Sir George Biddell Airy was educated at Cambridge and became Plumain Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Cambridge Observatory in 1828. In 1835 he accepted the post of Astronomer based at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, which he held until 1881. In 1835 Airy was invited to become a member of the University of London Senate. Although he was unable to attend Senate meetings on a regular basis, he discussed the pressing issues of the University at the time with other Senate members, in particular Sir John William Lubbock, 3rd Bt. Airy also served on the University's Sub Committee on Mathematics and Natural Philosophy and the Committee on Certificates of Proficiency. He resigned from the Senate in August 1847.
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480-[525]) was a Roman statesman and philosopher. Famous for his learning, he enjoyed the confidence of King Theodoric, who sent him on several diplomatic missions. His enemies accused him of disloyalty to the King, whereupon Boethius was imprisoned and later executed. During his imprisonment he wrote his most famous work, 'De consolatione philosophiae'. Previously he had also written works on mathematics, music, theology and logic - one of his original logical treatises was 'De differentiis topicis'.
The Headfort Estate was purchased by Thomas Taylour of Sussex in 1660. Taylor had assisted Sir William Petty in his 'Down Survey' - an attempt to produce a topographical map of Ireland, and it is likely Taylour was either awarded Headfort for his assistance or bought it with revenue gained from his part in the survey. Thomas Taylour's son, Thomas Taylour (1662-1736) was made an Irish Baronet and was MP for Kells. His son, also Sir Thomas Taylour (d 1757) was the 2nd Baronet and also MP for Kells. The volumes date primarily from the period of Thomas Taylour (1724-1795), Earl of Bective.
The East India Company (formally called the Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies (1600-1708) and the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies (1708-1873)), was an English company formed for the exploitation of the spice trade in East and Southeast Asia and India. It was incorporated by Royal Charter in December 1600.
In 1784 the British government instituted standing Commissioners (the Board of Control) in London to exercise superiority over the Company's Indian policies.
Stephen Elvey was born in 1805 in Canterbury and was trained as a chorister at the Cathedral under Highmore Skeats. In 1830 he became organist at New College Oxford and then at St Mary's University Church and St John's College. He composed a few, yet significant, pieces of sacred music including Evening Service in Continuation of Croft's Morning Service in A (1825) and The Psalter, or Canticles and Psalms of David (Parker and Co, Oxford, 1856). He died in 1860.
Stephen Elvey's younger brother, George, was born in 1816 in Canterbury. Also an organist George attended the Royal Academy and graduated from New College Oxford in 1838 when he was appointed organist to St George's Chapel. George Elvey composed church music as well as teaching several members of the Royal family. He was knighted in 1871 and died in 1893.
No information available at present. Melloney Hotspur by John Masefield, was published by William Heinemann in 1922.
Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) was an Italian violinist and composer. He studied in Rome with Arcangelo Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti before moving to London in 1714. He quickly established himself as a performer and composer and also published a series of theoretical works on performance techniques and on harmony. He visited Ireland on numerous occasions and died in Dublin in 1762.
Alan Fairbourn worked in the University of London Computing Centre in the 1960s.
Hilda Hulme was born in Staffordshire in 1914 and read English at University College London (UCL) in 1932. She received a BA in 1935, and a MA in 1937. After graduation she studied for a University of London teacher's diploma and then taught at schools in Yorkshire before becoming the Temporary Assistant Lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature at UCL in 1944. In 1947, she received a Ph.D. and stayed on as a lecturer at UCL until 1966 when she took up a Research Fellowship at the Folgar Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, USA. She returned to England and continued to work at UCL until her retirement through ill-health in 1976. Her most renowned work was Explorations in Shakespeare's English, published in 1962.
Joshua Gee was a London merchant, who was frequently consulted by the Government, particularly the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, on matters of trade, manufacturing and the colonies. He died in 1730, leaving a large fortune to his family. Publications: The trade and navigation of Great-Britain considered (Sam. Buckley, London, 1729).
King Charles III (1716-1788) was the ruler of Spain (1759-1788) and Naples and Sicily (1735-1759).
Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was born in a small village on the Rhine. He studied arts and theology at Heidelberg, 1503-1508, during which time he joined the Franciscan Order. His study in the next few years broadened his knowledge of mathematical geography and cartography, and he published several works on the subject, as well as works on hebraistics. The latter won him a post as Chair of Hebrew at the University of Basel, which he took up in 1529 and remained in until his death from plague in 1552. Münster left the Franciscan Order and adhered to Lutheranism. During the remainder of his life he became the leading cartographer and geographer in Germany. The Cosmographia consisted of detailed geographical descriptions and depictions of Germany, and was first published in 1544.
Born in Barbados in 1784, William Maynard Gomm enjoyed a successful career in the armed forces, participating in the fighting on the continent leading up to the Battle of Waterloo. He was Governor of Mauritius, 1842-1849, Constable of the Tower of London, 1849, and Commander in Chief in India, 1950-1955.
Aretas Akers was born on the island of St Kitts in 1734, the eldest son of Edmund Akers, a man of English descent, who owned land on St Vincent. Akers acquired his own estates on St Kitts, and much later, inherited his father's estates on St Vincent. Akers added to his position of strength and influence in the islands through his marriage to Jean Douglas, the niece of the Governor of the Leeward Islands. He maintained his connections with Great Britain - having his children educated in Scotland and England. Jean Douglas died in 1768, soon after the birth of her seventh child - Akers did not remarry.
As a substantial landowner on St Kitts and St Vincent, Akers played an important role in finance, business, trade and politics of the islands. The influence of his position is demonstrated by the fact that he was appointed Receiver of the Casual Revenue or Droits of Admiralty for the Leeward Carribee Islands by the British government at the outset of the American War of Independence. This meant that he was responsible for the sale of ships and cargo captured during the war and distributed prize money to ships' crews. He was also appointed by Lord Rodney as one of the joint agents responsible for the distribution of prize money after the British conquered the island of St Eustatius in 1779.
Akers was also active in political life on St Kitts. He served as a represntative on the legislative assembly, but resigned from this position in 1769 as a result of a dispute ostensibly over the Governor's attempt to prevent assembly members who also acted for the British Government from voting for new representatives. As a result of this, Akers and his 6 fellow protestors were jailed for more than a month. After his release Akers may have travelled to London to bring the matter before the House of Commons, although it is unclear what the result of this was. In time all seven members of the assembly were re-elected to it. Akers also appears to visited England in 1774 in order to protest against the war with America because of the effect that it would have trade in the West Indies.
Aretas Akers and his family left St Kitts in 1782 when the island was captured by the French. The family settled in England, but Akers travelled to Paris in order to petition the French government concerning a problem with the Stubbs estate on St Vincent. He spent the remaining three years of his life working to bring some order to his financial and business affairs which had been thrown into chaos as a result of British losses in the West Indies. He was in dispute with the British government concerning the sale of ships and cargo in Tortola, where as a result of the lack of availability of currency he had accepted bonds from purchasers rather than cash. The government regarded Akers as been responsible for the subsequent debts. The Government also had a large claim against him for Droits of Admiralty for Greenwich Naval Hospital, which received unclaimed and forfeited shares of prize money. His financial position had been further weakened by the effect that the War and poor weather conditions had had on the management of his estates and trade.
Akers died in 1785, and in his will vested his estate in Alexander Douglas, his two sons, Edmund Fleming Akers and Aretas Akers, and William Forbes in trust for his heirs. Edmund and Aretas Akers then began the long process of ordering their father's tangled affairs so that the terms of the will could be executed. This process continued for more than twenty years, Edmund Akers managing affairs in the West Indies, and Aretas Akers II working from London.
Fuller was born in 1882 and went on to study to be a solicitor before World War One. Joining the army, he rose to the rank of captain before leaving due to ill health and loss of hearing which prevented him from returning to his legal career. Fuller was interested in collecting Pacific and African artefacts and went on to become honorary curator in the Ethnological Department of the British Museum. He was also an avid antiquarian. He died in 1961.
Katharine Longley was born in Clapham, London in 1920. She was educated at Clapham Girls' High School and University College London. She became Archivist at York Minster Library until retiring in 1983. Miss Longley became an authority on recusant history and published articles on the subject in the Ampleforth Journal and Recusant History. In 1966 she published under the name of Mary Claridge (her mother's maiden name) Margaret Clitherow 1556-1586, a biography of the Catholic saint. Her recusant papers and related research material are now deposited at Ampleforth Abbey. Miss Longely also wrote about the relationship between Ellen Ternan and Charles Dickens in the unpublished A Pardoner's Tale: The Story of Dickens and Ellen Ternan and in The Dickensian, notably The Real Ellen Ternan, vol. 81 (1985).
Harold Frost, psychic researcher and verger, was born in Colchester, Essex, in 1895; during the First World War, he served with the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps, before being gazetted to the 7th Suffolk Regiment and serving at the Somme, France and in Belgium; during the 1920s and 1930s, Frost became interested in psychic research and investigated and worked with various medium circles in Essex and other areas; medical clerk to the Chairman of Colchester Medical Board of the Ministry of Labour, 1939, later being transferred to Ministry of Food Headquarters Office, Colwyn Bay for licensing of firms in animal feeding stuffs; transferred to Chelmsford Essex Divisional Food Office as Salvage Officer for Essex and Hertfordshire areas, 1942, and once again to the Ministry of Supply, carrying out testing at Springfield Uranium Factory, Lancashire; moved to Dacca, East Pakistan and worked as a General Manager of Zeenat Printing Works and in public relations, 1955-1961; returned to England in 1962, joining the Sue Ryder organisation and carried out general duties and nursing; served as a verger in Banbury from the 1960s to his death in 1975.
No further information available
Harold Frost, psychic researcher and verger, was born in Colchester, Essex, in 1895; during the First World War, he served with the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps, before being gazetted to the 7th Suffolk Regiment and serving at the Somme, France and in Belgium; during the 1920s and 1930s, Frost became interested in psychic research and investigated and worked with various medium circles in Essex and other areas; medical clerk to the Chairman of Colchester Medical Board of the Ministry of Labour, 1939, later being transferred to Ministry of Food Headquarters Office, Colwyn Bay for licensing of firms in animal feeding stuffs; transferred to Chelmsford Essex Divisional Food Office as Salvage Officer for Essex and Hertfordshire areas, 1942, and once again to the Ministry of Supply, carrying out testing at Springfield Uranium Factory, Lancashire; moved to Dacca, East Pakistan and worked as a General Manager of Zeenat Printing Works and in public relations, 1955-1961; returned to England in 1962, joining the Sue Ryder organisation and carried out general duties and nursing; served as a verger in Banbury from the 1960s to his death in 1975.
John Burns was born in Lambeth in 1858; trained as an engineer and became active in the labour movement and local politics; leader of the London dock strike of 1889; elected to London County Council on its inception in 1889, remaining in office until 1907; also served as MP for Battersea (1892-1918) and was president of the Local Government Board (1905-1913) and the Board of Trade (1914); resigned from the Cabinet in protest at the British decision to declare war in August 1914; died 1943.
Biographical information on James Butcher was unavailable when this finding aid was produced.
No biographical information was available at the time this finding aid was compiled.
William Harbutt Dawson was an authority on Germany, especially on the social reforms in that country; the Liberal government employed him as an investigator at the Board of Trade, 1906, and he contributed to the Labour Exchange Act and the National Insurance Act in that capacity; his book The Evolution of Modern Germany was published in 1908 and reprinted five times before the First World War; he was a member of the British peace delegation at Versailles and argued unsuccessfully that Germany be able to keep its colonies.
The Forth Bridge Railway Company was set up in 1873 with the aim of building a bridge across the Firth of Forth at Queensferry, thereby extending the Scottish railway system north from Edinburgh. The Forth Bridge Railway Company (though it was part of the LNER network) legally survived in name until it was absorbed by the British Transport Commission in 1948 in the aftermath of the nationalisation of the railways.
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.
John Loudon McAdam was born in Ayr in 1756. He became famous as a road builder, in particular for his seminal book Remarks on the Present System of Road Making (1816). McAdam was so influential that his surname has entered the English language as 'tarmacadam' and 'tarmac', a synonym for the tarred road surface he invented.
St Peter's was a Church of England Sunday School in the East End of London.
The Independent Order of Rechabites was a friendly society, which was founded in Salford in 1835. The Order was part of the temperance movement. The name of the Order was inspired by the Rechabites, who feature in the 35th Chapter of Jeremiah. The founders of the Order were concerned that many friendly societies met in public houses and their members were therefore vulnerable to the temptations of alcohol. The Order spread around the world: there were branches in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and India. Branches were known as "tents" and presided over by High Chief Rulers, who were assisted by Inside and Outside Guardians, a Levite of the Tent and a group of Elders. Before joining the Order, a prospective member had to sign a pledge that they and their family would abstain from alcohol. The Order is now known as Healthy Investment. Until July 2003, membership of the Society was exclusively for teetotallers but members may now join if they have a healthy lifestyle.
The Ancient Order of Foresters was founded in 1834 although it originated as the Royal Foresters in the previous century. The order is a friendly society devoted to assisting members in need. It expanded rapidly and reached Canada, the United States, South Africa, the West Indies, Australia and New Zealand: "courts" were branches. The primary court was in Leeds. The Foresters Friendly Society continues its work to this day.
David Barry was born in the vicinity of Rochester, New York. He and his family moved in 1861 to Wisconsin. Barry was employed by the internant photographer O.S. Goff and joined him at his gallery in Bismarck. Between 1878-1883, Barry travelled around Dakota territory. He used a portable photographic studio to take portaits of famous Native American chiefs, women, scouts and warriors. Barry also took photographs of forts and battlefields of the Plains Wars. He moved to Superior, Wisconsin in 1890 to open a photographic studio and gallery.
Geoffrey Wharton Robinson was the son of Ellen Ternan and her husband, Geoffrey Wharton Robinson. Robinson was a captain in the Lancashire Fusiliers in the years before the First World War. Previously he had served in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers before being transferred after the disbandment of the 3rd and 4th battalions. By 1913, he had retired from the army and was looking for alternative employment.
The Peace Pledge Union was founded in 1934, initially as a male-only organisation. Women joined from 1936. Members pledged to renounce war. The Peace Pledge Union has also provided for the victims of war such as Basque child refugees from the Spanish Civil War.
Herbert Palmer, 1601-1647, Church of England clergyman and college head, born at Wingham, Kent, younger son of Sir Thomas Palmer (d. 1625) of Wingham, and Margaret, daughter of Herbert Pelham, esquire, of Crawley, Sussex; Sir Thomas Palmer (1540/41-1626) was his grandfather. From an early age he demonstrated an aptitude for study and a religious disposition, maintaining the ambition to become a clergyman; in 1616 he was admitted as a fellow-commoner to St John's College, Cambridge, graduated BA in 1619 and proceeded MA in 1622; on 17 July 1623 he was elected a fellow of Queens'; ordained in 1624 and proceeded BD in 1631; in 1626, during a visit to his brother Sir Thomas Palmer (d. 1666), Palmer preached at Canterbury Cathedral and was subsequently persuaded by Philip Delmé, the minister of the French church in Canterbury, to take up a lectureship there at St Alphege's Church; here Palmer found himself troubled by both separatists and the cathedral clergy; his lectureship was briefly suspended by the dean and archdeacon, but was reinstated by Archbishop George Abbot upon receiving a petition from the prominent citizens of Canterbury and members of the local gentry; contemporary biographer records that he was not at this time persuaded of the unlawfulnesse' of either episcopal church government or some of the ceremonies then in use, but generally opposed Laudian innovations (Life', 420); in Canterbury Palmer preached every sabbath afternoon at St Alphege and he also preached to the French congregation; instituted to the rectory of Ashwell, Hertfordshire, Feb 1632 and about the same time he was appointed as a university preacher in Cambridge, which gave him licence to preach anywhere in England; at Ashwell Palmer perfected his system of catechism, which was greatly admired and first published in 1640 under the title An Endeavour of Making the Principles of Christian Religion ... Plain and Easie; he was later involved in the drafting of the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism (1647), which was also published according to Palmer's own method after his death as A Brief and Easie Explanation of the Shorter Catechisme (1648) by John Wallis; many of Palmer's publications were aimed at making the principles of the Christian faith clear and easy to understand; in 1644, for example, he published a brief spiritual guide to fasting based on the book of Nehemiah, chapters 9 and 10, with the intention of helping the weak' and thewilling' to avoid the greate Evill of Formalitie in our solemne Humiliations' (The Soule of Fasting, or, Affections Requisite in a Day of Solemne Fasting and Humiliation, 1644, foreword). Chosen as one of the clerks of convocation for Lincoln diocese with Anthony Tuckney, 1640, and on 19 July 1642 appointed by the House of Commons as one of fifteen Tuesday lecturers at Hitchin, Hertfordshire; Appointed, 1643, to the Westminster Assembly and moved to London, leaving Ashwell in the charge of his half-brother, John Crow; collaborated with a number of other divines in writing Scripture and Reason Pleaded for Defensive Armes (1643), a tract justifying Parliament'sdefensive' war against the king, in which they argued that an open and publike resistance by armes, is the last Refuge under Heaven, of an oppressed, and endangered Nation' (p. 80); preached to both the House of Lords and the House of Commons on several occasions between 1643 and 1646; the central thrust of sermons such as The Necessity and Encouragement of Utmost Venturing for the Churches Help (1643), The Glasse of Gods Providence (1644), The Soule of Fasting (1644), and The Duty and Honour of Church Restorers (1646) was the need for further spiritual and church reforms; On 28 June 1643 he addressed the Commons on their fast day and urged them to undertake further reforms of the church especially in the matters of idolatry and the abuse of the sabbath and called for laws against clandestine marriages and drunkenness and the suppression of stage plays; in a sermon to both Houses of Parliament on 13 August 1644 he urged caution in the matter of religious toleration, and support for the recommendations of the Westminster Assembly; supported a presbyterian church settlement within limits; Lecturer at St James's, Duke Place, and later at thenew church' in the parish of St Margaret's, Westminster; one of the seven morning lecturers appointed by Parliament at Westminster Abbey; On 11 April 1644 he was appointed Master of Queens' College, Cambridge, by the Earl of Manchester; As Master Palmer donated money to the college library for books and helped to maintain poor scholars and refugee students from Germany and Hungary; died in September 1647; John Crow was his sole executor and the main beneficiary of his will; left all his history books in English, French, and Italian to his brother Sir Thomas Palmer, except for those already in the possession of Philip Delmé; ordered that his papers, apart from those that had been transcribed', should be burnt (PRO, PROB 11/203, fol. 340r); reputation as a biblical scholar; in a letter written in 1643 Robert Baillie described him asgracious and learned little Palmer' (on account of his small stature) and in a letter of 1644 as the best Catechist in England' (R. Baillie, quoted in Shaw, 1.342). Palmer's biographer commented that it was almost a miracle that a man withso weak a body as his' should be able to achieve so much, including speaking publicly for six to eight hours on the sabbath (Life', 431). So small was Palmer's frame that when he first preached to the French congregation at Canterbury an elderly Frenchwoman cried outWhat will this child say to us?'. She was overjoyed when she heard him pray and preach `with so much spiritual strength and vigour' (ibid., 421).
Cornwallis, Sir Charles (c.1555-1629), courtier and diplomat, was the second son of Sir Thomas Cornwallis (1518/19-1604), and his wife, Anne (d. 1581), daughter of Sir John Jerningham or Jernegan of Somerleyton, Suffolk. Cornwallis's father was a noted Catholic who had taken part in the coup which gave Mary I the throne, and under her was appointed a privy councillor and comptroller of the household. Despite his religion he raised both his sons as protestants; matriculated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1566, and in 1578 he married Anne (bap. 1551, d. 1584), daughter and coheir of Thomas Fincham of Fincham, Norfolk, and widow of Richard Nicholls of Islington, Norfolk. Their union produced two sons, including Sir William Cornwallis the younger, essayist, before Anne died. In 1585 Cornwallis married Anne (d. 1617), daughter of Thomas Barrow of Barningham, Suffolk, and widow of Sir Ralph Shelton, of Shelton, Norfolk. Cornwallis pursued a life at court and he had a meteoric rise under the patronage of Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, to whom he was connected by marriage. On 11 July 1603 he was knighted. The following year he was elected MP for Norfolk, and he was allowed to retain his seat in the Commons even when, the next year, he was appointed resident ambassador to Spain. He had an uncomfortable trip to Madrid, being ill and confined to a litter for most of the journey, as well as quarrelling over precedence with the earl of Nottingham, who had been sent to Spain to ratify the 1604 peace treaty. Cornwallis's main task in Madrid was to oversee the provisions of the treaty which allowed the English to practise their religion in private and protected merchants from the harassment of the Inquisition. He was required to deal with many complaints from English merchants that their goods had been seized by the Spanish under the pretence of searching for forbidden protestant literature. While in Madrid he provided valuable intelligence on Spain for Salisbury and busied himself writing treatises on the state of the country, the history of Aragon, the structure of the Spanish court, and the wealth of the nobility (BL, Add. MSS 4149, 39853). From 1607 he petitioned to be relieved from his post, claiming poverty and harassment from English Catholic exiles. He was finally granted leave to return to England in 1609. Cornwallis resumed his place in the Commons when he returned and in 1610 was appointed treasurer of the household to Henry, prince of Wales. He was often in attendance upon Henry and found him an impressive figure, later writing A discourse of the most illustrious Prince Henry, late prince of Wales' (1641). It was rumoured in 1612 that he would be made master of the court of wards but after the deaths of Henry and Salisbury the same year he received no further court or government office. In 1613 he was appointed a commissioner to investigate the elections to the Irish parliament and while there he set down his views on the people and the nation, describing them asnaked barbarians' (BL, Add. MS 39853, fol. 2v). Upon his return to England, Cornwallis sought election to the 1614 parliament for Eye in Suffolk but before he arrived there he learned that the election had already taken place. During the parliament John Hoskins bitterly denounced the Scots and their influence over James I and, when questioned, claimed that he was echoing the views of Cornwallis, whom he had met on the road to Eye. Called before the privy council, Cornwallis denied that he had suggested Hoskins attack the Scots but his guilt was seemingly confirmed when a letter was published in London in which he asked the king for forgiveness. He was committed to the Tower and on his release in June 1615 retired to the country to live at his ancestral home, Brome Hall, Suffolk, and at Harborne, Staffordshire. His second wife died in 1617 and three years later on 29 April 1620 he married Dorothy, daughter of Richard Vaughan of Nyffryn in Llyn, Caernarvonshire, bishop of London, and widow of Bishop John Jegon of Norwich. Cornwallis died at Harborne on 21 December 1629, survived by his wife.
Arthur William Symons was born at Milford Haven on 28 February 1865. At the age of twenty-one Symons wrote his first critical work An Introduction to the Study of Browning, 1886. From 1889 Symons made frequent trips to France and became interested in its literature and art. He contributed regularly to the Athenaeum, Saturday Review and Fortnightly Review. Symons published several books of poetry including Collected Poems 1900 and The Fool of the World and other Poems 1906. In 1906 he bought Island Cottage, at Wittersham, Kent, where he died on 22 January 1945.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Augustus Désiré Waller was born in 1856 in Paris to the eminent physiologist A. V. Waller. Following in his father's footsteps, Waller went on to be elected to the Royal Society and become the Director of the Physiological Laboratory at the University of London. He held similar posts in Paris, Moscow, Rome and Belgium. He died in 1922.
Easdale spent her adult life on the margins of the London literary and musical scene. She wrote about her life in an autobiography, Middle Age, 1885-1932, published in 1935, first anonymously and then under the surname of Killin.
Details of the creator were unknown at the time of the compilation of this finding aid.
Samuel Wilderspin was the controversial self-styled founder of the Infant School System. He was born in Hornsey, North London in 1792 and was an apprentice clerk in the City before being introduced to infant education by Buchanan. He trained with Buchanan at a school in Vincent Square, London and then became master of his own school in Quaker Street, Spitalfields. From 1824 he worked for the Infant School Society and as a freelance, teaching others about his system of schooling. He ran an infant school supply depot in Cheltenham for supplying apparatus and in 1839 set up the Central Model School in Dublin which was subsequently run by Sarah Anne and Thomas Young (his daughter and son-in-law). After returning from Dublin he was heavily involved with the Mechanics' Institute movement. In 1848, having founded several hundred schools, he retired to Wakefield on a civil list pension.Wilderspin's theories on education were mainly a product of his Swedenborgian beliefs. He saw education as a life long training of the child's soul and as such approached education from social, moral and religious aspects.
Publications include:
'Early discipline illustrated; or, the infant system progressing and successful' (1832)
'The importance of educating the infant poor from the age of eighteen months to seven years' (1824)
'The infant system, for developing the intellectual and moral powers of all children, from one to seven years of age' (1834)
'Manual for the religious and moral instruction of young children' (1845) co-author with Thomas John Terrington
'On the Importance of educating the Infant Children of the Poor ... Containing also an account of the Spitalfields Infant School' (1823)
'A system for the education of the young: applied to all the faculties' (1840)
Frederic Seebohm was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, and educated in York. In 1855 he moved to Hitchin, Hertfordshire, where he lived for the rest of his life. He had begun to read for the bar at the Middle Temple whilst still living in Yorkshire and was called to the bar in 1856. In 1859 he became a partner in Sharples and Co bank, which his father-in-law had co-founded. He later became president of the Institute of Bankers. Besides being a committed Quaker and political liberal, Seebohm was strongly interested in history, particularly the medieval period and agricultural history; he wrote and published several books on historical and religious topics and his writings are still influential today.
Masefield was born in Ledbury in 1878. Having entered the Merchant Navy Masefield deserted ship in America where he drifted for some time. Returning to England he became a journalist and his interest in writing was explored, publishing several volumes of poetry before the outbreak of World War One. During the war Masefield was a member of the Red Cross and witnessed the disaster at Gallipoli, which he later wrote about in his position as head of the War Propaganda Bureau. During the twenties and thirties Masefield wrote numerous volumes of poetry which were most successful, as well as two novels and an autobiography. Masefield continued to write until his death in 1967.
Samuel Wilderspin was the controversial self-styled founder of the Infant School System. He was born in Hornsey, North London in 1792 and was an apprentice clerk in the City before being introduced to infant education by Buchanan. He trained with Buchanan at a school in Vincent Square, London and then became master of his own school in Quaker Street, Spitalfields. From 1824 he worked for the Infant School Society and as a freelance, teaching others about his system of schooling. He ran an infant school supply depot in Cheltenham for supplying apparatus and in 1839 set up the Central Model School in Dublin which was subsequently run by Sarah Anne and Thomas Young (his daughter and son-in-law). After returning from Dublin he was heavily involved with the Mechanics' Institute movement. In 1848, having founded several hundred schools, he retired to Wakefield on a civil list pension. Wilderspin's theories on education were mainly a product of his Swedenborgian beliefs. He saw education as a life long training of the child's soul and as such approached education from social, moral and religious aspects.
Publications:
Samuel Wilderspin's publications include:
'Early discipline illustrated; or, the infant system progressing and successful' (1832)
'The importance of educating the infant poor from the age of eighteen months to seven years' (1824)
'The infant system, for developing the intellectual and moral powers of all children, from one to seven years of age' (1834)
'Manual for the religious and moral instruction of young children' (1845) co-author with Thomas John Terrington
'On the Importance of educating the Infant Children of the Poor ... Containing also an account of the Spitalfields Infant School' (1823)
'A system for the education of the young: applied to all the faculties' (1840).
Born in 1771, Fellowes was educated at St Mary Hall, Oxford, where he received a BA in 1796 and an MA in 1801. He published A Picture of Christian Philosophy of Illustration of the Character of Jesus in 1798. From 1804-1811, he edited Critical Review. Fellowes wrote and lectured on politics and religion. In 1826 he gave benefactions to encourage the study of philosophy at Edinburgh University and at London University (now University College London). He died in London on 6th February 1847.
James Hogg was born in Ettrick, Selkshire, Scotland in November 1770. Having received little formal education, Hogg taught himself to read and write in his late teens. He continued to work as a labourer and shepherd for twenty five years. Between 1794-1810 Hogg wrote songs which appeared in magazines and in two small collections. Determined to make a career as a professional writer, Hogg, aged 40, moved to Edinburgh in 1810. In Edinburgh, Hogg established a weekly paper entitled, The Spy but only managed to keep it going for a year and in 1813 he decided to return to writing poetry again. He died in 1835.
James Barrie was born at Kirriemuir, Forfarshire on 9 May 1860. He received his education from, the Glasgow Academy, Dumfries Academy, 1873-1878 and Edinburgh University, 1878-1882.
He was appointed leader writer and sub-editor on the Nottingham Journal in January 1883. In March 1885, Barrie moved to London, where he wrote for many magazines including, the British Weekly.
Barrie published his first book Better Dead in November 1887 and his first play, Richard Savage, on which he collaborated with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1891. His plays were performed in theatres in London's West End. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens was published in 1906, the same year as his play, Alice by the Fire, which was produced at the Duke of York's Theatre. Barrie continued to write many plays, including Shall We Join the Ladies in 1921 and The Boy David, 1936, the last work which Barrie wrote.
He received honorary degrees from the universities of St. Andrews, 1898, Edinburgh 1909, Oxford, 1926, and Cambridge, 1930. He was appointed as Lord Rector of St Andrews University in 1919 and chancellor of Edinburgh University in 1930. He was appointed the Order of Merit in 1922. Barrie died in London on 19 June 1937.
Herbert Ernest Bates (later known to his friends and wife as 'H.E') was born in Rushton, Northamptonshire on 16 May 1905. He received his education at Kettering Grammar School and when he left at the age of sixteen he became, first, a clerk and then a provincial journalist. His first novel, The Two Sisters, was published in 1926 by Jonathan Cape after being rejected by 9 other publishers. By 1931, Cape had published three further novels.
In 1941, the Royal Air Force recruited Bates as a short story writer under the pseudonym of 'Flying Officer X'. This work included, The Greatest People in the World (1942) and Fair Stood the Wind for France. The latter was published by Michael Joseph who was to be his publisher for the rest of his life.
The Darling Buds of May (1959) began a popular series of earthy novels set in a rural context and for this work, he may be best remembered. His acclaimed autobiography was published in three volumes: The Vanished World (1969), The Blossoming World (1971) and The World in Ripeness (1972). Bates died in Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury, Kent on 29 January 1974.
Liam O'Flaherty was born in the Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland on 28 August 1896. He was educated at Rockwell College, Black Rock College and University College Dublin. From 1915 to 1917 O'Flaherty served with the Irish Guards. On returning to Ireland he became active in the Irish Civil War. Between 1918 and 1921 he worked at various jobs in London, New York and Hartford Connecticut. He started writing in 1921 and published his first novel, The Neighbour's Wife in 1924. In 1974 he was awarded a Honorary D Litt from the National University of Ireland. O'Flaherty died on 7 September 1984.
Details of William Langland's life are chiefly supplied from his work The Vision of Piers Plowman. He was born around 1330, probably in Shropshire, and is thought to have been educated in a monastery, possibly at Great Malvern. Piers Plowman was produced in three versions (1362, 1377, and 1392).