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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. ...

Cahill, Daniel William (1796–1864), Roman Catholic priest and public lecturer, was born on 28 November 1796 at Arless, in Queen's county, Ireland, the youngest of the three sons of Daniel Cahill (c.1754–1836), a civil engineer and allegedly a participant in the rebellion of 1798, and his wife, ...

Calvert, Frederick Baltimore (1793–1877), actor and lecturer on elocution, was one of the eight children of Charles Calvert (1754–1797) [see under Calvert, Charles (1785-1852)], an amateur painter and steward to the duke of Norfolk at Glossop Hall, Derbyshire, and his wife, ...

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. ...

Clarke, Cuthbert (1728/9–1790), writer and lecturer on natural philosophy and agriculture, was probably born in Belford in Northumberland, though his origins are obscure. He spent the early and middle parts of his life in the north-east of England; having left Belford he lived in ...

Coates, William Albert (1919–1993), laboratory technician and lecture demonstrator, was born on 7 November 1919 at 56 Pearson Street, Shoreditch, one of seven children of Francis Thomas Coates (c.1878–1950), a police constable, and his wife, Lilian Martha, née Fenniman (b...

Cohen, Chapman (1868–1954), freethought writer and lecturer, was born in Leicester on 1 September 1868, the elder son of Enoch Cohen, a Jewish confectioner, and his wife, Deborah Barnett. His upbringing was more noted for the absence of Christianity than for any positive Jewish features. He attended a local elementary school but was otherwise self-educated. Although an avid reader, versed in ...

Cooper, Thomas (1805–1892), Chartist and religious lecturer, was born on 20 March 1805 in Leicester, the illegitimate son of a dyer. His mother continued working as a dyer after the early death of Cooper's father, which indicates that the relationship was more than transitory. Living in ...

Detrosier, Rowland [formerly Rowley Barnes] (1800?–1834), freethinking radical and popular lecturer, was born in London, the son of a Manchester merchant, Robert Norris, and a Frenchwoman named Detrosier. His parents abandoned him soon after his birth and he was adopted by a Swedenborgian tailor from ...

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 ...

Ferguson, James (1710–1776), lecturer on natural philosophy and inventor of scientific instruments, was born on 25 April 1710 at Core of Mayen, Rothiemay, Banffshire, the second of at least six children of John Ferguson, a farmworker renting a smallholding, and his wife, Elspeth Lobban...

Fletcher, John (1792–1836), physician and lecturer, was the son of Thomas Fletcher, merchant, of London. Finding work in his father's counting-house tedious, he began the study of medicine at Edinburgh after having heard some of the London lectures of John Abernethy and Charles Bell...

Gough, John Bartholomew (1817–1886), temperance lecturer, was born at Sandgate, Kent, on 22 August 1817. His father was a foot soldier of the 40th and 52nd regiments, pensioned in 1823 because of a neck injury. Gough was educated first by his mother, who was the village schoolmistress for twenty years, and later (...

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 ...

Hauksbee, Francis (1688–1763), instrument maker and lecturer on science, was born in April 1688 in London, the son of John Hauksbee of the Drapers' Company and his wife, Mary. He was the nephew of the instrument maker Francis Hauksbee the elder (d. 1713)...

Katterfelto, Gustavus (d. 1799), itinerant popular lecturer, claimed to have been born in Prussia of a military family (Norfolk Chronicle) and to have travelled widely in Europe. He probably lived continuously in England from at least 1777, when he lectured in ...