Born, 1866; educated Dublin and Bournmouth; British Army officer, Lancers, 1888-1897; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1894-1939; travelled in Tibet, 1896-1899; RGS Founders medal, 1900; founder of the Deasy Motor Car Company, 1906; resigned, 1908; died, 1947.
Abstract of title is a summary of prior ownership of a property, drawn up by solicitors. Such an abstract may go back several hundred years or just a few months, and was usually drawn up just prior to a sale.
From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".
The Debenture Corporation Limited was set up as an investment company in 1885 to offer shareholders a return on investments spread over a number of industrial and manufacturing companies. It traded from 75 Lombard Street (1885-9); Worcester House, Walbrook (1889-1948); 24 Gresham House, 27 Old Broad Street (1949-63); 1 Union Court (1964-6) and Winchester House, 77 London Wall.
The Debris Clearance Pool, also known as the Debris Clearance Pool Committee, was established in 1941 by the Accident Offices Association for the rating of site clearance risks in wartime. It was wound up in 1947.
The Great Exhibition of 1851 proved to be the catalyst for the birth of the public argument for decimalization in Britain. At the close of the exhibition the Society of Arts gave a presentation in support of a decimal system in order to bring into line all the weights and measures currently used by various European countries into harmonisation. The International Association and its British branch were formed in 1855.
Lionel Decle was author of Three Years in Savage Africa (London, 1898).
DeClermont and Donner became a limited company in 1938 when it merged its business at 27 Saint Thomas Street, SE1 with a company called The South India Export Company, which they owned. The object of the new company was, in the words of its Memorandum and Articles of Association, "To carry on business as tanners, curriers and leather dressers, and as manufacturers, importers and exporters of and dealers in leather, chamois, leather-cloth, hides, skins, shagreen, artificial leather, oilcloths, linoleum, leather coats, leggings, linings, gloves, purses, boxes, trunks, suitcases, portmanteaux, fancy goods, bags, saddlery, boots and shoes, hose, washers, belting, flax, hemp, jute, manilla, balata, rubber, cotton, artificial silk, baises, wool and any other commodities..." It had interests in the Middle East - Aden and Ethiopia; and South India. Later, subsidiary companies also acted as hide and skin merchants, leather and paint manufacturers and crude drug merchants.
Delay worked for the Trades Union Congress, mainly concerned with the steel industry. The government-owned British Steel Corporation Ltd was incorporated by the Iron and Steel Act of 1967. It was privatised in 1988.
Delegacíon de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas, originally called the Comite contra el Racismo y el Antisemitismo de la Argentina, was an umbrella organisation was founded in July 1935 for all important Jewish bodies in Argentina apart from the communists.
Hilfsverein Deutschsprechender Juden was founded by seven members of the German Jewish immigrant community of Buenos Aires who had been ostracized by Buenos Aires' non-Jewish 'German Colony'. The organisation assisted German Jewish immigrants who could no longer rely on the support of the German non-Jewish institutions many of which had succumbed to Nazi antisemitic propaganda.
Comite contra el Racismo y el Antisemitismo de la Argentina was founded by Argentine Jews in December 1934, comprising delegates from the major Jewish organisations and supported by the Jewish Colonization Association.
The Council was the principal governing body of King's College London between its foundation in 1829 and the reorganisation of King's that took place with the King's College London (Transfer) Act of 1908. This incorporated King's into the University of London (thereafter redesignated as University of London, King's College), and legally separated the Theological Faculty, which retained subscription to the 39 Articles for academic staff and which continued to be known as King's College London. The secular University of London, King's College, was governed by a new Delegacy, while the Theological Faculty continued to be governed by the Council. Following the reunification of the Colleges by Royal Charter in 1980, responsibility for the government of the whole College was returned to the Council.
Deli Estates Engineering and General Union Limited, general traders and recruiters of staff in the Far East (Malaya and Indonesia), was registered in 1914. In 1960/1 it was acquired by London Sumatra Plantations Limited (CLC/B/112-110). It became a private company in 1984. See also CLC/B/112/MS37276 for accounts 1910-34.
Born 1865; joined Fabian Society, 1889; received into the Roman Catholic Church, 1897; Editor, Surrey Mirror, 1892-1900; Editor, Review of the Week, 1900-1902; Acting Editor, The Connoisseur, 1902-[1906]; settled in Paris as a journalist and picture dealer, 1906, where he remained throughout the war; Paris correspondent, Manchester Guardian; expelled from France, 1918; Foreign correspondent for the Manchester Guardian and other newspapers in Geneva, 1920-1921, Berlin, 1922-1924, Paris, 1925-1932, and Geneva, 1932-1939; his writings were controversialist from a variously Catholic modernist, socialist, pacifist and anti-fascist perspective; died in New York, 1940.
Publications: Anglo-French relations: the policy of the Union of Democratic Control (Union of Democratic Control, London, 1920); Germany unmasked: on Germany under the National-Socialist regime (Martin Hopkinson, London, 1934); My second country, France (John Lane, London and New York, 1920); Socialism and personal liberty (Leonard Parsons, London, 1921); The Catholic Church and the social question (Catholic Press Co, London, 1899); translator of Disestablishment in France (T Fisher Unwin, London, 1906); The left bank of the Rhine (Union of Democratic Control, 1919); The Geneva racket, 1920-1939 (Robert Hale, London, 1921).
This company, shipping agents of 101 Leadenhall Street, was established in 1919 as Delmege and Company to act for Delmege, Forsyth and Company (CLC/B/123-20) in the UK. It became Delmege, Allen and Company in 1920. Delmege, Allen and Company and Delmege, Forsyth and Company were both part of the Inchcape Group of companies.
The firm was established in Colombo, Ceylon [Sri Lanka] in the 1860s as an import/export shipping agency house. It was acquired by the first Earl of Inchcape in 1918. An associated company, Delmege, Allen and Company (CLC/B/123-21) was established in 1919 to act for Delmege, Forsyth and Company in the United Kingdom. Both companies were part of the Inchcape Group of companies.
Isobel Denby (fl 1905-1912) was an author active at the end of the nineteenth century. She appears to have undertaken a correspondence with a clergyman from 1905 to 1911. From this emerges a woman who is critical of the contemporary teaching of the Church of England on women. She specifically suggests revisions to the marriage service and advances thoughts on the role of women in the economic system of the time and in the ministry. The intense intellectual relationship between the author and the clergyman seems to have been ended in 1911 through the intervention of a female friend and the correspondence was published the following year as 'Unconventional Talks with a Modern DD Letters Sent and Unsent'.
Thomas Dence was an investor in various UK and foreign companies and the owner of several properties, including premises in Bromley, Clapham, Croydon, Ferme Park, Highgate, Norbury, Stamford Hill, Southwark, Sutton and Wandsworth; as well as several outside of London including premises in Cambridgeshire and Herne Bay, Kent.
Born 1865; educated Manchester Grammar School and Owens College, Manchester; Assistant in the Zoological Department, British Museum (Natural History), London, 1886-1887; Demonstrator and Assistant Lecturer in Biology, University of Melbourne, Australia, 1888-1894; Professor of Biology, Canterbury College, University of New Zealand, 1894-1903; Professor of Zoology, South African College, Cape Town, South Africa, 1903-1905; Chair of Zoology, King's College London, 1905-1925; member of the Royal Society's Committee for the Investigation of Grain Pests, 1917-1919; died 1925.
Publications: A monograph of the Victorian sponges (Melbourne, 1891); editor of Animal life and human progress (Constable and Co, London, 1919); Outlines of evolutionary biology (Constable and Co, London, 1912); Porifera. Part I. Non-Antartic sponges (London, 1924); editor Problems of modern science (George G Harrap and Co, London, 1922); The Anatomy of an Australian Land Planarian; The biological foundations of society (Constable and Co, London, 1924); An introduction to the study of Botany (Melville, Mullen and Slade, Melbourne and London, 1892).
Born, 1786; educated, Merchant Taylors' School, 1793-; briefly articled to a London solicitor; joined the army as a volunteer, 1811 and served in the Peninsula and in Belgium; instructor at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1818; led the expedition to trace the course of the Niger, 1822-1825; fellow of the Royal Society; appointment to reorganize the Liberated African department, Sierra Leone, 1827-1828; died, 1828.
Publications: Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa (1826)
Unknown. Thought to have been the St Thoma's Hospital Medical School Librarian.
John Law Dennison, born 1911; educated, Brighton College; entered Royal College of Music, 1932; played the horn in various major orchestras in London and Birmingham, 1933-1939; served in the army, World War Two; appointed Assistant Director of the British Council's music department, and Music Director of the Arts Council, 1948; made CBE, 1960; appointed General Manager of the Royal Festival Hall, 1965; Director of South Bank Concert Halls, 1971-1976.
No details at present.
Born, Bakewll, Derbyshire, 1733; educated at Bakewell grammar school; studied medicine at St George's Hospital, London from 1853; surgeon's mate in the navy, surgeon, 1757; attached to the ship Edgar to 1763; continued his medical studies, attending the lectures on midwifery of Dr Smellie; graduated MD, Aberdeen, 1764; began practice as a physician, Winchester; surgeon to a royal yacht; lectured on midwifery, and continued to do so for fifteen years; physician accoucheur to the Middlesex Hospital, 1769-1783; licentiate in midwifery, College of Physicians, 1783; moved to Feltham, Middlesex, 1791 and reduced his practice; made the practice of inducing premature labour in cases of narrow pelvis and other conditions general in England; died, London, 1815.
Publications include: Essays on the Puerperal Fever, and on puerperal convulsions (J Walter, London, 1768); A Letter to Dr. Richard Huck, on the construction and method of using vapor baths [London, 1768]; Aphorisms, respecting the distinction and management of preternatural presentations [London, c 1780]; Directions for the application of the forceps [London, c 1780]; An Essay on Uterine Hemorrhages depending on Pregnancy and Parturition (J Johnson, London, 1785); An Essay on Difficult Labours (J. Johnson, London, 1787-1791); An Essay on Natural Labours (J Johnson, [London,] 1786); An Essay on Preternatural Labours (J Johnson, London, 1786); A Collection of Engravings, tending to illustrate the generation and parturition of animals, and of the human species (J Johnson, London, 1787); An Introduction to the Practice of Midwifery (J Johnson, London, 1794, 95); Observations on the Cure of Cancer (J Johnson, London, 1810).
Born at Whitchurch, Hampshire, on 19 November 1904, Sir Norman Egbert Denning joined the navy as a special entry cadet in 1921, leaving Andover grammar school. He joined the paymaster branch instead of becoming an executive officer due to his eyesight. He excelled in this branch and was quickly rewarded for his competency, appointed secretary to senior executive officers. In 1937, paymaster lieutenant-commander Denning was appointed to the Admiralty's intelligence division. He then became chief adviser to the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty. Denning acted as the link between the operational intelligence centre (OIC) and components of the naval intelligence division including the Ministry of Economic Warfare, the army, the Secret Intelligence, the Special Operations Executive and Bomber commands of the RAF. Denning was later promoted paymaster-commander, 1941 and then paymaster-captain, 1951. After World War Two, Denning was appointed director of administrative planning in the Admiralty, later becoming director of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in 1956. In 1958 Denning was promoted to rear-admiral on the general list. In 1958, he became deputy chief of naval personnel and director of manpower in the Admiralty, 1959. From 1964 to 1965 Denning acted as deputy chief of defence staff. Denning was appointed OBE in 1945, CB in 1961, and KBE in 1963. Retiring in 1967 he was secretary of the services, press and broadcasting committee, otherwise known as the 'D Notice Committee'. He died at Micheldever, Hampshire, on 27 December 1979.
Denny was a corn dealer of 31 Lower Marsh, Lambeth.
Charles Enrique Dent was born in 1911. Having begun his scientific career as a chemist, Dent qualified in medicine in 1944 and then began to work on disorders of amino-acid metabolism, being an early pioneer of the technique of paper chromatography for the analysis of body fluids. He developed both chromatographic and chemical tests for metabolic disorders and was instrumental in defining a number of new amino acid diseases. Another associated early interest was in metabolic bone diseases such as rickets and osteomalacia. These concerns broadened over his career to include the cause and treatment of many conditions such as hyperparathyroidism, renal stone formation, sarcoidosis and various malabsorption syndromes. A continuing interest in genetics accompanied the study and treatment of all these conditions as many were shown to be hereditary. Several are also associated with mental deficiency.
An outline of Dent's life follows:
1911: born in Burgos, Spain (family normally resident in Singapore); 1915: family moved to England. Educated at Bedford School and Wimbledon College (exact dates unknown); 1927: left school to work in a bank; subsequently left, obtained a post as a laboratory technician and studied at evening classes at Regent Street Polytechnic; 1930: became a Chemistry student at Imperial College, London; 1931/2: BSc, Chemistry; 1934: PhD on copper phthalocyanin (later marketed by ICI as 'Monastral Blue'); Went to work for ICI Dyestuffs Group in Manchester; 1937: entered Univeristy College, London, as a medical student; 1939-1945: war service in France and as a consultant in chemistry in the scientific department of British censorship (as a specialist in secret writing), including service in Bermuda and the USA; 1943: awarded FRIC; 1944: qualified in medicine and became house physician to Sir Thomas Lewis at UCL; Married Margaret Ruth Coad; 1945: became Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. Appointed Assistant to the Medical Unit at UCH Medical School under Sir Harold Himsworth; Went to the recently liberated concentration camp at Belsen as part of the MRC study group; studied the treatment of starvation by amino-acid mixtures; 1946-1947: Rockefeller scholarship - studied in Rochester, NY, USA. Post-war research, initially in the field of amino-acid metabolism. Pioneer in the field of partition chromatography for the study of biological fluids. Developed methods of random testing for metobolic disorders; Defined new amino-acid diseases such as various forms of Fanconi syndrome, Hartnup disease, argininosuccinic aciduria and homocystinuria; 1949: awarded MD; 1951: persuaded University College Hospital, London, to establish a metabolic ward with beds, laboratories and outpatient clinics. Appointed Reader in medicine. Research interests broadened to include the study of clinical disorders of calcium and phosphorus metabolism, vitamin D deficiency and the action of parathyroid; increasing emphasis on the clinical side of his work, rather than laboratory science; 1954: became Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians; 1956: appointed Professor of Human Metabolism; 1962: appointed Fellow of the Royal Society; 1976: awarded CBE. Died, September.
Under the terms of the will of Edward John Dent (1790-1853), the business of E. Dent and Company Limited, watchmakers (founded in 1840) was divided between his stepsons with Richard Edward Dent, formerly Rippon, inheriting the business in Cockspur Street. On his death in 1856 the business passed to his wife Marianna Frederica Dent and became independent, trading as M.F. Dent until 1920, when it was acquired by E. Dent and Company Limited. Between 1856 and 1920 the business was run by various members of the Dent family.
From November 1982 to May 1985 the Economic and Social Research Council funded a study by Dr M P Dent of Staffordshire University School of Humanities and Social Sciences entitled 'Doctors and the Development of Hospital Computer Systems: a case study'. The study was conducted at an unnamed small acute hospital in Birmingham, and assessed the impact of a computer-based medical records system on the clinical work processes within an outpatient clinic, the decision-making processes involved, and the responses of the doctors to the computer system.
The Colne Valley Water Company Plc was a statutory water company supplying parts of South West Hertfordshire from 1873 to 1994. In 1994 it merged into Three Valleys Water. Stanmore is in Harrow, North London, close to the border with Hertfordshire.
Probate (also called proving a will) is the process of establishing the validity of a will, which was recorded in the grant of probate.
The manor of Enfield is first recorded as held by Ansgar the staller in 1066. In 1086 it was owned by Geoffrey de Mandeville and stayed in his family until 1419 when it became the property of King Henry V. Subsequently it was assigned to various female members of the Royal family, including Margaret of Anjou; and was leased out by the Royals until the lease was acquired by the Duke of Chandos in 1742.
Source: "A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton, Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham", 1976, (available online).
The Building Research Board was founded in 1919 under the Government's Department for Scientific and Industrial Research, as one of a number of Research Boards set up after the First World War.
The Department of Botany has its origins in the Department of Natural and Artificial Productions, which was set up at the founding of the British Museum in 1756. In 1806 it was renamed the Department of Natural History and Modern Curiosities and was under the keepership of George Shaw (1751-1813) and later Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig (1774-1851). The botanical collection at this period consisted almost entirely of the Sloane herbarium.
In 1827 the Museum acquired the herbarium of Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), and with it, the services of Robert Brown (1773-1858), as 'Keeper of the Banksian Botanical Collection'. In 1835 the Sloane and Banksian collections were amalgamated to form a Botanical Branch of the Department of Natural History, and in 1856 the branch was given the status of a department, with Robert Brown as the first Keeper, and a staff of four.
Under succeeding keepers the collections held by the Department increased in size and scope, and by the time George Murray (1858-1911) retired in 1905 there was a staff of 13. A major reorganisation took place in the mid 1930s when the complement increased to 23, and the department was divided into six cryptogamic sections and five sections devoted to flowering plants, together with the library and the Keeper's Office. The Department was severely damaged during the war, and did not fully recover until the early 1960s.
Over the years the relationship of the Department with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has been scrutinised many times, on both financial and scientific grounds. Government enquiries were held in 1860, 1871, 1900 and 1960, and all recommended that the two institutions should remain independent, with the last leading to the 'Morton Agreement', which set out a division of accession and research activities.
By 1965 the Department was responsible for huge herbaria collections, and was active in research on the floras of tropical Africa, Europe, the West Indies and the Far East. The research was supported by the departmental library, which was rich in historic treasures as well as contemporary literature. The Department was also responsible, in conjunction with the exhibition staff, for displays in the botany gallery. Staff numbered 23, who between them saw to nearly 3,000 visitors, accessioned nearly 40,000 specimens, and published 30 or more papers each year.
The Modern Greek Department was established in 1919, when the Koraes Chair was inaugurated following a subscription campaign and a grant from the Greek Government, and named in honour of Adamantios Koraes (1748-1833), the scholar and advocate of Greek national independence. The Department became known as the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies in 1972, and since 1989 has been part of the School of Humanities.
The Department of Entomology was set up on 1st April 1913. Before that date insects had been studied alongside the other arthropods within the Zoology Department. In 1895 Zoology was divided into three sections, with Arthur Gardiner Butler (1844-1925) becoming Assistant Keeper responsible for the insects. Formation of a separate department of entomology was recommended in 1906, but not implemented for seven years. In 1913 the staff consisted of the Keeper, Charles Joseph Gahan (1862-1939), nine Assistants, and ten Attendants. Most of the work of the Department was in classical taxonomy and curation, although some research on tropical diseases and other economic and applied topics was initiated. Staff numbers were increased in 1930 only to be cut back during the economic crisis of 1931. However, by 1937 there were 17 scientists distributed among seven sections, backed up by 20 technical staff and 22 specialists, who regularly worked in the Department as unofficial researchers. Economic research was restricted to 'domestic' areas during the 1930s, to avoid overlapping with other research institutes, and the economic collection was disbanded in 1933. By 1965 staff numbered 68, who between them were responsible for a collection of more than 15 million specimens, a fine library, a large exhibition gallery, an extensive taxonomic research programme and an information service.
Since 1909 the Department has worked closely with the Bureau of Entomological Research (later the Imperial, and finally the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology), which was set up by the Colonial Office under Sir Guy Marshall, and housed in the Museum. In 1953 the Colonial Office set up The Termite Research Unit under W V Harris, which is housed in the Museum under a similar arrangement.
From 1882 the insect collections were housed in four, and later ten, rooms in the southwest basement of the Museum. The Department moved into an extension of the New Spirit Building in 1930, pending construction of a new Entomology Block. This building, which was under construction from 1934 to 1952, was shared with the Bird Section of Zoology Department until 1972. There was an outpost of the Department at Tring from 1937, when Lord Rothschild bequeathed his huge insect collection to the Museum, until 1972, when the transfer of the Bird Section finally made space for it to move to London.
In 2005, in preparation for the construction of a new building to be opened in 2008, the Entomology staff and collections were dispersed through the South Kensington site (into the former British Natural History gallery, Origin of Species exhibition and the Spencer Gallery) and the Wandsworth outstore. The Entomology block was demolished 2005-2006.
In 1876 the London Society for the Extension of University Education was founded with the aim of encouraging working people into higher education. In 1900 it became the Board to Promote the Extension of University Teaching (BPEUT) and became part of the University of London. The BPEUT became the University Extension and Tutorial Classes Council in 1928. This body was replaced by the Council of Extra-Mural Studies (later the Department of Extra-Mural Studies). The Department was integrated into Birkbeck College in 1988 and was initially known as the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies.
The Department of Mineralogy has its origins in the Department of Natural and Artificial Productions which was set up at the foundation of the British Museum in 1756. In 1806 it was renamed the Department of Natural History and Modern Curiosities and was under the keepership of George Shaw (1751-1813) and later Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig (1774-1851). In 1837 the Department was divided into three branches, of which Mineralogy and Geology was one, and in 1856 the branch became a Department in its own right, almost immediately being divided into the two departments of Geology and Mineralogy. The first Keeper of Mineralogy was M H N Story-Maskelyne (1823-1911), a lecturer and later Professor at Oxford, a Member of Parliament, and an agriculturalist and country gentleman. Thomas Davies (1837-1932) joined the Department as an attendant in 1858 and took charge of the rock collection. A chemical laboratory was provided in Great Russell Street in 1867, and Walter Flight (1841-1885) was appointed analyst.
By the time the Department moved to South Kensington in 1881, it had a staff of ten, and was responsible for a huge collection of rocks, minerals and meteorites. In South Kensington the Department initially developed around the collections of minerals, meteorites and rocks. Cataloguing and curation of the mineral collection, with the development of crystallographic and chemical techniques involved a large number of staff, including Lazarus Fletcher (1854-1921), Leonard J Spencer (1870-1959) and Jessie M Sweet (1901-1979). The meteorite collection was looked after by successive keepers, including Fletcher, George T Prior (1862-1936) and W Campbell Smith (1887-1988), while the rocks were worked on by Prior, Campbell Smith and Stanley E Ellis (1904-1986). The chemical laboratory, staffed by Prior, Max H Hey (1904-19..) and Alan A Moss (1912-1990), was involved in work on all these three collections. Many staff worked in more than one of these areas, and the Department was not formally divided into sections until the 1950s.
Two important developments came with the appointment of Frederick A Bannister (1901-1970) in 1927 to develop X-ray crystallography, and the formation of an Oceanography Section under John D Wiseman in 1935, following the transfer of the John Murray Collection from the Department of Zoology. New methods of rapid mineral analysis were developed in the 1950s, and the department's first electron microprobe was delivered in 1964.
By 1975 the Department had a staff of 37 and was divided into nine sections, including General Mineralogy, Petrology, Meteorites, Oceanography, Chemistry and the Departmental Library.
The Department of Palaeontology has its origins in the Department of Natural and Artificial Productions which was set up at the foundation of the British Museum in 1756. In 1806 it was renamed the Department of Natural History and Modern Curiosities and was under the keepership of George Shaw (1751-1813) and later Carl Dietrich Eberhard Konig (1774-1851). In 1837 the Department was divided into three branches, of which Mineralogy and Geology was one, and in 1856 the branch became a Department in its own right, almost immediately being divided into the two departments of Geology and Mineralogy. The first Keeper of Geology was George Robert Waterhouse (1810-1888), an entomologist, who had joined the Museum in 1843 from the Zoological Society. He was succeeded in 1880 by Henry Woodward (1832-1921), who thus had the task of supervising the move from Bloomsbury to South Kensington. By the time Woodward retired in 1901 the Department had a staff of 15.
Through the 1920s and 1930s the collections were divided into 15 units, each presided over by an Assistant Keeper or an Unofficial Worker. Subdivision of the Department into sections developed during this period, and was firmly established when the Museum got back to normal after the Second World War. An Anthropology Section, which spanned the departments of Geology and Zoology was set up in 1954. It was given the status of a Sub-Department in 1959, and was made part of Palaeontology the following year.
In 1956 the title of the Department was changed from Geology to Palaeontology.
By 1956 the Department was responsible for one of the largest and most important collections of palaeontological material in the world, and was an international centre for research in both stratigraphic and taxonomic palaeontology. Research work was supported by a rich departmental library. Staff numbered 63.
A committee, known as the Board of Trade since 1786, adopted the title officially by an Act of Parliament of 1861 and, assuming more of an executive and less of a consultative role, dealt increasingly with domestic matters, from the 1840s given a range of regulatory duties in the economic sphere under various Acts of Parliament. During the 19th and 20th centuries the Board acquired many new responsibilities and, although several were later transferred to other government departments, its duties remained numerous, especially during wartime. By the 1960s it had general responsibility for commerce, industry and overseas trade, and in particular commercial relations with other countries. The Board's functions altered frequently during administrative reorganisations of the 1960s, losing and regaining responsibilities from other ministries. In 1970 the Board was merged with the Ministry of Technology to form the Department of Trade and Industry.
The Department of Zoology has its origins in the Department of Natural and Artificial Productions which was set up at the founding of the British Museum in 1756. In 1806 it was renamed the Department of Natural History and Modern Curiosities and was under the keepership of George Shaw (1751-1813) and later Charles Dietrich Eberhard Konig (1774-1851). In 1836 the Department was divided into three branches, of which zoology was one, and in 1856 the branch was given the status of a department, with John Edward Gray (1800-1875) as the first Keeper, and a staff of 15. Gray made great progress in registering, cataloguing and exhibiting the growing collections, and was the first zoologist to gain and deserve scientific eminence through his work at the Museum. Although Gray pressed long and hard for a move to larger premises, he had been succeeded by Dr A Gunther (1830-1914) by the time the move to South Kensington took place in 1883. When Gunther retired in 1895 the department had a staff of 35, divided into the Vertebrate, Invertebrate and Insect Sections.
In 1913 the Insect Section became the separate Department of Entomology. In 1922 the department was divided into nine sections, including Mammals, Birds, Fishes, Mollusca and Crustacea. The number and precise designation of the sections has changed over the years, and by 1965 there were 17, each with its own head, and keeping its own records. By 1965 the department was responsible for one of the largest and most important collections of zoological material in the world, and was an international centre for research in animal taxonomy and systematics. The research was supported by a fine departmental library, rich in manuscripts and rare books. The department was also responsible, in conjunction with the exhibition staff, for displays in the zoological galleries. Staff numbered 98, who between them saw to nearly 5,000 visitors a year, coped with the acquisition of over 35,000 specimens a year, and were responsible for over 100 monographs, papers and reports.
Joshua Webster (1709?-1801), MD, formulated his patent remedy "Dr. Webster's diet drink", or "Cerevisia Anglicana" in 1742. Shortly before his death Webster gave the recipe to Samuel Slee, a wine merchant in Southwark, whence it was inherited by his son, Edward Slee (d c 1836). In 1835 Edward Slee entered into partnership with one George Pike (d 1854), who also married Slee's daughter, Eliza. After Pike's death, Eliza Pike and her son George Pike junior (b 1835) continued trading as Edward Slee and Co, based at successive locations in the London area - Kennington, Lee, Harlington and Hounslow. Edward Slee and Co seem to have ceased trading shortly after the turn of the century.
No biographical information relating to William Cotton was available at the time of compilation.
The concept of the Court of Common Council grew from the ancient custom of the Folkmoot, when the assent of the citizens to important acts was obtained. This custom was continued by the Mayor who consulted the Commons several times during the 13th century. From 1376 the assembly began to meet regularly and was referred to as the Common Council. It was decided that the Council should be made up of persons elected from each Ward. By 1384 a permanent Common Council chosen by the citizens was established for all time. The Council assumed legislative functions and adopted financial powers, confirmed by Charters of 1377 and 1383. The Council has often used these powers to amend the civic constitution, regulate the election of Lord Mayor and other officials, and amend the functions of the City courts. The Council was judged so successful in the conduct of its duties that it was the only Corporation unreformed by Parliament following the Municipal Corporations Commission report of 1837, while the Corporation Inquiry Commission of 1854 suggested only minor reforms. The work of the Council is conducted by a number of committees, while the whole Council has the right to approve policy, confirm major decisions and sanction expenditure. The committees handle many aspects of the running of the City including land and estates, finance and valuation, open spaces, street improvement and town planning, public health, police, Port of London, civil defence, airports, libraries, markets, education, and law. The Town Clerk has held responsibility for recording the minutes of the Council and its committees since 1274.
The Privileges Committee was formed in 1911 to consider any questions relating to the rights and privileges of members of the Courts of Aldermen and Common Council. This included action to be taken when a member of the Courts abused their privileges, for example, in the matter of free tickets to receptions or events, by behaving poorly at such events or by being out of official dress. It was replaced by the Standards Committee in March 2001.
The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group was a military formation of the British Army that served in Europe during the Second World War. Although the brigade was formed in 1944, some of its experienced personnel had been employed against the Axis powers in Greece, the Middle East and East Africa. More than 30,000 Palestinian Jews volunteered to serve in the British Armed Forces, 734 of whom died during the war.
The brigade and its predecessors, the Palestine Regiment and the three infantry companies that had formed it, were composed primarily of Middle Eastern Jews. The brigade was nevertheless inclusive to all Jewish and non-Jewish soldiers so that by 1944 over 50 nationalities were represented. Many were refugees displaced from countries that had been occupied or controlled by the Axis powers in Europe and Ethiopia. Volunteers from the United Kingdom, its empire, the Commonwealth, and other 'western democracies' also provided contingents.
An ola is a leaf or strip of a leaf of the palmyra, traditionally used in Southern India and Sri Lanka for writing on. It is also a letter or document written on such a leaf.
The Sinhalese are the native inhabitants of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon).
Born in 1897; educated at Shrewsbury and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; 2nd Lt, Seaforth Highlanders, 1916; Lt, 1918; Capt, 1927; served on North West Frontier, India, 1930-1931; Reserve of Officers, 1931; rejoined Regt, 1939; died in 1980.
This project was entitled 'GP consultations and concepts of illness: Asian women in Bristol', and the questionnaires covered place of origin, diet, exercise and social conditions as well as relations with general practitioner, hospital treatment and factors affecting mental health such as attitudes towards life in Britain. It was originally planned to interview 100 Punjabi-speaking women who had arrived in Bristol as brides from India or Pakistan in the 1960s, asking standard questions to examine concepts of illness in general within the group, testing the received idea that ethnic minority communities look after their own and do not need help from statutory services. The terms in which the women described health and illness were examined, and an attempt was made to determine what part terminology played in their contact with general practitioners. Interviewees were mainly women in their 20s and 30s, interview by Kamaljit Poonia in doctors' waiting rooms and ante-natal clinics. The interviewees' co-operation encouraged the researchers to undertake more searching interviews than originally planned, which made it impossible to undertake a large number, and eventually only 34 women were asked to fill out the standard questionnaire. In-depth interviews involving home visits were undertaken with 12 of these women and with 2 who had not filled out the questionnaire, 6 resulting in tape recordings of over 10 hours per person. These led to a further study concentrating on experiences of depression.
The concept of the Court of Common Council grew from the ancient custom of the Folkmoot, when the assent of the citizens to important acts was obtained. This custom was continued by the Mayor who consulted the Commons several times during the 13th century. From 1376 the assembly began to meet regularly and was referred to as the Common Council. It was decided that the Council should be made up of persons elected from each Ward. By 1384 a permanent Common Council chosen by the citizens was established for all time. The Council assumed legislative functions and adopted financial powers, confirmed by Charters of 1377 and 1383. The Council has often used these powers to amend the civic constitution, regulate the election of Lord Mayor and other officials, and amend the functions of the City courts. The Council was judged so successful in the conduct of its duties that it was the only Corporation unreformed by Parliament following the Municipal Corporations Commission report of 1837, while the Corporation Inquiry Commission of 1854 suggested only minor reforms. The work of the Council is conducted by a number of committees, while the whole Council has the right to approve policy, confirm major decisions and sanction expenditure. The committees handle many aspects of the running of the City including land and estates, finance and valuation, open spaces, street improvement and town planning, public health, police, Port of London, civil defence, airports, libraries, markets, education, and law. The Town Clerk has held responsibility for recording the minutes of the Council and its committees since 1274.
Under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham certain property, including the Royal Exchange, was left jointly to the Corporation and the Mercers' Company upon various trusts, including the payment of lecturers at Gresham College and the maintenance of almshouses. The trust was administered by the Joint Grand Gresham Committee with representatives from both the Mercers' and the City. However, it was necessary to form certain smaller committees within the Corporation, including the Gresham Committee (City Side) which met to select representatives to go forward to the Joint Grand Gresham Committee.