; served in France with South African Signal Company, Royal Engineers, 1916; served in UK, 1917-1918; appointed to a position in the Public Works Department, South African Government, 1919; worked for Consulting Engineer, Pretoria Power Station, 1921-1923; resident in Channel Islands, 1940-1945; died 1952.

Born in 1920; educated at Wellington College, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and Trinity College, Cambridge; 2nd Lt, Royal Engineers, 1940; Lt, 1941; Capt, 1946; Maj, 1953; Lt Col, 1961; Defence Adviser, British Mission to the UN, 1964-1966; Brig, Engineer Plans, Ministry of Defence (Army), 1968-1970; Chief Executive, Cumbernauld Development Corporation, 1970-1985.

Cowan entered the BRITANNIA as a naval cadet in 1884. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1892 and commanded the REDBREAST between 1893 and 1895 in the Red Sea. In 1895 he was appointed to the BARROSA, Cape Station. He saw active service during the Brass River and Benin expeditions in 1897 and in 1898 commanded the gunboat flotilla on the Nile during the operations in the Sudan. Cowan was promoted to commander in 1901 and to captain in 1906. After almost two years in the post of Assistant to the Admiral of Patrols, Cowan was sent in 1914 to the Zealandia, Grand Fleet. He joined the PRINCESS ROYAL in 1915 and in her was present at Jutland, 1916. He was appointed Commodore commanding the First Light Cruiser Squadron, Grand Fleet, in 1917 and reappointed after his promotion to rear-admiral in 1918. He continued to command it as well as the naval force in the Baltic during the anti-Bolshevik operations in 1920, for which he became well-known. In 1921 he took command of the Baltic Cruiser Squadron. After a year as Commanding Officer on the coast of Scotland, Cowan became, in 1926, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies, and it was during his two years there that his Station was extended to include South America. Cowan was promoted to admiral in 1927, was appointed First and Principal Aide-de-Camp to the King in 1929 and retired in 1930. At the age of sixty-eight, he persuaded the Admiralty to employ him for the duration of the war in the rank of commander. He served as liaison officer with a commando brigade in the eastern Mediterranean during 1941 and was then attached to an Indian regiment in the Western Desert. He was captured at Bir Hakeim in 1942 and repatriated the following year. After further active service he retired in 1945. See Lionel Dawson, Sound of the guns (Oxford, 1949) and Geoffrey Bennett, Cowan's war (London, 1964).

The Reverend James Cowe, MA, was vicar and rural dean at Sunbury Parish. He attended King's College Aberdeen.

This journal is the 83rd copy of a limited run of 90 copies of the Reverend Cowe's meteorological journal which was published in 1889. The Revd Cowe's daily readings (taken at 8 am) are of the following: temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, barometer, wind direction, rain gauge (from 1 Aug 1796 onwards), brief description of the weather.

Sir Ernest Marshall Cowell, KBE, CB, DSO, MD, FRCS (1886-1971) took his MD at London University in 1909 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1911. From 1914 to 1918 he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1922 he became surgeon at Croydon General Infirmary and continued to practise in Croydon for the remainder of his career (becoming surgeon of the Mayday Hospital in 1938) with the exception of war service 1939-1946. During the Second World War he once again served in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was Director of Medical Services for the Allied Forces in North Africa during 1942-1944. A biography of Cowell can be found in Lives of the fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1965-1973 by Sir James Paterson Ross and W.R. LeFanu (a continuation of 'Plarr's Lives').

This firm of architects was based in Truro, Cornwall, at The Mansion House.

Architects Cowell, Drewitt and Wheatley were based at The Mansion House,Truro, Devon.

Joseph Cowen was the son of Sir Joseph Cowen (1800-1873) and his wife Mary. He succeeded his father as Liberal MP for Newcastle upon Tyne in 1873, holding the seat until 1886. He was a lifelong contributor to the Newcastle Chronicle, eventually becoming its owner and editor.

Cowie Harbour Coal Company Limited was registered in 1905 to take over Sandakan Bay Coal Field Limited, including a concession of 1904 to mine coal in the Surudong district of North Borneo. The Company held prospecting rights over 900 square miles. Harrisons and Crosfield Limited (CLC/B/112) became secretaries and agents of the Company in 1920. In 1937 Cowie Harbour Coal Company Limited went into voluntary liquidation.

Born in India, 1905; educated at Connaught House, Wellington College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers, 1925; Lt, 1927; served in India with Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners, 1932-1936; awarded Albert Medal (later exchanged for the GC) for rescuing survivors of the earthquake in Quetta, India, 1935; Capt, 1936; Instructor, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, 1936-1938; Staff Capt, 1939; Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1939; served in World War Two in the Middle East, Italy and North West Europe, 1939-1945; Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General, War Office, 1939-1940; temporary Maj, 1940-1941; Middle East, 1940-1942; Assistant Quartermaster General, 1941-1942; temporary Lt Col, 1941-1944; Maj, 1942; Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, 30 Corps, Western Desert, 1942; General Staff Officer 1, British Army Staff, Washington DC, USA, 1942-1943; Instructor, US Command and Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, 1942-1943; awarded OBE, 1943; substantive Lt Col, 1944; acting Brig, Allied Forces Headquarters, Caserta, Italy, 1944; Brig Q [Quartermaster] (Army Equipment), 1944; temporary Brig, 1944-1953; awarded CBE, 1946; Col, 1949; Brig, 1953; temporary Maj Gen, 1953; Chief of Staff, Headquarters, Eastern Command, 1953-1956; Maj Gen, 1954; awarded CB, 1954; Vice Quartermaster General, 1956-1957; Lt Gen, 1957; Controller of Munitions, Ministry of Supply, 1957-1960; created KBE, 1958; Master General of the Ordnance, War Office, 1960-1962; Governor, Wellington College, 1960-1976; Col Commandant, Royal Pioneer Corps, 1961-1967; Col Commandant, Royal Engineers, 1961-1970; retired 1962; Director, Alastair Watson Limited, 1962-1970; Chairman, Bowmaker Limited, 1962-1971; Director, British Oxygen Limited, 1962-1976; Chairman of Governors, Eagle House School, 1968-1976; Chairman of Governors, Bigshotte School, 1968-1976; Director, C T Bowring and Company Limited, 1969-1971; Vice President and Chairman of Governors, Wellington College, 1969-1976; Chairman, Wilverley Securities Limited, 1970-1973; Keith and Henderson Limited, 1973-1976; Chairman, Polamco Limited, 1976-1993; Chairman of Governors, Brockenhurst Sixth Form College, 1977-1984; President, Old Wellingtonian Society, 1979-1993; President, New Forest Preservation Society, 1982-1993; Fellow, Royal Society of Arts; died 1993.Publications: Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Sir John Cowley, 1905-1993, edited by Colin Maitland (Deltastet, London, 1998).

At the front of the volume are brief notes on the history of the company, compiled in 1929. The notes suggest that the firm was established in 1765, but the firm is first listed in the London trade directories at 31 Cateaton Street (later Gresham Street) from 1781-1825 under the styles John Cowley; Cowley, Son and Sancton; and Cowley and Sancton. The firm is described by various trades, including merchants, linen factors and scotch factors. From 1826-40 the firm is recorded, at the same address, as Cowley and Hewetson.

From internal evidence in the volume the firm had a warehouse in Blackwell Hall Court in the 1820s and the partners for the period 1825-34 appear to be Samuel Norman Cowley and Henry Hewetson. From 1841 the firm is styled in the London trade directories as Henry Hewetson and Co at various addresses including 55 Wood Street. The last mention of the firm in the directories is in 1976, when it was sited in Stoke Newington.

No historical information could be found for the Cowley Recreational Institution. It appears to have been a youth centre in Cowley, Hillingdon.

Born, 1906; educated at Sir George Monoux Grammar School, Walthamstow; Brasenose College, Oxford; demonstrator, Imperial College; assistant lecturer in mathematics at Swansea (1933–1937); lecturer at Dundee (1937–1938); lecturer at Manchester (1938–1945); Professor of Mathematics at Bangor (1945–1948); Professor of Applied Mathematics at Leeds, (1948-1970); ); Fellow of the Royal Society (1947); died, 1990.

No information at present.

Messrs Cowtan and Sons Ltd were high class decorators, upholsterers and cabinet-makers of West Halkin Street Galleries, Belgrave Square SW1. They were established in 1790.

Visiting Lecturer in History of Art and Design/Media Studies, Derby Lonsdale College, 1983-1987; VT Lecturer in History of Costume, Chesterfield College of Technology and Art, 1985-1986; Visiting Lecturer in History of Art and Design, Derbyshire College of Further Education, 1986-1987; Lecturer in History of Art and Design, Carmarthen College of Technology and Arts, 1987-1990; Visiting Lecturer in Contextual Studies, University of East London, 1990-1992; Visiting Lecturer, 1990-1993, Lecturer, 1993-2001 in Cultural Studies, London Institute.

Edith M Lucas was born into a wealth Jewish family, but converted to Christianity and served as a missionary with the China Inland Mission, working in Chinkiang in KiangSu province. After her marriage she was Edith Cox.

Ethel E Cox was English Mistress at Shoreditch Technical Institute Girls Trade School from 1911 to 1915, and the first Principal of Barrett Street Trade School from 1915 to 1950. She was an English graduate and ensured that "dramatic literature" featured on the curriculum. Miss Cox and the trade staff of Barrett Street Trade School had close working relationships with many West End firms, some of whom donated materials for students use. Many girls either went to work or were working for these firms, and attended day or day release courses. Traditionally the firms' representatives would attend the school's annual exhibition of work to select their future employees. Ethel Cox died in 1979, aged 93.

Courses at Barrett Street Trade School included dressmaking, ladies tailoring, embroidery and hairdressing and beauty. Men's tailoring and furrier courses were established later. Pupils joined the school from the age of 12 following elementary education, and trained for two years, primarily for work in London's West End couturier houses and hair salons. Women were employed in the ready-to-wear trade centred on London's East End, or in the fashionable dressmaking and allied trades in the West End, based around the South Kensington and Oxford Street areas. All pupils followed a curriculum that was two-thirds trade subject and one-third general education. Following the success of the full time courses Barrett Street started to run a variety of day release and evening courses for women already working in the trade.

After the Second World War and the 1944 Education Act, which required pupils to continue full time general education until 15, Barrett Street School was given technical college status. The junior courses were discontinued and senior courses expanded. Management courses were introduced. Barrett Street Trade School was renamed Barrett Street Technical College, and after 1950, began to take on male students. The college amalgamated with Shoreditch College for the Garment Trades in 1967 to form the London College for the Garment Trades, later renamed the London College of Fashion.

Born 1902; educated at Kings Norton Grammar School, London University (external engineering degree, 1922); Imperial College London, (PhD in aeronautics, 1924); engineer on construction of Airship R101, 1924-1929; Airworthiness Dept, Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, 1929-1930; Chief Technical Officer, Royal Airship Works, 1931; Scientific Officer, Royal Aircraft Establishment, working on investigation of wing flutter and stability of structures, 1931-1935; Lecturer in aircraft structures, Aeronautics Department, Imperial College London, 1932-1938; Principal Scientific Officer, RAE, 1935-1936; Head of Air Defence Department, RAE, 1936-1938; Chief Technical Officer, Air Registration Board, 1938-1939; Superintendent of Scientific Research, RAE, 1939-1940; Deputy Director of Scientific Research, Ministry of Aircraft Production, 1940-1943; Director of Special Projects, Ministry of Aircraft Production, 1943-1944, Chairman and Managing Director Power Jets (Research and Development) Ltd, 1944-1946; Director, Gas Turbine Establishment, 1946-1948; Chief Scientist, Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1948-1954; Kt 1953; Created Baron Kings Norton of Wotton Underwood (Life Peer), 1965; Chancellor, Cranfield University (formerly Cranfield Institute of Technology), 1969-1997, died 1997. Publications: numerous papers on theory of structures, wing flutter, gas turbines, civil aviation and airships.

Sir Percy Zachariah Cox was born on 20 November 1864 at Herongate, Essex; educated at Harrow School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Cox obtained a commission with the 2nd Cameronians, stationed in India in 1884 and in 1889 joined the Indian Staff Corps. In 1893 Cox left India for the protectorate of British Somaliland; was appointed assistant political resident at Zeila, transferred to the principal port of Berbera in 1894, and in May 1895 was made Captain of an expedition against the Rer Hared clan, which had blocked trade routes and was raiding coastal groups. Given the expedition's success, he was promoted assistant to the viceroy's agent in Baroda.

In 1899 the new viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, offered Cox the chance to become political agent and consul at Muscat. In 1904 Cox was promoted as Acting Political Resident in the Persian Gulf as well as Consul-General for the Persian provinces of Fars, Lurestan, and Khuzestan. He became resident in 1909.
Cox became Secretary to the Government of India early in 1914, but the outbreak of war saw his dispatch back to the Gulf as chief political officer with the Indian expeditionary force. He was promoted to honorary Major-General in the course of the war, and saw some action with Major-General Charles Townshend, but his main role was administrative and political. In November 1918 Cox became acting-minister in Tehran, where he negotiated an Anglo-Persian treaty, but in June 1920 was made high commissioner in Iraq. Cox arrived in Baghdad in October 1920 to replace Sir Arnold Wilson and embarked on the most important work of his career, setting up a council of state under the venerable naqib of Baghdad.

In 1902, Cox was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire; Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, 1911; Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India, 1915; Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1917 and Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, 1920. Cox received honorary degrees from the universities of Oxford, 1925 and Manchester, 1929; was Fellow of Royal Geographical Society, 1895-1937; President of the Royal Geographical Society, 1933-1936 and chairman of the Mount Everest committee. He died on 20 February 1937 while hunting.

A 'Mr Coynes [sic] Surgeon and Apothecary' is entered for Holywell in the Medical Register for 1780, but his name is not to be found in the 1783 edition.

William Arthur Crabtree was born c1868, at Darlington. He was educated at St. Peter's School, York and King's School, Canterbury. He also attended St. Catharine's College and Ridley Hall, Cambridge. He obtained a BA in 1889. In 1890 he trained at the Church Missionary College. On 23 November 1891 he was posted to the East Equatorial Africa Mission, Frere Town, with the Church Missionary Society. From 1892 to 1906, he worked as a missionary explorer in Uganda. His publications included Elements of Luganda Grammar, Together with Exercises and Vocabulary (1902, revised 1921), A Manual of Lu-Ganda (1921), and Primitive Speech (2 parts, 1922).

Stuart Craddock was born 27 Aug 1903 at Halesworth, Suffolk. In 1921 he entered St Mary's Medical School, qualifying MRCS, LRCP in Jul 1927 and MBBS in Nov 1928. He then worked as House Surgeon in the Outpatient Department, before becoming a Research Scholar working with Alexander Fleming in the Inoculation Department. He was treated (unsuccessfully) for sinusitis by Fleming with penicillin in Jan 1929. He worked with the other Research Student, Frederick Ridley, on attempts to purify penicillin, which were abandoned in 1930, although Craddock continued to work with Fleming on aspects of penicillin until his marriage in 1931, when he left for a job as Assistant Bacteriologist at the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories, Beckenham. In 1932 he moved to Holsworthy, Devon and became a general practitioner, remaining there until his death in 1972. He and Fleming remained close friends until the latter's death.

Born London, April 1897; educated at St George's College, London (1913-1915), King's College London (1919-1921) and the London School of Economics (1921-1922). Craig also served in the First World War between 1915 and 1919 as a Lieutenant. His early career was spent as a clerk at the Public Record Office in London, 1912-1919. In 1919, Craig moved to the Exchequer and Audit Department as an auditor and rose through the ranks, finally becoming deputy director of audit in 1947. Throughout his life, Craig also published widely on sex education and the censorship of literature on the grounds of obscenity, along with taking an active part in left-wing and socialist propaganda for sex reform in the 1930s. Publications: Sex and Revolution (1934), The Banned Books of England (1937) and Above All Liberties (1942). He also contributed to a number of books and journals including Experiments in Sex Education (1935), Sex, Society and the Individual (1953) and The Encyclopaedia of Sexual Behaviour (1961). In later life, Craig also published his verse and works include The Voice of Merlin (1946) and The Prometheans (1955).

Born, 1899; Educated Perth Academy; University of St. Andrews; Assistant Medical Officer, Murray Royal, Perth, 1923; Lecturer in Epidemiology, 1924; Assistant in Bacteriology, St Andrews. Worked with Professors WJ Tulloch and WL Burgess; produced two MRC monographs with them, 1927; Research Associate, Connaught Laboratories, Toronto, 1931; Lecturer in Epidemiology, School of Hygiene, University of Toronto, 1932; Secretary of School of Hygiene, 1935-1945; Member of joint US-Canadian Commission on cattle industry and pests. Helped to write Memoranda for the National Research Council of Canada, 1942-1946; Associate Professor of Virus Infections, School of Hygiene, 1946; Elected President of the American Society of Bacteriologists and awarded US Typhus Commission Medal, 1946; Returned to England to work on cancer tumours at Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratory, Mill Hill, 1947; In charge of laboratory, Mill Hill, 1949-1957; retired, 1964; died, 1978.

'The Craiglands', Cowpasture Road, Ilkley, West Yorkshire was built in 1859 as one of the largest purpose-built hydropathic health establishments in the country. Hydropathy concerns the immersing of the body in cold water or applying wet compresses to affected parts of the body to drive out 'morbid matters'. The first proprietors were the Dobson Brothers, one of the brothers being Dr Henry Dobson, physician, who supervised all the treatments offered to patients. Grounds were laid out to the requirements of invalids together with a large recreational hall for indoor sports, public concerts and theatrical performances. The company was known from at least before 1906 as Craigland's Hydro Limited, and later became Craiglands Hotel Limited. Later acquired by J Lyons and Company Limited. As of 2011 The Craiglands Hotel continued to offer six acres of grounds, 'breathtaking views', accommodation and food.

Main source of information: http://www.craiglands.co.uk/ accessed 15 August 2011.

John Aubrey was born, 1626; Education: Trinity College, Oxford (matriculated 1641); Middle Temple (admitted 1646); Career: Discovered the megaliths at Avebury, Wiltshire (1649); inherited estates in Wiltshire, Herefordshire and Wales from his father (1652) but dissipated them through law suits, selling the last of his property (1670) and his library (1677); formed topographical collections on Surrey and North Wiltshire; assisted Anthony à Wood with his 'Antiquities of Oxford'; wrote 'Brief Lives' of his notable contemporaries; Original Fellow of the Royal Society; died, 1697.

Unknown

Walter Crane was born in Liverpool on 15 Aug 1845, second son of the portrait painter Thomas Crane and his wife Marie née Kearsley. The family moved first to Torquay, and in 1857 to London. From 1859-62 Crane was apprenticed to the wood engraver William James Linton, although he studied painting at the same time. In 1862 his painting 'The Lady of Shalott' was accepted by the Royal Academy. By the mid-1860s, Crane was illustrating children's books including coloured picture books designed in collaboration with Edmund Evans, including the series of 'Toy Books' Evans was producing for Routledge.
Crane was influenced by the Aesthetic Movement and by Japanese prints, as well as the Pre-Raphaelites and in particular Edward Burne-Jones. By the 1870s, Crane was involved in decorative design including creating ceramics (for Wedgwood, Pilkington and Maw and Co.), wallpapers (for Jeffrey and Co.), and textiles as well as exhibiting paintings. In 1881 he became friends with William Morris who was also influenced by Ruskin's ideas on beauty and utility in art and the dignity of the craftsman. Crane was instrumental in promoting the Art Worker's Guild, and became its first President in 1884. He later served for two periods as President of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. He joined the Socialist League in 1883. He acted as Director of the Manchester School of Art from 1893-1896, was appointed Art Director of Reading College in 1896, and was appointed Principal of the Royal College of Art in 1898.
Crane published works on art, design and decoration, including 'The Decorative Illustration of Books' (1896), 'The Bases of Design' (1898), and 'Line and Form'. In addition, he collaborated with William Morris at the Kelsmcott Press on wood-engravings for publications including 'The Story of the Glittering Plain' (1894). As a painter, he exhibited at the Royal Academy, Dudley Art Gallery and the New Gallery amongst others. Important canvases include 'The Renaissance of Venus' (1877), 'The Bridge of Life' (1884), 'The Mower' (1891) and 'Neptune's Horses' (1893).
He married Mary Frances Andrews in 1871, and had two sons (one of whom was called Lionel) and a daughter (Beatrice). Crane died at Horsham on 14 March 1915, three months after his wife Mary had been killed by a train.

No information was available at the time of compilation.

The Craven family holdings in Paddington were established by William Craven, Lord Craven (died 1697), from 1670 to 1687. His successor William, Lord Craven (died 1739) added to the holdings, purchasing houses and land from Tyburn manor. By 1795 the land was known as Craven Hill, and some development had taken place by 1811 when Robert Shirley, Earl Ferrers, was granted a lease of number 3 Craven Hill. The estate continued to develop as detached and terraced houses were constructed up to 1854.

The Lord at the time these volumes were prepared was William Christian Frederick Craven (1738-1828), the 6th Baron Craven.

From: 'Paddington: Manors and Other Estates', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 226-233 (available online).

Ted Crawford, a leading member of Socialist Platform Limited, has been a scholar and Trotskyist activist as well as a member of the Revolutionary History editorial board.