writers, scholars, and museum professionals

Aglionby, William (1641–1705), diplomat and writer on art, was born in the summer of 1641, the second son of George Aglionby (d. 1643), who died shortly after being appointed dean of Canterbury by Charles I, and his wife, Sibilla Smith. George had previously been employed by the ...

See Aslin, Charles Herbert

Beckett, Ronald Brymer (1891–1970), administrator in India and art historian, was born on 17 January 1891 in Micklefield Terrace, Rawdon, Yorkshire, the son of James Robertson Beckett (1855–1923), manager in a firm of silk and woollen merchants, and his wife, Annie Bertha Murray (1864–1952)...

Bishop, Sir Frederick Arthur (1915–2005), civil servant and director-general of the National Trust, was born on 4 December 1915 at 118 Hampstead Road, Brislington, Bristol, the son of Alfred John Bishop, foreman for a wholesale stationers, later factory manager, and his wife, Mary Maria, ...

Brittan, Leon, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne (1939–2015), politician, was born on 25 September 1939 at the City of London Maternity Hospital, 102 City Road, Finsbury, London, the second son of Joseph Brittan (1899–1972), medical practitioner, and his wife, Rebecca (Riva...

Cavendish, William George Spencer, sixth duke of Devonshire (1790–1858), whig grandee and connoisseur of the arts, only son and youngest of three children of William Cavendish, fifth duke of Devonshire (1748–1811), and Georgiana Cavendish (1757–1806), elder daughter of John Spencer, first Earl Spencer...

Crowe, Sir Joseph Archer (1825–1896), art historian and diplomatist, was born on 20 October 1825 at 141 Sloane Street, London, the second of the six children of Eyre Evans Crowe (1799–1868), historian and journalist, and his wife, Margaret Archer (d. 1853). In addition to his work for the press, ...

Greenhill, Basil Jack (1920–2003), diplomatist, maritime historian, and museum director, was born on 26 February 1920 at 169 Moorland Road, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, the only child of Basil Jack Greenhill, insurance salesman, and his wife, Edith, formerly Mitchell, née Holmes. He was educated at ...

Leader, John Temple (1810–1903), politician and connoisseur of the arts, born at his father's country house, Putney Hill Villa, sometimes called Lower House, on 7 May 1810, was the younger son (in a family of two sons and four daughters) of William Leader (1767–1828)...

Lindsay, David Alexander Edward, twenty-seventh earl of Crawford and tenth earl of Balcarres (1871–1940), politician and art connoisseur, was born on 10 October 1871 at Dunecht House, Aberdeen, the eldest of the six sons of James Ludovic Lindsay, twenty-sixth earl of Crawford and ninth earl of Balcarres...

Long, Charles, Baron Farnborough (1760–1838), politician and connoisseur of the arts, was born in the City of London in January 1760, the fourth son of Beeston Long, the head of a well-known firm of West Indies merchants in the City. A senior branch of the family, established at ...

Lowther, Claude William Henry (1870–1929), politician and art connoisseur, was born at Binstead on the Isle of Wight on 26 June 1870, the third child and only son of Francis William Lowther (1841–1908), an officer in the Royal Navy, and his wife, Louise Beatrice de Fonblanque...

Lucas [née Stern], Alice Theresa (1853–1924), parliamentary candidate, was born at 92 Gloucester Place, Marylebone, London, on 6 May 1853, the third of four children of David Stern (1807–1877), Viscount de Stern in the Portuguese nobility, a merchant banker from ...

Marqusee, Michael John (Mike) (1953–2015), writer and political activist, was born in New York City on 27 January 1953, the oldest of five children of John Edward Marqusee (1928–1999), real estate developer, art dealer, and publisher, and his wife ...

Pitt, Thomas, first Baron Camelford (1737–1793), politician and dilettante, was born and baptized at Boconnoc, Cornwall, on 3 March 1737, the only surviving son in the family of two sons and two daughters of Thomas Pitt (c.1705–1761), MP and lord warden of the stannaries, and his wife, ...