Category: Biography
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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…
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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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 […]