Arnold, Ethel Margaret (bap. 1865–1930), journalist, author, and lecturer on female suffrage, was born at Harborne, Staffordshire. No birth certificate has been found. She was baptized at Chaddesley Corbet, Worcestershire, on 26 May 1865, the fourth daughter of Thomas Arnold (1823–1900), teacher and English scholar, and his wife, ...
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Anne M. Sebba
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Brayley, Edward William (1801/2–1870), writer and lecturer on science, the eldest son of Edward Wedlake Brayley (1773–1854), topographer, and his wife, Ann (c.1771–1850), was born in London. He was educated, together with his brothers Henry and Horatio, under an austere system. Secluded from all society except that of their tutors, the boys led a cheerless and monotonous life: denied pocket-money, they were not even allowed to take a walk without a tutor. ...
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Clarke, Charles Cowden (1787–1877), writer and public lecturer, was born on 15 December 1787 at Enfield, Middlesex, the son of John Clarke (1757–1820) and his wife, Ann Isabella, née Stott (d. 1853). Isabella Jane Clarke (1790-1867), writer of books for children, was his sister. ...
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Dodds, James (1813–1874), public lecturer and poet, was born on 6 February 1813 at Softlaw, near Kelso, Roxburghshire, the illegitimate son of Christian Dodds. James was brought up by his grandfather, a member of the Secession church, for whose humble, pious, and proselytizing character he had a lifelong admiration. From his earliest years he showed great abilities, a very impulsive and imaginative nature, and a daring, and sometimes adventurous, spirit. He was enabled through the sponsorship of friends to attend the ...
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Edith Oldham Ellis (1861–1916), by unknown photographer, 1914
© British Library Board. All Rights Reserved/Bridgeman Images
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Ellis [née Lees], Edith Mary Oldham (1861–1916), writer, lecturer, and socialist, was born at Clayton Bridge, Newton, Lancashire, on 9 March 1861, the only child of Samuel Oldham Lees (1832–1879), landowner, and his wife Mary Laetitia, née Bancroft (...
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John Harris (c. 1666–1719) by Bernard (III) Lens, 1707 Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
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Harris, John (c. 1666–1719), writer and lecturer on science, was reportedly the son of Edward Harris, or possibly Fitzharris (c.1648–1681), an army lieutenant. He entered Trinity College, Oxford, as a scholar in 1683, and graduated BA in 1686 and MA at ...
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Maccall, William (1812–1888), writer and public lecturer, was born in Largs, Ayrshire, on 25 February 1812, the eldest child of six sons and six daughters of John Maccall (b. 1793), a builder, and his wife, Elizabeth Murdoch (b. 1792). He later told the biographer ...
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Rosemary T. Van Arsdel
Miller, Florence Fenwick (1854–1935), journalist and public lecturer, was born on 5 November 1854 in London, the eldest in the family of two sons and one daughter of Captain John Miller (1817–1895), a sea captain in the merchant marine, and his wife, Eleanor, formerly Estabrook (1823–1890)...
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A. F. Pollard
revised by Ruth Wallis
Peat, Thomas (1707/8–1780), lecturer on science and almanac editor, was born at Ashleyhay, near Wirksworth, Derbyshire, the son of a farmer. He soon showed an inclination for learning, which his father tried to repress. A brother, a joiner in Nottingham, to whom he became apprenticed, gave him no more encouragement. However, ...
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Albert Richard Smith (1816–1860) by Camille Silvy, c. 1860 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Smith, Albert Richard (1816–1860), author, public lecturer, and mountaineer, was born on 24 May 1816 at Chertsey, Surrey, the son of Richard Smith (d. 1857), surgeon, and his wife, Maria. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London (1826–31), and at Middlesex Hospital...
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Walker, Adam (1730/31–1821), itinerant lecturer and writer, was born at Patterdale, Westmorland, into the numerous family of a woollen manufacturer. Neither the exact date of his birth nor the identity of his parents is known. Walker left school barely able to read but persevered alone to achieve a general education. He developed a considerable mechanical skill, constructing models of the milling machinery employed locally for fulling, grinding, and papermaking. At the age of fifteen he became assistant master at ...
