Astor [née Langhorne], Nancy Witcher, Viscountess Astor (1879–1964), society hostess and politician, was born at Danville, Virginia, on 19 May 1879, the eighth child in a family of eleven. Her father, Chiswell Dabney Langhorne (1843–1919), a veteran of the American Civil War, had made his fortune in railway construction and bought an estate at ...
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Martin Pugh
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Edward Mendelson
Auden, Wystan Hugh (1907–1973), poet and writer, was born at 54 Bootham, York, on 21 February 1907, the youngest of three children (all sons) of George Augustus Auden (1872–1957), general practitioner, and his wife, Constance Rosalie, née Bicknell (1869–1941). His parents were devout high Anglicans, especially his mother, who had trained as a missionary nurse before meeting ...
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M. A. Elston
Blackwell, Elizabeth (1821–1910), physician, was born on 3 February 1821 at Counterslip Street, Bristol, the third daughter and the third of nine children of Samuel Blackwell (c.1790–1838), sugar refiner, and his wife, Hannah, daughter of Bristol jewellers (husband and wife) named ...
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Hugo Vickers
Churchill, Gladys Marie Spencer- [née Gladys Marie Deacon], duchess of Marlborough (1881–1977), society beauty, was born on 7 February 1881 at the Hotel Brighton in Paris, the eldest of five children of Edward Parker Deacon of Boston (1844–1901) and his wife, Florence Mary (1859–1918)...
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Bruce McConachie
Forrest, Edwin (1806–1872), actor, was born on 9 March 1806 on George Street, Old Southwark, Philadelphia, the sixth of the seven children of William Forrest (1758–1819), a Scottish-American bank messenger, and his wife, Rebecca Lauman (1763–1847). As a young man he took elocution lessons and performed with an amateur acting society, the conventional route to an acting career in a profession still dominated by English theatrical traditions. He also trained his body by practising acrobatics, a regimen he continued throughout his life. Soon after his début in 1820, he went west with a travelling troupe and finally arrived in ...
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Stanley Weintraub
Harte, (Francis) Bret [formerly Francis Brett Hart] (1836–1902), author, was born on 25 August 1836 in Albany, New York, the third child of Henry Philip Hart (1800–1845), who conducted a private school in his home, and Elizabeth Ostrander Hart. His paternal grandfather was ...
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Iredell, James (1751–1799), lawyer and jurist in the United States of America, was born on 5 October 1751 at Lewes, Sussex, the eldest of five sons of Francis Iredell (d. 1772), a Bristol merchant, and Margaret, née McCulloh, who came from a prominent Anglo-Irish family with influential links to ...
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Bruce Babington
Losey, Joseph Walton (1909–1984), film director, was born on 14 January 1909 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA, the first of two children of Joseph Walton Losey (1879–1925) and his wife, Ina Higbee (c.1879–1959). An unhealthy, asthmatic child, his upbringing was middle-class and Episcopalian, though as a young man he abandoned religious belief for Marxism. His first four decades were lived in the ...
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Mark D. Chapman
Macquarrie, John [Ian] (1919–2007), theologian, was born on 27 June 1919 at 9 Inchinnan Road, Renfrew, the second son of John Macquarrie, pattern maker, and his wife, Robina Lindsay, née McInnes. John, known to his family and friends as Ian, was educated at ...
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Duncan Robinson
Mellon, Paul (1907–1999), philanthropist and art collector, was born on 11 June 1907 at 5052 Forbes Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, the only son and second of the two children of Andrew William Mellon (1855–1937), banker and statesman, and his wife, Nora (1879–1973), daughter of Mr and Mrs ...
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Montez, Lola [real name Elizabeth Rosanna Gilbert] (1821–1861), adventuress, was born on 17 February 1821 at Grange, co. Sligo, Ireland, the only child of Edward Gilbert (c.1797–1823), an ensign of the 25th foot regiment, and his wife, Eliza Oliver (...
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Edward Countryman
Morris, Gouverneur (1752–1816), revolutionary politician and diplomatist in the United States of America, was born on 31 January 1752 at Morrisania, Westchester county, New York, son of Lewis Morris jun. (d. 1762), New York landlord and politician, and his second wife, Sarah Gouverneur (...
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Stuart, Gilbert Charles (1755–1828), portrait painter, was born on 3 December 1755 near Saunderstown, Rhode Island, USA, the youngest of the three children of Gilbert Stewart, later Stuart (c.1718–1793), inventor and snuff-mill operator, and Elizabeth (d. after 1810), daughter of ...
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Clyde R. Ferguson
Sumter, Thomas (1734–1832), revolutionary army officer and politician in the United States of America, was born on 14 July or 14 August 1734 in the Preddy's Creek settlement of Hanover county, Virginia, near present-day Charlottesville. Second of four children born to William Sumter...
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Upton, Florence Kate (1873–1922), illustrator and artist, was born on 22 February 1873 in Flushing, Long Island, New York, USA, the second of four children of Thomas Harborough Upton (1835–1889), a confidential clerk in the American Exchange Bank, and his wife, Bertha (1849–1912)...
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Charles Royster
Washington, George (1732–1799), revolutionary army officer and president of the United States of America, was born on 11 February 1732 at his family's plantation near Pope's Creek, Westmoreland county, Virginia, the first of six children of Augustine Washington (1694–1743), planter, and his second wife, ...
