''Biographia Britannica'' was a multi-volume biographical compendium, "the most ambitious attempt in the latter half of the eighteenth century to document the lives of notable British men and women".
The first edition, edited by
William Oldys
William Oldys (14 July 1696 – 15 April 1761) was an English antiquarian and bibliographer.
Life
He was probably born in London, the illegitimate son of Dr William Oldys (1636–1708), chancellor of Lincoln diocese. His father had held the ...
(1696–1761) until his death, appeared in 6 volumes (the sixth in two parts, the second sometimes catalogued as volume 7) between 1747 and 1766.
The editor of the two parts of volume 6 (1763 & 1766) is unknown. Five volumes of an incomplete second edition, edited by
Andrew Kippis
Andrew Kippis (28 March 17258 October 1795) was an English nonconformist clergyman and biographer.
Life
The son of Robert Kippis, a silk-hosier, he was born at Nottingham. Having gone to Carre's Grammar School in Sleaford, Lincolnshire he pass ...
(1725–1795) with the assistance of
Joseph Towers
Joseph Towers (31 March 1737 – 20 May 1799) was an English Dissenter and biographer.
Life and work
He was born in Southwark on 31 March 1737. His father was a secondhand bookseller, and at the age of 12 he was employed as a stationer's errand b ...
(1737–1799), appeared between 1778 and 1793, and cover names commencing Aa through to Fa; a sixth volume was prepared for publication, and may have been published, but now seems to be lost.
Contributors included
Thomas Broughton Thomas Broughton may refer to:
* Thomas Broughton (writer) (1704–1774), English divine, biographer, and miscellaneous writer
* Thomas Broughton (divine) (1712–1777), English divine
*Thomas Duer Broughton (1778–1835), English writer on ...
and
John Campbell, compiler of ''Lives of the Admirals'' (1742).
References
External links
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British biographical dictionaries
18th-century books
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