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Thematic Index
Entries Categorized: Biography (94)
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Archibishop Tati
Life and Work From the book Studies in Contemporary Biography, by James Bryce: England is now the only Protestant country in which bishops retain some relics of the dignity and influence which belonged to the episcopal office during the Middle Ages. Even in Roman Catholic countries they [...]Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield Life and Work From the book Studies in Contemporary Biography, by James Bryce: When Lord Beaconsfield died in 1881 we all wondered what people would think of him fifty years thereafter. Divided as our own judgments were, we asked whether he would [...]Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire (Sîr Gaerfyrddin, colloquially known as Sîr Gâr), a county of South Wales bounded N. by Cardigan, E. by Brecon and Glamorgan, W. by Pembroke and S. by Carmarthen Bay of the Bristol Channel. The modern county has an area of 918 sq. m., and is therefore the largest in size of [...]Charles Buller
Charles Buller (1806-1848), English politician, son of Charles Buller (d. 1848), a member of a well-known Cornish family (see below), was born in Calcutta on the 6th of August 1806; his mother, a daughter of General William Kirkpatrick, was an exceptionally talented woman. He was educated at [...]Charles Butler
Charles Butler (1750-1832), British lawyer and miscellaneous writer, was born in London on the 14th of August 1750. He was educated at Douai, and in 1775 entered at Lincoln's Inn. He had considerable practice as a conveyancer, and after the passing of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 was [...]Charles II
Charles II, 1660-1685, was a king of England. The experiment in Puritan republicanism had resulted only in convincing the majority of the people that the government is, and ought to be, by King, Lords, and Commons. The people merely asked for some assurances against despotism,—and when a [...]Courtenay
Courtenay, , the name of a famous English family. French genealogists head the pedigree of this family with one Athon or Athos, who is said to have fortified Courtenay in Gâtinois about the year 1010. His son Josselin had, with other issue, Miles, lord of Courtenay, founder of the Cistercian [...]Cresswell
Sir Cresswell (1794-1863), English judge, was a descendant of an old Northumberland family, and was born at Newcastle in 1794. He was educated at the Charterhouse and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1814, and M.A. four years later. Having chosen the profession of the law [...]Daines Barrington
Daines Barrington (1727-1800), English lawyer, antiquary and naturalist, was born in 1727, fourth son of the first Viscount Barrington. He was educated for the profession of the law, and after filling various posts, was appointed a Welsh judge in 1757 and afterwards second justice of [...]Dalrymple David Hailes
David Hume
British Political and Social Thought: The Conservatism of Hume and Burke Introduction to Hume In addition to playing a significant role in the Scottish Enlightenment, Hume was important in the development of the British conservative tradition. In Of the Origin of Government and Of the Original [...]Dean Stanley
Life and Work From the book Studies in Contemporary Biography, by James Bryce: Stanley was born in 1815. His father, then Rector of Alderley, in Cheshire, afterwards Bishop 70 of Norwich, belonged to the family of the Stanleys of Alderley, a branch of that ancient and famous line the [...]Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (1729-1797), British statesman and political writer. His is one of the greatest names in the history of political literature. There have been many more important statesmen, for he was never tried in a position of supreme responsibility. There have been many more effective [...]Edward Baines
Edward Baines (1774-1848), English newspaper-proprietor and politician, was born in 1774 at Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, Lancashire. He was educated at the grammar schools of Hawkshead and Preston, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to a printer in the latter town. After remaining [...]Edward Cardwell
Viscount Edward Cardwell (1813-1886), English statesman, was the son of a merchant of Liverpool, where he was born on the 24th of July 1813. After a brilliant career at Oxford, where he gained a double first-class, he entered parliament as member for Clitheroe in 1842, and in 1845 was made [...]Edward Freeman
Life and Work From the book Studies in Contemporary Biography, by James Bryce: Edward Freeman was born at Harborne in South Staffordshire on 2nd August 1823, and died at Alicante on 16th March 1892, in the course of an archæological and historical journey to the east and south of Spain, [...]Edward Hall
Edward Herbert
Sir Edward Herbert (c. 1591-1657), was a member of parliament under James I. and Charles I. Having become attorney-general he was instructed by Charles to take proceedings against some members of parliament who had been concerned in the passing of the Grand Remonstrance; the only result, [...]Edward Hyde Clarendon
Francis Bacon
Summary Aristotle was partially discredited by radical humanists, who made fun of the medieval scholars who had taken him most seriously, and by the Protestant reformers, who assailed the Catholic theology which had been carefully constructed by Aristotelian deduction. But it was reserved for [...]Frederick Howard
Frederick Howard, 5th earl of Carlisle (1748-1825), son of the 4th earl of Carlisle, was born in 1748. During his youth he was chiefly known as a man of pleasure and fashion; and after he had reached thirty years of age, his appointment on a commission sent out by Lord North to attempt a [...]Gathorne Hardy
Gathorne Hardy Cranbook, 1st Earl of (1814-1906), British statesman, was born at Bradford on the 1st of October 1814, the son of John Hardy, and belonged to a Yorkshire family. Entering upon active political life in 1847, eleven years after his graduation at Oxford, and nine years after his [...]George Canning
George Carew
George Carew (d. about 1613), English diplomatist and historian, second son of Sir Wymond Carew of Antony, was educated at Oxford, entered the Inns of Court, and passed some years in continental travel. At the recommendation of Queen Elizabeth, who conferred on him the honour of knighthood, [...]George Jessel
Life and Work From the book Studies in Contemporary Biography, by James Bryce: There is hardly any walk of English life in which brilliant abilities win so little fame for their possessor among the public at large as that of practice at the Chancery bar. A leading ecclesiastic, or [...]George Joachim Goschen
Life and Work 1st Viscount George Joachim Gosche n(1831-1907), British statesman, son of William Henry Göschen, a London merchant of German extraction, was born in London on the 10th of August 1831. He was educated at Rugby under Dr Tait, and at Oriel College, Oxford, where he took a [...]Gilbert Burnet
Harriet Martineau
Life and Work Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), English writer, was born at Norwich, where her father was a manufacturer, on the 12th of June 1802. The family was of Huguenot extraction (see Martineau, James) and professed Unitarian views. The atmosphere of her home was industrious, [...]Henry Arrowe
Henry Arrowe (?1550-1593), English Puritan and Separatist, was born about 1550, at Shipdam, Norfolk, of a family related by marriage to the lord keeper Bacon, and [v.03 p.0443]probably to Aylmer, bishop of London. He matriculated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, in November 1566, and graduated B.A. [...]Henry Cockburn
Henry Garnet
Henry Garnet (1555-1606), English Jesuit, son of Brian Garnett (or Garnet), a schoolmaster at Nottingham, was educated at Winchester and afterwards studied law in London. Having become a Roman Catholic, he went to Italy, joined the Society of Jesus in 1575, and acquired under Bellarmine [...]Henry Goulburn
Life and Work Henry Goulburn, (1784-1856), English statesman, was born in London on the 19th of March 1784 and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1808 he became member of parliament for Horsham; in 1810 he was appointed under-secretary for home affairs and two and a half years [...]Henry Hall Dixon
Henry Hall Dixon (1822-1870), English sporting writer over the nom de plume “The Druid,” was born at Warwick Bridge, Cumberland, on the 16th of May 1822, and was educated at Rugby and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1846. He took up the profession of the law, but, though [...]Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert
Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th earl of Carnarvon (1831-1890), was born on the 24th of June 1831. He succeeded to the title in 1849, on the death of his father, Henry John George, the 3rd earl (1800-1849). Soon after taking his degree at Oxford he began to play a prominent part in the [...]Henry I
Henry I (1068-1135), king of England, nicknamed Beauclerk, the fourth and youngest son of William I. by his queen Matilda of Flanders, was born in 1068 on English soil. Of his life before 1086, when he was solemnly knighted by his father at Westminster, we know little. He was his mother’s [...]Henry II
Henry II(1133-1189), king of England, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, count of Anjou, by Matilda, daughter of Henry I., was born at Le Mans on the 25th of March 1133. He was brought to England during his mother’s conflict with Stephen (1142), and was placed under the charge of a tutor at [...]Henry Iii
Henry III, (1207-1272), king of England, was the eldest son of King John by Isabella of Angoulême. Born on the 1st of October 1207, the prince was but nine years old at the time of his father’s death. The greater part of eastern England being in the hands of the French pretender, Prince [...]Henry Iv
Henry IV (1367-1413), king of England, son of John of Gaunt, by Blanche, daughter of Henry, duke of Lancaster, was born on the 3rd of April 1367, at Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire. As early as 1377 he is styled earl of Derby, and in 1380 he married 284 Mary de Bohun (d. 1394) one of the [...]Henry VIII
Henry VIII (1491-1547), king of England and Ireland, the third child and second son of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York, was born on the 28th of June 1491 and, like all the Tudor sovereigns except Henry VII., at Greenwich. Legal Issues The secular importance of Henry’s activity has [...]Hugh McCalmont Cairns
Analysis From the book Studies in Contemporary Biography, by James Bryce: Hugh M’Calmont Cairns, afterwards Earl Cairns (born 1819, died 1885), was one of three remarkable Scoto-Irishmen whom the north-east corner of Ulster gave to the United Kingdom in one generation, and each of whom [...]James Balfour
Sir James Balfour (of Pittendreich) (d. 1583 or 1584), Scottish judge and politician, son of Sir Michael Balfour of Montquhanny, was educated for the legal branch of the church of Scotland. In June 1547, together with Knox and others taken at St Andrews, he was condemned to the French [...]James Boswell
James Elphinstone Balmerino
James Elphinstone Balmerino, 1st Baron (c. 1553-1612), Scottish politician, was the third son of Robert, 3rd Lord Elphinstone (d. 1602). Rising to power under James VI. he became a judge and a royal secretary; he accompanied the king to London in 1603 and was made Lord Balmerino, or [...]Jeremy Bentham
Introduction to Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), British philosopher, economist, and jurist, who founded the doctrine of utilitarianism. He was born in London on February 15, 1748. A prodigy, he was reading serious treatises at the age of three, playing the violin at age five, and [...]John Ball
John Ball (d. 1381), an English priest who took a prominent part in the peasant revolt in 1381. Little is known of his early years, but he lived probably at York and afterwards at Colchester. He gained considerable fame as a preacher by expounding the doctrines of John Wycliffe, but [...]John Campbell
John Cleveland
John Cowell
John Cowell (1554-1611), English jurist, was born at Ernsborough, Devonshire. He was educated at Eton, and King’s College, Cambridge, ultimately becoming professor of civil law in that university, and master of Trinity Hall. In 1607 he compiled a law dictionary, The Interpreter, in which he [...]John Davies
Sir John Davies (1569-1626), English philosophical poet, was baptized on the 16th of April 1569, at Tisbury, Wiltshire, where his parents lived at the manor-house of Chicksgrove. He was educated at Winchester College, and became a commoner of Queen’s College, Oxford, in 1585. In 1588 he [...]John de Baliol
John de Baliol (1249-1315), king of Scotland, was a son of John de Baliol (d. 1269) of Barnard Castle, Durham, by his wife Dervorguila, daughter of Alan, earl of Galloway, and became head of the Baliol family (see above) and lord of extensive lands in England, France and Scotland on his [...]John Desborough
Life and Work John Desborough (1608-1680), English soldier and politician, son of James Desborough of Eltisley, Cambridgeshire, and of Elizabeth Hatley of Over, in the same county, was baptized on the 13th of November 1608. He was educated for the law. On the 23rd of June 1636 he married [...]John Elliot Cairnes
John Elliot Cairnes (1823-1875), British political economist, was born at Castle Bellingham, Ireland, in 1823. After leaving school he spent some years in the counting-house of his father, a brewer. His tastes, however, lay altogether in the direction of study, and he was permitted to enter [...]John Fortescue
John Henry Blunt
Life and Work John Henry Blunt (1823-1884), English divine, was born at Chelsea in 1823, and before going to the university of Durham in 1850 was for some years engaged in business as a manufacturing chemist. He was ordained in 1852 and took his M.A. degree in 1855, publishing in the same [...]John Hill Burton
John Hill Burton (1809-1881), Scottish historical writer, the son of an officer in the army, was born at Aberdeen on the 22nd of August 1809. After studying at the university of his native city, he removed to Edinburgh, where he qualified for the Scottish bar and practised as an advocate; [...]John Lesley
Life John Lesley (1527-1596), Scottish bishop and historian, was born in 1527. His father was Gavin Lesley, rector of Kingussie. He was educated at the university of Aberdeen, where he took the degree of M.A. In 1538 he obtained a dispensation permitting him to hold a benefice, [...]John Shute Barrington
1st Viscount John Shute Barrington (1678-1734), English lawyer and theologian, was the son of Benjamin Shute, merchant, and was born at Theobalds, in Hertfordshire, in 1678. He received part of his education at the university of Utrecht; and, after returning to England in 1698, studied law [...]Julius Caesar
Sir Julius Caesar Sir Julius Caesar (1557-1558-1636), English judge, descended by the female line from the dukes de' Cesarini in Italy, was born near Tottenham in Middlesex. He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and afterwards studied at the university of Paris, where in the year 1581 [...]Mary I
Queen Mary I Mary I, queen of England (1516-1558), unpleasantly remembered as “the Bloody Mary” on account of the religious persecutions which prevailed during her reign, was the daughter of Henry VIII. and Catherine of Aragon, born in the earlier years of their married life, when as yet no [...]Mary II
Queen Mary II Mary II (1662-1694), queen of England and wife of king William III., elder daughter of James, duke of York, afterwards King James II., by his first wife, Anne, daughter of Edward Hyde, 1st earl of Clarendon, was born in London on the 30th of April 1662. She was educated as a [...]Mary Stuart
Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (1542-1587), daughter of King James V. and his wife Mary of Lorraine, was born in December 1542, a few days before the death of her father, heart-broken by the disgrace of his arms at Solway Moss, where the disaffected nobles had declined to encounter an enemy of [...]Matthew Hale
Hale, Sir Matthew Introduction to Matthew Hale Matthew Hale (1609-76), English jurist and statesman, born in Alderley, Gloucestershire, and educated at Magdalen College, University of Oxford, and Lincoln's Inn. He was called to the bar in 1637 and acted as defense counsel at the trials of [...]Miles Coverdale
Miles Coverdale (1488?-1569), English translator of the Bible and bishop of Exeter, was born of Yorkshire parents about 1488, studied philosophy and theology at Cambridge, was ordained priest at Norwich in 1514, and then entered the convent of Austin friars at Cambridge. Here he came under [...]Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) is the most interesting figure in seventeenth-century England. Belonging by birth to the class of country gentlemen, his first appearance in public life was in the Parliament of 1628 as a pleader for the liberty of Puritan preaching. When the Long Parliament met in [...]Peter King
Peter King [of Ockham], 1st Baron (1669-1734), lord chancellor of England, was born at Exeter in 1669. In his youth he was interested in early church history, and published anonymously in 1691 An Enquiry into the Constitution, Discipline, Unity and Worship of the Primitive Church that [...]Policy
The Relation between Government and Laws (History) It might be supposed that, if any general proposition could be established about government, it would be one establishing some constant relation between the form of a government and the character of the laws which it enforces. The [...]Richard Baker
Sir Richard Baker (1568-1644/5), author of the Chronicle of the Kings of England and other works, was probably born at Sissinghurst in Kent, and entered Hart Hall, Oxford, as a commoner in 1584. He left the university without taking a degree, studied law in London and afterwards travelled in [...]Richard Boyle Cork
Richard Boyle Cork, 1st Earl of (1566-1643), Irish statesman, second son of Roger Boyle of Faversham in Kent, a descendant of an ancient Herefordshire family, and of Joan, daughter of Robert Naylor of Canterbury, was born at Canterbury on the 3rd of October 1566, and was educated at the [...]Robert Lowe
Life and Work From the book Studies in Contemporary Biography, by James Bryce: Had Robert Lowe died in 1868, when he became a Cabinet Minister, his death would have been a political event of the first magnitude; but when he died in 1892 (in his eighty-second year) hardly anybody under [...]Robert Monsey Rolfe Cranworth
Baron Robert Monsey Rolfe Cranworth (1790-1868), lord chancellor of England, elder son of the Rev. E. Rolfe, was born at Cranworth, Norfolk, on the 18th of December 1790. Educated at Bury St Edmunds, Winchester, and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in [...]Samuel Bamford
Samuel Bamford (1788-1872), English labour politician, was born at Miston, near Middleton, Lancashire, on the 28th of February 1788. Himself a stalwart weaver, he was opposed to physical force movements and did all he could to restrain the violent resistance to trade oppression which was so [...]Sarah Margaret Fuller
Sir Thomas Craig
Sir Thomas Craig (c. 1538-1608), Scottish jurist and poet, was born about 1538. It is probable that he was the eldest son of William Craig of Craigfintray, or Craigston, in Aberdeenshire, but beyond the fact that he was in some way related to the Craigfintray family nothing regarding his [...]Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947, earl Baldwin 1937) was a conservative politician who was prime minister three times (1923–4, 1924–9, 1935–7) and whose terms of office included -in accordance to Bamber Gascoigne´ Encyclopedia of Britain about “Stanley Baldwin” - two major political crises, the [...]Stephen Gardiner
Stephen Gardiner (c. 1493-1555), English bishop and lord chancellor, was a native of Bury St Edmunds. The date of his birth as commonly given, 1483, seems to be about ten years too early, and surmises which have passed current that he was some one's illegitimate child are of no [...]Theodore Martin
Life and Work Theodore Martin (1816-1909), British author and translator, the son of a solicitor, was born at Edinburgh on the 16th of September 1816, and educated at the Royal High School and the University, from which he subsequently received the honorary degree of LL.D. He practised for [...]Thomas Burnet
Sir Thomas Burnet (1694-1753), was the literary executor and biographer of his father Gilbert Burnet, and became in 1741 judge in the court of common pleas. Gilbert Burnet Gilbert Burnet (1643-1715), English bishop and historian, was born in Edinburgh on the 18th of September 1643, of an [...]Thomas Chandler Haliburton
Thomas Coventry
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), archbishop of Canterbury, born at Aslacton or Aslockton in Nottinghamshire on the 2nd of July 1489, was the second son of Thomas Cranmer and of his wife Anne Hatfield. He received his early education, according to Morice his secretary, from “a marvellous severe [...]Thomas Dempster
Thomas Dempster Life and Work Thomas Dempster (1579-1625), Scottish scholar and historian, was born at Cliftbog, Aberdeenshire, the son of Thomas Dempster of Muresk, Auchterless and Killesmont, sheriff of Banff and Buchan. According to his own account, he was the twenty-fourth of twenty-nine [...]Thomas Denman
Thomas Denman Life and Work Thomas Denman, 1st Baron (1779-1854), English judge, was born in London, the son of a well-known physician, on the 23rd of July 1779. He was educated at Eton and St John’s College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1800. Soon after leaving Cambridge he married; and [...]Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie
Life and Work Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie (1827-1882), English economist, was born in the county of Wexford in (as is believed) the year 1827. He was the second son of the Rev. Edward Leslie, prebendary of Dromore, and rector of Annahilt, in the county of Down. His family was of Scottish [...]Thomas Osborne Davis
Walter Bagehot
Walter Bagehot (1826-1877), English publicist and economist, editor of the Economist newspaper from 1860 to his death, was born at Langport, Somerset, on the 3rd of February 1826, his father being a banker at that place. Bagehot was altogether a remarkable personality, his writings on [...]William Ballantine
William Ballantine (1812-1887), English serjeant-at-law, was born in London on the 3rd of January 1812, being the son of a London police-magistrate. He was educated at St Paul's school, and called to the bar in 1834. He began in early life a varied acquaintance with dramatic and literary [...]William Barclay
William Barclay (1546-1608) Scottish jurist, was born in Aberdeenshire in 1546. Educated at Aberdeen University, he went to France in 1573, and studied law under Cujas, at Bourges, where he took his doctor's degree. Charles III., duke of Lorraine, appointed him professor of civil law in the [...]William Cecil Burghley
The Baron William Cecil Burghley (1521-1508), was born, according to his own statement, on the 13th of September 1521 at the house of his mother's father at Bourne, Lincolnshire. Pedigrees, elaborated by Cecil himself with the help of Camden, the antiquary, associated him with the Cecils or [...]William Cowper
William Cowper, 1st Earl (c. 1665-1723), lord chancellor of England, was the son of Sir William Cowper, Bart., of Ratling Court, Kent, a Whig member of parliament of some mark in the two last Stuart reigns. Educated at St Albans school, Cowper was called to the bar in 1688; having promptly [...]William Ewart Gladstone
Life and Work From the book Studies in Contemporary Biography, by James Bryce: Of no man who has lived in our times is it so hard to speak in a concise and summary fashion as of Mr. Gladstone. For fifty years he was so closely associated with the public affairs of his country that the [...]William Gascoigne
Sir William Gascoigne (c. 1350-1419), chief justice of England in the reign of Henry IV. Both history and tradition testify to the fact that he was one of the great lawyers who in times of doubt and danger have asserted the principle that the head of the state is subject to law, and that [...]William Lenthall
William Lenthall (1591-1662), English parliamentarian, speaker of the House of Commons, second son of William Lenthall, of Lachford, Oxfordshire, a descendent of an old Herefordshire family, was born at Henley-on-Thames in June 1591. He left Oxford without taking a degree in 1609, and was [...]William Reynell Anson
Sir William Reynell Anson, 3rd Baronet (1843-1914), English jurist, was born on the 14th of November 1843, at Walberton, Sussex, son of the second baronet. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, he took a first class in the final classical schools in 1866, and was elected to a [...]In Perpetual Beta
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