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Imperial Dictionary Of Biography
The ''Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography'' was a biographical dictionary of the nineteenth century, published by William Mackenzie (publisher), William Mackenzie in Glasgow. The second edition, which was published in 1876, was released in two sets. One was a set of 28 volumes (parts), priced at 4 shillings each. The other set was in 14 volumes (divisions), in elegant cloth, bevel boards, cut edges, and priced at 10 shillings each. Publication The ''Dictionary'' was issued by part publication, and its first edition appeared from 1857 to 1863. In collected form (1863) there were three volumes, originally issued in 16 parts. A later edition appeared from 1876. Staff and writers The ''Imperial Dictionary'' was edited by John Francis Waller from 1857 to 1866; Patrick Edward Dove was general editor for the first 20 numbers, John Service (editor), John Service was on the editorial staff 1858 to 1862, acting as sub-editor under Dove. Also involved editorially were William John Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biographical Dictionary
A biographical dictionary is a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information. Many attempt to cover the major personalities of a country (with limitations, such as living persons only, in ''Who's Who'', or deceased people only, in the ''Dictionary of National Biography''). Others are specialized, in that they cover important names in a subject field, such as architecture or engineering. History in the Islamic civilization Tarif Khalidi claimed the genre of biographical dictionaries is a "unique product of Arab Muslim culture". The earliest extant example of the biographical dictionary dates from 9th-century Iraq, and by the 16th-century it was a firmly established and well-respected form of historical writing. They contain more social data for a large segment of the population than that found in any other pre-industrial society. The earliest biographical dictionaries initially focused on the lives of the prophets of Islam and their companions, with one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hutton Balfour
John Hutton Balfour (15 September 1808 – 11 February 1884) was a Scottish botanist. Balfour became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, moving to the University of Edinburgh and also becoming the 7th Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Her Majesty's Botanist in 1845. He held these posts until his retirement in 1879. He was nicknamed Woody Fibre. Early life He was the son of Andrew Balfour, an Army Surgeon who had returned to Edinburgh to set up a printing and publishing business. Balfour was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh and then studied at St Andrews University and the University of Edinburgh, graduating with degrees of M.A. and then M.D., the latter in 1832. In Edinburgh, he became a notable member of the Plinian Society, where he encountered the phrenologist William A.F. Browne and entered the vigorous debates concerning natural history and theology. His original intention had been to seek ordination in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Donaldson (classical Scholar)
Sir James Donaldson (26 April 1831 – March 1915) was a Scottish classical scholar, and educational and theological writer. Life Donaldson was born in Aberdeen on 26 April 1831. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, Marischal College, Aberdeen, New College, London, and Berlin University. In 1854 he was appointed Rector of the Stirling High School where he remained for two years, before leaving for the Royal High School of Edinburgh, of which he was appointed Rector in 1866. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1867, his proposer being Alexander Keith Johnston. He became in 1881 Professor of Humanity in the University of Aberdeen, and in 1886 Principal of he United Colleges of St andrews (renamed the University of St Andrews in 1890 by the Universities (Scotland) Act). He was knighted by Edward VII in 1907, and was awarded an LL.D. by the University of Glasgow and an honorary Doctor of Divinity by the University of Aberdeen in recogniti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire and military action to expand it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the only British prime minister to have been of Jewish origin. He was also a novelist, publishing works of fiction even as prime minister. Disraeli was born in Bloomsbury, then a part of Middlesex. His father left Judaism after a dispute at his synagogue; Benjamin became an Anglican at the age of 12. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Davidson
Samuel Davidson (September 18061 April 1898) was an Irish biblical scholar. Life He was born at Kellswater, County Antrim, the son of Abraham Davidson, into a Scots-Irish presbyterian. He was educated at the village school, under James Darragh, and then in Ballymena till 1824; and then became a student at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, destined for the presbyterian ministry. His college course included periods in Londonderry and Liverpool, and was completed in 1832. In November 1833 Davidson was licensed to preach by the Ballymena presbytery. In 1835 the Synod of Ulster made him the first professor of biblical criticism at Belfast College, and he held the post till 1841. Congregationalist Becoming a Congregationalist, Davidson accepted in 1842 the chair of biblical criticism, literature and oriental languages at the Lancashire Independent College, in Manchester. In the summer of 1844 Davidson paid the first of a series of visits to Germany, and made the acquain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Lillie Craik
George Lillie Craik (1798–1866) was a Scottish writer and literary critic. Life Born at Kennoway, Fife, he was the eldest of three illustrious brothers to the local schoolmaster, his younger brothers including Henry Craik and James Craik. He was educated at the University of St. Andrews, and went to London in 1824, where he wrote largely for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. In 1849 he was appointed Professor of English Literature and History at Belfast. Among his books are ''The New Zealanders'' (1830), '' The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties'' (1831), '' History of British Commerce'' (1844), and '' History of English Literature and the English Language'' (1861). He was also joint author of '' The Pictorial History of England'', and wrote books on Edmund Spenser and Francis Bacon. His ''Sketches of Popular Tumults: Illustrative of the Evils of Social Ignorance'' (1837) included an account of the Gordon Riots in which he wrote that many rioters "dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Hookham Carpenter
William Hookham Carpenter (1792–1866) was a British antiquary, and Keeper of Prints at the British Museum. Biography Carpenter was born in Bruton Street, London on 2 March 1792. He was the son of James Carpenter, a bookseller in Old Bond Street. In 1817 Carpenter married Margaret Sarah Geddes who was a noted portrait-painter, as Margaret Sarah Carpenter. He tried painting and publishing but eventually found employment as the Keeper of Prints at the British Museum. He purchased a number of notable drawings including some by Michelangelo and Raphael. Carpenter died at the British Museum in July 1866 and was buried with his wife Margaret (d.1872) and daughter, Henrietta (d.1895), on the western side of Highgate Cemetery. The grave (plot no. 14768) no longer has a headstone. William and Margaret's children included two noted painters, another William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford Uni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hill Burton
John Hill Burton FRSE (22 August 1809 – 10 August 1881) was a Scottish advocate, historian and economist. The author of ''Life and Correspondence of David Hume'', he was secretary of the Scottish Prison Board (1854–77), and Historiographer Royal (1867–1881). Life Burton was born in Aberdeen on 22 August 1809, the son of William Kinninmont Burton (''d''. 1819), a lieutenant in the army, and Elizabeth (''d''. 1848), daughter of John Paton of Grandholm, Aberdeenshire, He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and Marischal College. After graduating, he moved to Edinburgh with his widowed mother and his sister, the educational reformer Mary Burton. He studied for the Bar, being admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1831. In 1832/3 the address of "J.H. Burton advocate" was given as 12 Fettes Row, in Edinburgh's New Town. However, he had little practice, and in 1854 was appointed Secretary to the Prison Board of Scotland, and in 1877 a Commissioner of Prisons. He beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Brewster
Sir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA Scot FSSA MICE (11 December 178110 February 1868) was a British scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator. In science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optics, mostly concerned with the study of the polarization of light and including the discovery of Brewster's angle. He studied the birefringence of crystals under compression and discovered photoelasticity, thereby creating the field of optical mineralogy.A. D. Morrison-Low (2004) "Brewster, Sir David (1781–1868)" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' For this work, William Whewell dubbed him the "father of modern experimental optics" and "the Johannes Kepler of optics." A pioneer in photography, Brewster invented an improved stereoscope, which he called "lenticular stereoscope" and which became the first portable 3D-viewing device. He also invented the stereoscopic camera, two types of polarimeters, the polyzonal lens, the li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Stuart Blackie
John Stuart Blackie FRSE (28 July 1809 – 2 March 1895) was a Scottish scholar and man of letters. Biography He was born in Glasgow, on Charlotte Street, the son of Kelso-born banker Alexander Blackie (d.1846) and Helen Stodart. He was educated at the New Academy and afterwards at the Marischal College, in Aberdeen, where his father was manager of the Commercial Bank. After attending classes at Edinburgh University (1825–1826), Blackie spent three years at Aberdeen as a student of theology. In 1829 he went to Germany, and after studying at Göttingen and Berlin (where he came under the influence of Heeren, Müller, Schleiermacher, Neander and Böckh) he accompanied Bunsen to Italy and Rome. The years spent abroad extinguished his former wish to enter the Church, and at his father's desire he gave himself up to the study of law. He had already, in 1824, been placed in a lawyer's office, but only remained there six months. By the time he was admitted a member of the Fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Blackburn
Bailie Hugh Blackburn (; 2 July 1823, Craigflower, Torryburn, Fife – 9 October 1909, Roshven, Inverness-shire) was a Scottish mathematician. A lifelong friend of William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), and the husband of illustrator Jemima Blackburn, he was professor of mathematics at the University of Glasgow from 1849 to 1879. He succeeded Thomson's father James in the Chair of Mathematics. Life Hugh Blackburn was brought up at Killearn House, Stirlingshire, the seventh of eight children of the wealthy Glasgow merchant John Blackburn and his wife Rebecca Leslie Gillies, the daughter of a Church of Scotland minister, and a relative of Colin Maclaurin. His elder brother was the judge Colin Blackburn, Baron Blackburn. His father, John, became wealthy off sugar and slavery in Jamaica, becoming a merchant on his return to Glasgow. In the 1830s, when the British government emancipated the slaves, John received compensation for the ownership of over 550 slaves. Hugh was educated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Glassford Bell
Henry Glassford Bell (5 November 18037 January 1874) was a Scottish lawyer, poet and historian. Life Born in Glasgow, the son of advocate James Bell, he received his education at the Glasgow High School and at Edinburgh University. As a poet, he became intimate with Delta Moir, James Hogg, John Wilson (Christopher North), and others on the staff of ''Blackwood's Magazine'', to which he was drawn by his political sympathies. In 1828 he became editor of the ''Edinburgh Literary Journal'', which was eventually incorporated in the ''Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle''. In 1831 he published ''Summer and Winter Hours'', a volume of poems, of which the best known is that on Mary, Queen of Scots. He further defended the cause of the queen in a prose ''Life'' (2 vols, 1828–1831). Among his other works may be mentioned a preface which he wrote to Bell and Bains's edition (1865) of the works of Shakespeare, and ''Romances and Minor Poems'' (1866). He figures in the society of the '' Noctes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
