No information was available at the time of compilation.
Herbert Somerton Foxwell (1849-1936) was born and grew up in Shepton Mallet in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, where his father had a business as an ironmonger and slate and timber merchant. At the age of 12 he went to the Wesleyan Collegiate Institute (later Queen's College), Taunton. He passed the London matriculation examination at the minimum age, and obtained the London External B.A. degree when only 18 years of age. He went to Saint John's, Cambridge, in 1868, where he was made a Fellow in 1874. He was associated with Saint John's for the rest of his life, holding his College lectureship for sixty years.
Cambridge was Foxwell's University, but his work in London was even more extensive and continued from 1876 to 1927. He succeeded his friend Stanley Jevons to the Chair of Economics at University College, London in May 1881 - an appointment he held until 1927. He became Newmarch Lecturer in statistics at University College and lecturer on currency and banking from 1896 at the newly founded London School of Economics. In 1907 he became, jointly with Edward Cannan, the first Professor of Political Economy at the University. His last appointment, which ended in 1931, was as external examiner of the University of Wales.
Frederick Christian Post (fl 1710-1785) was a Moravian missionary, who spent the greater part if his life in preaching to the Indians of Pennyslvania and Ohio. He travelled extensively in that area, and was even used as an official government messenger to the hostile Indians, among whom he succeeded in securing a kind of neutrality. His other diplomatic adventures, undertaken during the struggle for colonial supremacy between the French and English in America, included a expedition into the area of Fort DuQuesne, whose French commandant offered a price upon his head, and a trip to carry news of the treaty of Easton (Oct 1758) and pave the way for General John Forbes's advance. Post kept several journals describing his journeys.
The London and Birmingham Railway was sanctioned in 1833, and the Company appointed Robert Stephenson as chief engineer. Its construction was dogged by much opposition. The 112 mile long London to Birmingham line took 20,000 men nearly five years to build. The total cost of building the railway was £5,500,000 (£50,000 a mile). The railway was opened in stages and finally completed on 17 September 1838. The line started at Birmingham's Curzon Street Station and finished at Euston Station in London.
No information available at present. Donat Vosgien also published Opinion...sur le décret qui régloit le cérémonial lorsque le roi paroîtroit aux Corps Législatif (Paris, 1791) and Opinion...sur la vente des Forêts (Paris, 1792).
A royal grant of Orkney and Shetland was made to the Earls of Morton in 1643, and the earls became hereditary stewards and justiciaries of the islands. There was often conflict with the thirty-some Orkney lairds who ruled over Orkney on behalf (and sometimes contrary to the will) of the Earls, as this was a time of strong Jacobite sentiment which culminated in the last Orkney Jacobite uprising of 1745. The uprising was, in part, due to the great discontent with the Earls of Morton which was felt by the lairds and Orcadians.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Ann Isabella Ritchie was the elder daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1861), a well-known Victorian novelist. Anne was a prolific novelist, essayist and writer of memoirs. By 1875, The Works of Miss Thackeray had been published in eight volumes (Smith, Elder & Company), extended to 15 volumes by 1866. Most of her critical essays appeared in The Cornhill Magazine. Her first contribution appeared in the magazine's first year, 1860, and most of her fiction appeared serially in the magazine including, The Village on the Cliff, Old Kensington, Miss Angel and Mrs. Dymond. She died in 1919.
During the late Middle Ages, the Book of Hours developed as a popular devotional text for the laity, who would recite the particular prayer for the hour of the day and time of year according to the ecclesiastical calendar. The accompanying illuminations and miniatures of saints, the Virgin Mary, and Christ provided an opportunity for spiritual reflection and prayer for salvation.
The English Royal Mint was responsible for the making of coins according to exact compositions, weights, dimensions and tolerances, usually determined by law. English minting was run from the Royal Mint in London by the Master and Warden of the Mint. For several centuries control of policy relating to the coinage rested soley with the monarch, with Parliament finally gaining control following the Revolution of 1688. The Mint itself worked as an independent body until that date, when it came under the control of the Treasury.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
The New River, an idea proposed and partly financed by the Welsh businessman and engineer Hugh Middleton, was constructed between 1609 and 1613 from Anwell and Chadwell in Hertfordshire to Islington, London, in order to convey fresh water to the City of London.
Jonathan Carter Hornblower (1753-1815) was the British inventor of the double-beat valve, the first reciprocating compound steam engine. Hornblower's invention, patented in 1781, was a steam engine with two cylinders, a significant contribution to efficiency. The firm of James Watt (Boulton & Watt) challenged his invention, claiming infringement of patent. With the decision against him, Hornblower lost the opportunity to further develop the compound engine. Hornblower patented other inventions, a rotative engine and a steam wheel, or steam engine, and amassed a fortune in engineering. Hornblower died in 1815.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Sir Guilford Lindsey Molesworth (1828-1925) was a prolific writer, and published works on politics, economics, decimal and metric measurements and engineering. He published Molesworth's textbook of bi-metallism (E & F N Spon, London) in 1886.
Sir Robert Giffen (1837-1910) was an economist and statistician who published The case against Bimetallism (G Bell and Sons, London) in 1892. Bi-metallism involved the coining of both silver and gold and making them legal tender at a fixed ratio.
John Phillips was born at Marden in Wiltshire on 25 December 1800. On the death of both his parents, his uncle, the geologist, William Smith (1769-1839), was responsible for bringing up the young John Phillips. Phillips worked alongside his uncle in London, until the spring of 1824. In 1825 he was appointed Keeper of the museum in York. Phillips held several academic posts. He was appointed Professor of Geology at King's College London 1834, Professor of Geology at Trinity College Dublin in 1844 and Reader in Geology at Oxford University in 1856. He wrote widely on different aspects of Geology. Phillips was Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum from 1857 to 1874. He received honorary degrees from Trinity College Dublin, Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Phillips died on 24 April 1874.
The Hapsburg family dominated Europe for over 700 years. They were hereditary Archdukes of Austria from 1270 to 1918, and the head of the family was, with only one exception, elected Holy Roman Emperor from 1438 to 1806.
The Court of King's Bench was formerly one of the superior courts of common law in England. King's, or Queen's, Bench was so called because it descended from the English court held coram rege ("before the monarch") and thus traveled wherever the king went. King's Bench heard cases that concerned the sovereign or cases affecting great persons privileged to be tried only before him. It could also correct the errors and defaults of all other courts, and, after the close of the civil wars of Henry III's reign (1216-72), it mainly tried criminal or quasi-criminal cases. In 1268 it obtained its own chief justice, but only very gradually did it lose its close connections with the king and become a separate court of common law. The Court of King's Bench exercised a supreme and general jurisdiction over criminal and civil cases as well as special jurisdiction over the other superior common-law courts until 1830.
No information available at present.
William Hewitt was born in Coventry in 1719. In 1767 Hewitt was appointed a Commissioner 'for the sale and disposal of lands in the Ceded Islands in the West Indies' (Grenada, the Grenadines, St. Vincent, Dominica and Tobago), and also held several minor appointments such as Customs officer and aide-de-camp. The work of the Commission terminated in 1771 and Hewitt returned to England. However, in 1776 he was appointed Commissioner 'for adjusting the differences that have arisen or may arise in respect to sales and leases of lands in the islands of Grenada, the Grenadines, St. Vincent, Dominica and Tobago,' although he did not receive his salary or expenses for the period 1776 to 1781. He lost his estates on Dominica when the island fell to the French in 1778, and having been involved adversely in several bankruptcies, he left considerable debts. He died in St. Eustatius on 16 May 1781.
Mention of the Newton Family in Barbados dates back to 1654 when one Samuel Newton is recorded and who was, by the time of his death, a substantial landowner. The family estate passed through several generations of Newtons until finally being inherited by the brothers John and Thomas Lane sometime after the death of John Newton in 1783.
No information available at present.
A militia was a military organization of citizens with limited military training, which was available for emergency service, usually local defence.
Founded in the 12th century, Market Harborough is a market town situated 13 miles south of the city of Leicester in the East Midlands region.
Jonathan Baker was probably a cobbler somewhere in Gloucestershire.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
The Exchequer was responsible for receiving and dispersing the public revenue.
A Corps of Engineers of Ponts et Chauseés was set up in France in 1716. A decree issued by the Royal Council in 1747 led to the setting up of the École des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris to provide a training programme for state engineers.
No information available at present.
Archibald Campbell of Clathick took the additional family surname and arms of Colquhoun on his father's death in 1804, succeeding to the estate of Killermont. He was appointed Lord Advocate of Scotland in 1807, a post which he held until 1816. He died in 1820.
John Sheffield was born on 8 September 1648. Sheffield served with the navy, rising to the rank of Vice Admiral for Yorkshire and Northumberland (1687-1689). He held several posts at the Royal Court and armed forces including Gentleman of the Bedchamber 1673-1682, Lord Chamberlain of the Household 1685-1688, Colonel of the Holland Regiment, 1673-1682 and 1684-1685. Sheffield also served as the Lord Lieutenant for the East Riding 1679-1682, North Riding 1702-1705 and 1711-1714 and Middlesex, 1711-1714. He was created Marquess of Normanby in May 1694 and Duke of the County of Buckingham and of Normanby in 1702. Sheffield died at Buckingham House in March 1721.
The Roman Emperor Justinian I attempted to increase the unity of the Roman Empire by collecting and codifying the scattered laws, imperial edicts, decisions of the early Roman Senate, and opinions of learned jurists and organizing them into a written law code. The result was the Corpus Iurus Civilis (Body of Civil Law), issued in three parts. These parts were the Codex Justinianus (529), which compiled all of the extant imperial constitutiones from the time of Hadrian; the Digest, or Pandects, (533), which compiled the writings of the great Roman jurists such as Ulpian along with current edicts; and the Institutes, which was intended as sort of legal textbook for law schools and included extracts from the two major works.
Richard Simon (1638-1712) was a Professor of Philosophy and a Hebrew scholar, who wrote commentaries on the language of the Bible. Isaac-Louis (Le Maistre) de Sacy (1613-1684) was a scripture translator and commentator, and director of the Port Royal Monastery. He was imprisoned for three years in the Bastille for his Jansenist opinions, and translated the Bible during his captivity (1666-1670). Nicolas le Tourneux (1640-1686) was Prior of Villiers sur Fere, and a respected theologian. Adrien Baillet (1649-1706) was a theologian and the librarian to Francois-Chrétien de Lamoignon.
Diego de Estella (1524-1578) is also known by the names Didacus Estella and Diego de Ballesteros y Cruzat. He was born in Estella in Navarre in 1524, and entered the Franciscan Order in 1541, becoming active in Portugal as a preacher. He accompanied the Infanta Juana, sister of Philip II of Spain from 1552-1554, and later preached at Philip's court in Madrid, 1565-1569. His criticism of high officials and way of life at the royal court led to rebukes by the Order, and Diego's eventual removal to the Franciscan convent of Salamanca. There he produced many mystical writings, which were printed with the support of his brother. He died in 1578. Meditaciones devotisimas del amor de Dios was first published (by Mathius Gast) in Salamanca in 1576.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
John Baynes was possibly the father of another John Baynes, also a lawyer, who lived c 1676-1736.
No information available at present.
The English Parliament is the main legislative body of the country. Politicians and Lords who disagreed with proposed legislation could protest, or enter their dissents to any votes of the House, either with or without their reasons. These dissents were entered and signed in the Clerk's book.
The missal is a book which contains the prayers said by the priest at the altar as well as all that is officially read or sung in connection with the offering of the holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the ecclesiastical year.
An accord (?1801) between Russia and England during the Napoleonic Wars permitted the inspection of cargo on board the ships of neutral nations; in addition, England and Russia declared their right to demand a ship's papers and even seize and detain a ship with or without provocation. Under duress, Sweden and Denmark also signed the agreement.
A pontifical is a book of ceremonies performed by a bishop.
The decretals are canonical epistles, written by the pope alone, or by the pope and cardinals, at the instance or suit of some one or more persons, for the ordering and determining some matter in controversy, and have the authority of a law in themselves. Pope Gregory IX (1143-1241) ordered the first complete and authoritative collection of papal decretals, the Corpus Iuris Canonici.
A medieval psalter usually comprised a Calendar, the 150 Psalms, and a collection of canticles and creeds. The three text-types worked together in the practice of the Divine Office, the Church's daily public prayer. When a psalter-book was intended for private use as well, other texts, such as prologues, hymns, or favourite prayers were added.
Thomas Wentworth was of an ancient and wealthy Yorkshire family, and was born at London, in 1593. He studied at Cambridge, married in 1611, was knighted, and travelled on the continent. He was returned to parliament as member for Yorkshire in 1614, and the next year was named custus rotulorum for the West Riding. He sat in several parliaments for Yorkshire, and without going to extremes, took part with the opponents of the court. In 1628 he went over to the side of the king, and was created Baron Wentworth, then Viscount, Lord President of the Council of the North, and in 1629 Privy-Councillor. In 1633 he was made Lord-Deputy of Ireland (1632-1640), where his harsh government led to the rebellion of 1641. In 1639 Wentworth was created Earl of Strafford, and received the title of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Strafford took his seat in the House of Lords in November 1640 and was immediately impeached of high treason for attempting to raise Irish troops to fight the King's English enemies, and committed to the Tower. In March, 1641 his trial began - Strafford defended himself admirably and, as the impeachment seemed likely to fail, a bill of attainder was proposed. Though he initially refused his assent to the attainder, King Charles I finally gave way and his minister, who had trusted in his promise of protection, was beheaded on Tower Hill, May 12, 1641.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
The work may have been written by William Forbes, who was also the author of a treatise on bills of exchange published in 1703.
The English Parliament is the main legislative body of the country. The House of Commons has the right to impose taxes and to vote money to various public departments and services.
George Rennie was born in London on 3 December 1791. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh. In 1811 he joined his father's engineering practice, where he remained until 1818. From 1818 to 1826 he was inspector of machinery and clerk of the irons at the Royal Mint. On the death of his father Rennie entered into practice with his brother. At the firm Rennie was responsible for the construction of the Grosvenor Bridge over the River Dee at Chester and several railway projects. He was also responsible for the firm's manufacturing business, which made various types of machinery including biscuit making machinery and engines for the Royal Navy. In 1822 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society and contributed papers to Transactions in 1829. Rennie died in 1866.
Thomas Lovell Beddoes was a poet whose work featured strongly in the Elizabethan revival of the late Romantic period. Born in 1803, his father was the radical physician Thomas Beddoes, and his mother Anna Edgeworth, sister of the novelist Maria Edgeworth. Educated at Charterhouse and Pembroke College, Oxford, Beddoes published The Improvisatore (1821) and The Bride's Tragedy (1822) soon after his graduation. Following a spell among the literary circles of London, he attended medical school in Gottingen, Hanover, and Wurzburg, Bavaria. He achieved his medical doctorate in 1831, but was banished from Bavaria the next year for writing anti-establishment pamphlets, and moved to Switzerland, where he was to spend the rest of his life. Beddoes committed suicide in 1849. After his death, his friend and literary executor, Thomas Forbes Kelsall, published his play Death's Jest Book, and a collected volume of his poems.