Welcome to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Over 60,000 biographies, 72 million words, 11,000 portraits of significant, influential or notorious figures who shaped British history – perform advanced search
- Life of the day now available by email or RSS feed.
- Learn about our editors and read the Letter from the General Editor Professor Sir David Cannadine.
What's new
What's new: July 2022
This month’s update adds collective articles on the 39 earls and barons of Scotland who sealed the Declaration of Arbroath, addressed to Pope John XXII in 1320, and the 40 English and Welsh Roman Catholic Martyrs in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who were canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970. In advance of the Commonwealth Games, there are also surveys of the coverage of the Commonwealth in ODNB as well as the c. 700 lives connected with Birmingham, where the games will be staged. Read the introduction here.
Featured
Calthorpe family
For almost 200 years, the Calthorpe family of landowners, politicians, and benefactors sustained a territorial link with the city of Birmingham. In 1717 they purchased the Edgbaston estate, where they later went on to create an exclusive suburban enclave, which was home to many of Birmingham’s leading citizens.
