Austin, (Ethel) Winifred (1873–1918), pioneer of library services for blind people, was born on 7 October 1873 (not 1875, as her obituaries state) at 3 Lansdowne Place, Blackheath Hill, London, the tenth child of George Austin (1824/5–1887) and Mary Anne Jane Cullum Aldridge (...
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Samuel Ayscough (1745–1804) by James Basire, pubd 1804 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Arthur Sherbo
Ayscough, Samuel (1745–1804), librarian and antiquary, was born in Nottingham and baptized at St Peter's, Nottingham, on 29 November 1745, the only son of George Ayscough (1721/2–1783), printer, and his second wife, Edith Wigley. His grandfather, William Ayscough, was a stationer and printer in ...
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P. R. Harris
Baber, Henry Hervey (bap. 1775, d. 1869), librarian, was baptized at Slingsby, Yorkshire, on 22 August 1775, the son of Thomas Baber (1738-1825), barrister, and his wife, Elizabeth Berriman (1738–1836). He was grandson of Thomas Draper Baber, of Sunninghill, Berkshire...
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Maker: unknown photographer
Bulkeley Bandinel (1781–1861) by unknown photographer © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Mary Clapinson
Bandinel, Bulkeley (1781–1861), librarian, was born in Oxford on 21 February 1781, the third child of James Bandinel (bap. 1733, d. 1804), fellow of Jesus College, and his wife, Margaret née Dumaresq (bap. 1744, d. 1792). The civil servant ...
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Henry Bradshaw (1831–1886) by unknown engraver (after Sir Hubert von Herkomer, 1881) © National Portrait Gallery, London
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David McKitterick
Bradshaw, Henry (1831–1886), librarian and scholar, the third son and fifth child of Joseph Hoare Bradshaw and Catherine, daughter of Richard Stewart of Ballintoy, co. Antrim, was born at 2 Artillery Place, Finsbury Square, London, on 2 February 1831. His father, a partner in ...
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Brimley, George (1819–1857), essayist and librarian, was born at Cambridge on 29 December 1819, the son of Augustine Gutteridge Brimley (1794-1862), and his first wife, Hannah née Gotobed (1789-1825). His father, a grocer and hop and provision merchant, was a Baptist, and was mayor of ...
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Bullen, George (1816x18–1894), librarian, was born in Ireland, probably at Clonakilty, co. Cork, one of three known sons (there were also three daughters) of Walter Bullen (1794/6-1858), custom house officer, and his wife Anne née Spillar (1792/3-1851). He is said to have been born on 17 or 27 November 1816 or 1817, but his tombstone records that he was seventy-six when he died in October 1894. He was educated at ...
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P. R. Harris
Casley, David (1681/2–1754), librarian, was probably born in the West Riding of Yorkshire, perhaps near Sowerby, the son of Robert Casley. He attended Meadowlane School in Leeds, and in 1707, aged twenty-five, entered Trinity College, Cambridge, as a sizar, and took his BA degree in 1711. In 1718 he was appointed deputy to ...
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Chetham, Humphrey (bap. 1580, d. 1653), financier and philanthropist, the sixth child of Henry Chetham (c.1540–1603) of Crumpsall Hall, near Manchester, and his wife, Jane (c.1542–1616), the daughter of Robert Wroe of Heaton, was born at Crumpsall Hall, and baptized at ...
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R. Julian Roberts
Colomiès, Paul (1638–1692), writer and librarian, was born on 2 December 1638 at La Rochelle, France, the son of Jean Colomiès, a doctor at La Rochelle. His family came from Béarn, but his grandfather Jérome was a minister of the Reformed church at ...
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Henry Octavius Coxe (1811–1881) by George Frederic Watts, 1876 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Mary Clapinson
Coxe, Henry Octavius (1811–1881), librarian, was born on 20 September 1811 at Bucklebury vicarage, Berkshire, the youngest child and eighth son of the Revd Richard Coxe (1753–1819) and his second wife, Susan Smith, of Normanton Hall, Leicestershire. He was educated at Westminster School...
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Peter Sherlock
Cranston, Andrew (d. 1708), creator of a public library, was born in the late 1650s in Scotland to unknown parents. He was perhaps connected to the lords Cranstoun, for the descendants of his only known brother, James, assumed the same coat of arms. There is a volume in his library inscribed to him from ...
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Craster, Sir (Herbert Henry) Edmund (1879–1959), librarian and historian, was born at the family seat, Beadnell Hall, Northumberland, on 5 November 1879, the third son (but only child of the second marriage) of Edmund Craster (1824–1898), formerly of the Bengal civil service. His mother, who died a fortnight after ...
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Andrew Coltée Ducarel (1713–1785) by Francis Perry, pubd 1757 (after Andrea Soldi, 1746) © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Ducarel, Andrew Coltée (1713–1785), librarian and antiquary, was born on 9 June 1713 in Paris, the eldest of three sons of Jacques Coltée Ducarel (1680–1718), banker, merchant, and sieur de Muids, and his wife, Jeanne Crommelin (1690–1723), daughter of André Crommelin and his wife, ...
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Edwards, Arthur (d. 1743), benefactor, was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 17 November 1725. Nothing is known of his parentage and upbringing, though his will refers to 'my brothers and sisters'. Little is known about his life, other than that he reached the rank of first major of the second troop of ...
