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Russell Institution
The Russell Institution (fuller titles: Russell Institution for the Promotion of Literary and Scientific Knowledge, and the Russell Literary and Scientific Institution) was an organisation devoted to scientific, literary and musical education, based in London. It was founded by private subscription in 1808, taking as models the Royal Institution and the London Institution, both at the time popular. History The Institution was formed, somewhat opportunistically, to provide a revenue-paying purpose for an assembly hall which had been constructed in Coram Street, north of new housing around Bloomsbury Square. Previous ventures at the building having failed, the proprietors "thought it expedient" to imitate the model of the Royal and London Institutions; to that end they organised a meeting of local residents, seeking 12,500 guineas at 25 guineas each from 500 subscribers. The objects of the Institution were the "gradual formation of a library, consisting of the most useful works in an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Russell Institution Building - 1827
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, including Henry Cavendish and its first president, George Finch. Its foundational principles were diffusing the knowledge of, and facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and improvements, as well as enhancing the application of science to the common purposes of life (including through teaching, courses of philosophical lectures, and experiments). Much of the Institution's initial funding and the initial proposal for its founding were given by the Society for Bettering the Conditions and Improving the Comforts of the Poor, under the guidance of philanthropist Sir Thomas Bernard and American-born British scientist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. Since its founding it has been based at 21 Albemarle Street ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Institution
The London Institution was an educational institution founded in London in 1806 (not to be confused with the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom founded the previous year, with which it shared some founders). It preceded the University of London in making scientific education widely available in the capital to people such as the Dissenters who adhered to non-orthodox religious beliefs and were consequently barred from attending Oxford University or Cambridge University. The Institution moved into premises at Finsbury Circus in 1815 and was particularly noted for the teaching of chemistry. It closed in 1912 and the buildings were used for the University of London until their demolition in 1936. Foundation The first recorded meeting to discuss the idea of an Institution was arranged by Sam Woods on 27 March 1805, and held at Mr Bodley's house in Lombard Street A further meeting was held the following month at the George & Vulture Tavern in Geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloomsbury Square
Bloomsbury Square is a garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London. Developed in the late 17th century, it was initially known as Southampton Square and was one of the earliest London squares. By the early 19th century, Bedford House along the north of the square had been demolished and replaced with terraced housing designed by James Burton. Geography To the north of the square is Great Russell Street and Bedford Place, leading to Russell Square. To the south is Bloomsbury Way. To the west is the British Museum and Holborn is the nearest underground station to the southeast. There are gardens in the centre of the square. History The square was developed for the 4th Earl of Southampton in the early 1660s and was initially known as Southampton Square. It was one of the earliest London squares. The Earl's own house, then known as Southampton House and later as Bedford House after the square and the rest of the Bloomsbury Estate passed by marriage fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guinea (British Coin)
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where much of the gold used to make the coins was sourced. It was the first English machine-struck gold coin, originally representing a value of 20 shillings in sterling specie, equal to one pound, but rises in the price of gold relative to silver caused the value of the guinea to increase, at times to as high as thirty shillings. From 1717 to 1816, its value was officially fixed at twenty-one shillings. In the Great Recoinage of 1816, the guinea was demonetised and the word "guinea" became a colloquial or specialised term. Although the coin itself no longer circulated, the term ''guinea'' survived as a unit of account in some fields. Notable usages included professional fees (medical, legal, etc.), which were often invoiced in guineas, and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Richard Weld
Charles Richard Weld (1813–1869) was an English writer, known as a historian of the Royal Society. Life Born at Windsor in August 1813, he was the son of Isaac Weld (d. 1824) of Dublin, by his second marriage of 1812, to Lucy, only daughter of Eyre Powell of Great Connell, Kildare; he was therefore half-brother to Isaac Weld. In 1820 he accompanied his parents to France, where they occupied a château near Dijon. After his father's death he attended classes at Trinity College, Dublin, but took no degree. In 1839 Weld went to London and became secretary to the Statistical Society. He studied at the Middle Temple and was called to the bar on 22 November 1844; but, advised by Sir John Barrow, he became in 1845 assistant secretary and librarian to the Royal Society, a post which he held for sixteen years. The senior secretary at the time was Peter Mark Roget, who encouraged Weld's historical work. In 1861 he resigned his post at the Royal Society, and became a partner in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Wedlake Brayley
Edward Wedlake Brayley (177323 September 1854) was an English historian and topographer. Brayley collaborated with his life-long friend, John Britton, on the first 6 volumes of '' The Beauties of England and Wales''. Early life Brayley was born at Lambeth, Surrey. He was apprenticed to the enamelling trade, but developed an early interest in literature. After completing his apprenticeship, Brayley was employed by Henry Bone (later a Royal Academician) to prepare and fire enamelled plates for small pictures in rings and trinkets. Later, when Bone was working on some exceptionally large enamels, Brayley prepared the plates for Bone's use and fired the finished pictures, continuing to do so for some years after he had become eminent as a topographer. Career His close friendship with John Britton lasted for sixty-five years. They entered into a literary partnership, and after minor success with songs and plays, they became joint editors of '' The Beauties of England and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Thomas Cooper
John Thomas Cooper (1790–1854) was an English chemist notable as a lecturer, chemical supplier and chemical analyst, at a time when interest was burgeoning in chemistry as a discipline of study and application. Biography Cooper was born in Greenwich and studied and for a short while practised medicine. Finding the life of general practitioner stressful and tiring, he turned instead to chemistry, to which he applied himself with zeal. Until 1842 he lectured in chemistry at a number of establishments, including the Russell Institution, the Aldersgate School of Medicine, and the Webb Street School of Anatomy and Medicine in Southwark. Cooper acted as a manufacturer and supplier of chemicals - "at one time the sole supplier of iodine in Britain" according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He devised or collaborated to produce a number of tools and techniques for which he won repute, including a hydrometer, an oxy-hydrogen microscope (the gasses providing a bright lig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. He is also acknowledged as the finest art critic of his age. Despite his high standing among historians of literature and art, his work is currently little read and mostly out of print. During his lifetime he befriended many people who are now part of the 19th-century literary canon, including Charles and Mary Lamb, Stendhal, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and John Keats.Grayling, pp. 209–10. Life and works Background The family of Hazlitt's father were Irish Protestants who moved from the county of Antrim to Tipperary in the early 18th century. Also named William Hazlitt, Hazlitt's father attended the University of Glasgow (where he was taught by Adam S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Kemp (organist)
Joseph Kemp (1778 – 1824) was an English musical composer, organist and teacher. He is noted as an early proponent of teaching music in classes and the playing of exercises by students. Biography Joseph Kemp was born in Exeter in 1778 and was a chorister of the cathedral, and a pupil of William Jackson. In 1802 he was appointed organist of Bristol Cathedral; in 1807 he settled in London until 1813, taking a Bachelor of Music degree at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1808 and a Doctor of Music degree in 1809. In 1810, at the Russell Institution Kemp began a series of lectures on musical education in which he advocated the teaching of music in classes and the playing of exercises by pupils in concert. On account of failing health he returned with his wife and family to his native city, and resided there until 1824, with the interruption of a visit to France in 1818–21. He had founded a musical college at Exeter in 1814. A journey to London in April 1824 proved too fatiguing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Singer
George John Singer (1786–1817) was an English early pioneer of electrical research, noted for his publications and for lectures delivered privately and at the Russell Institution. Biography Singer was the son of Thomas Singer, and the younger brother of Samuel Weller Singer. In early life he was engaged in his mother's business of artificial-flower making. Every spare moment, however, he devoted to scientific study, more particularly to the investigation of electricity and electromagnetism, then little known. He was a friend of and worked with Andrew Crosse, another early electrical pioneer. Singer built, almost unassisted, a large room at the back of his mother's house in Prince's Street, Cavendish Square, where he gave courses of lectures on electricity and kindred subjects. Among his audience were Michael Faraday and Sir Francis Ronalds. Singer published ''Elements of Electricity and Electro-chemistry'', London, 1814, a work of considerable contemporary importance, which wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Neele
Henry Neele (29 January 1798 – 7 February 1828) was an English poet and literary scholar. He was also a practising attorney in the West End of London. Early life Neele was the son of Samuel John Neele (1758–1824), a cartographer, engraver, and copperplate and printer, who had his business in the Strand, London. The family soon moved to Kentish Town, where he was brought up and educated. He had at least one brother, Josiah Neele (fl. 1826–45), who was to follow in his father's trade. At school and in later life, Neele acquired a good knowledge of French and some German and Italian, but little Latin or Greek. Law On leaving school, Neele was articled to an attorney, and after qualifying, practised in Great Blenheim Street (now Ramillies Street) in the West End of London. Barbara Hofland relates that he "enjoyed a respectable share of business in that profession, up to the time of his death; being remarkable for his great regularity in the dispatch of all concerns committ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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