Francis Williamson (sculptor)
Francis John Williamson (17 July 1833 – 12 March 1920) was a British portrait sculptor, reputed to have been Queen Victoria's favourite. Career After studying under John Bell he was an articled pupil of John Henry Foley for seven years, and his studio assistant for a further fourteen. Williamson exhibited with the Royal Academy of Arts 38 times from 1853–1897. and with the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1868, when he showed several items, including a medallion depicting Mrs W. Wills, 1887 and 1902. It was during his time with Foley that he first met Victoria. In 1870, she commissioned a memorial to George IV's daughter Princess Charlotte and her husband Prince Leopold (Victoria's uncle) which was erected inside their former home, Claremont. (The memorial was subsequently moved to St George's Church, Esher.) Many members of the royal family subsequently sat for him, and in 1887 he sculpted the (Golden) ''Jubilee bust of Queen Victoria'', which was replicated f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough of Camden, a borough in Inner London which for the purposes of the London Plan is designated as part of Central London. Hampstead is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical, and literary associations. It has some of the most expensive housing in the London area. Hampstead has more millionaires within its boundaries than any other area of the United Kingdom.Wade, David"Whatever happened to Hampstead Man?" ''The Daily Telegraph'', 8 May 2004 (retrieved 3 March 2016). History Toponymy The name comes from the Old English, Anglo-Saxon words ''ham'' and ''stede'', which means, and is a cognate of, the Modern English "homestead". To 1900 Early records of Hampstead can be found in a grant by King Ethelred the Unread ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted experiments in electricity and other areas of science. He was a close friend of, and worked in close association with Benjamin Franklin involving electricity experiments. Priestley is credited with his independent discovery of oxygen by the thermal decomposition of mercuric oxide, having isolated it in 1774. During his lifetime, Priestley's considerable scientific reputation rested on his invention of carbonated water, his writings on electricity, and his discovery of several "airs" (gases), the most famous being what Priestley dubbed "dephlogisticated air" (oxygen). Priestley's determination to defend phlogiston theory and to reject what would become the chemical revolution eventually left him isolated within the scientific community. Prie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chamberlain Square Statue Priestley
Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosopher and racialist writer **Joshua Chamberlain (1828–1914), Brigadier General of American Civil War and Governor of Maine **Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940), British Prime Minister at the outbreak of World War II **Wilt Chamberlain (1936–1999), American basketball player Places *Chamberlains, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada *Chamberlain, Ontario, Canada *Chamberlain, Saskatchewan, Canada *Chamberlain Township, Brule County, South Dakota, a township **Chamberlain, South Dakota, United States, a city *Chamberlain, Uruguay *Chamberlain Basin, Custer County, Idaho *Chamberlain Square in Birmingham, England *D.S. Chamberlain Building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Polk County, Iowa Arts, entertainment, and medi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Silversmith
A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exactly synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product may vary greatly as may the scale of objects created. History In the ancient Near East the value of silver to gold was lower, allowing a silversmith to produce objects and store these as stock. Ogden states that according to an edict written by Diocletian in 301 A.D., a silversmith was able to charge 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, or 300 ''denarii'' for material produce (per Roman pound). At that time, guilds of silversmiths formed to arbitrate disputes, protect its members' welfare and educate the public of the trade. Silversmiths in medieval Europe and England formed guilds and transmitted their tools and techniques to new generations via the apprentice tradition. Silver working guilds often maintained consistency and upheld standards at the expense of in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blue Plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term is used in the United Kingdom in two different senses. It may be used narrowly and specifically to refer to the "official" scheme administered by English Heritage, and currently restricted to sites within Greater London; or it may be used less formally to encompass a number of similar schemes administered by organisations throughout the UK. The plaques erected are made in a variety of designs, shapes, materials and colours: some are blue, others are not. However, the term "blue plaque" is often used informally to encompass all such schemes. The "official" scheme traces its origins to that launched in 1866 in London, on the initiative of the politician William Ewart, to mark the homes and workplaces of famous people. It has been administe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Portrait Gallery, London
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it opened in 1856. The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site at St Martin's Place, off Trafalgar Square, and adjoining the National Gallery (London), National Gallery. It has been expanded twice since then. The National Portrait Gallery also has regional outposts at Beningbrough Hall in Yorkshire and Montacute House in Somerset. It is unconnected to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, with which its remit overlaps. The gallery is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Collection The gallery houses portraits of historically important and famous British people, selected on the basis of the significance of the sitter, not that of the artist. The collection includes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems, ''Poems, Chiefly Lyrical'', in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although described by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Tennyson also excelled at short lyrics, such as "Break, Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears", and "Crossing the Bar". Much of his verse was based on classical mytho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Birmingham Museum And Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local history and industrial history. The museum/gallery is run by Birmingham Museums Trust, the largest independent museums trust in the United Kingdom, which also runs eight other museums around the city. Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free, but some major exhibitions in the Gas Hall incur an entrance fee. History In 1829, the Birmingham Society of Artists created a ''private'' exhibition building in New Street, Birmingham while the historical precedent for public education around that time produced the Factory Act 1833, the first instance of Government funding for education. The Museums Act 1845 " mpoweredboroughs with a population of 10,000 or more to raise a 1/2d for the establishment of museums." In 1864, the first ''pub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Birmingham Council House
Birmingham City Council House in Birmingham, England, is the home of Birmingham City Council, and thus the seat of local government for the city. It provides office accommodation for both employed council officers, including the Chief Executive, and elected council members, plus the council chamber, Lord Mayor's Suite, committee rooms and a large and ornate banqueting suite, complete with minstrel's gallery. The first-floor's exterior balcony is used by visiting dignitaries and victorious sports teams, to address crowds assembled below. The Council House, which has its own postcode, B1 1BB, is located in Victoria Square in the city centre and is a Grade II* listed building. The side of the building that faces Chamberlain Square is the entrance and façade of the Museum and Art Gallery, which is partly housed within the same building. History In 1852, Birmingham Town Council had inherited the old Public Office on Moor Street, from their predecessors the Street Commission ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Skirrow Wright
John Skirrow Wright (2 February 1822 – ) was one of the distinguished pioneers and social improvers of the 19th century in Birmingham, England; and inventor of the postal order. He was involved in many aspects of Birmingham's mid-Victorian life that were intended for the benefit of its citizens, including the General Hospital, the Chamber of Commerce, the School of Art, the Children's Hospital, the early Birmingham Hospital Saturday Fund, and the Blue Coat School. Life Wright was born in Finsbury, London, on 2 February 1822, the son of Edward Fawcett Wright (d. 1856) and his wife, Ann, Skirrow.Dixon 2013. Two years later, the family moved to Stourbridge, Worcestershire. In 1838 Wright moved to Birmingham in search of work, and found employment at the button manufactory of Smith and Kemp. His talents marked him for a swift ascendancy from traveller to partner in 1850, and eventually sole proprietor of the company. He was a nonconformist (like many of Birmingham's civic lea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Dawson (preacher)
George Dawson (24 February 182130 November 1876) was an English nonconformist preacher, lecturer and activist. He was an influential voice in the calls for radical political and social reform in Birmingham, a philosophy that became known as the Civic Gospel. Ministry Dawson was born in Brunswick Square, London, in 1821. His father was headmaster of a Baptist school. He was educated at home, then at Marischal College, Aberdeen, and the University of Glasgow. Oxford and Cambridge seemed not an option as, owing to the Test Act, for centuries up to 1828 only Anglicans were allowed to matriculate (Oxford) or graduate (Cambridge). In 1843 Dawson accepted a call to the pastorate of the Baptist church at Rickmansworth. He moved to the rapidly expanding industrial town of Birmingham in 1844 to become minister of the Mount Zion Baptist Chapel where the eloquence and beliefs that the young man expressed soon attracted a large following. However, Dawson's views did not fit the orth ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Erdington
Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Warwickshire and located northeast of central Birmingham, bordering Sutton Coldfield. It was also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. The former council district consisted of the ward of Erdington, and Tyburn, (formerly Kingsbury), Stockland Green and Kingstanding, although all of Kingstanding and most of both Tyburn and Stockland Green wards lie outside the historical boundaries of Erdington. Stockland Green was formerly part of Aston, Kingstanding part of Perry Barr and Tyburn (Tyburn Road South & Birches Green) partially split between Aston and Hodge Hill ( Castle Vale). Erdington (ward) was part of the Sutton Coldfield constituency before 1974. History Erdington Manor Erdington had its own manor house, Erdington Hall, which was protected on three sides by a double moat and on the fourth by the River Tame. It had developed from a small forti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |