Acworth, Sir Jacob (c. 1668–1749), shipbuilder, about whom details of parentage and early life are unknown, began his apprenticeship as a carpenter about 1682. He was probably a relative of William Acworth (1615–1672) who served as storekeeper of Woolwich Dockyard from 1637 until his death. ...
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C. E. R. Sherrington
revised by T. A. B. Corley
Acworth, Sir William Mitchell (1850–1925), railway economist, was born at Rothley, Leicestershire, on 22 November 1850, the third son of the Revd William Acworth, vicar of Rothley, and his wife, Margaret Dundas, daughter of Andrew Mitchell of Maulside, Beath, and Blythswood Place, Glasgow...
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Anne Pimlott Baker
Adams, Gladstone (1880–1966), motorist and inventor of a windscreen wiper, was born on 16 May 1880 at 4 St Ann's Row, Newcastle upon Tyne, son of John Adams, metal merchant, and his wife, Agnes, née M'Gregor, and was educated at Rutherford College, Newcastle...
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Brian Lavery
Adams, Henry (1713–1805), shipbuilder, was born in Deptford, the son of Anthony Adams, a shipwright at the town's royal dockyard. In 1726 he began his apprenticeship to Benjamin Slade, the foreman of the yard. Adams moved to Hampshire in 1744 and was appointed naval overseer for the building of the ...
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Adams, William Bridges (1797–1872), railway engineer, was born in Westminster, London, on 26 May 1797, the son of William Adams, a coach builder, and his wife, Ann. He showed an early aptitude for engineering. On 30 November 1818 he married Elizabeth, daughter of the radical ...
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Addy, Mark Anthony (1840–1890), boatman and life-saver, was born at 2 Stage Buildings, The Parsonage, Manchester, on 13 April 1840, the sixth of eight children of Mark Addy (1801–1865), a joiner who ran a successful boat building and hire business at Stage Buildings...
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Robert Fordyce Aickman (1914–1981) by Ida Kar, late 1950s © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Aickman, Robert Fordyce (1914–1981), writer and campaigner for inland waterways, was born on 27 June 1914 at 77 Fellows Road, Hampstead, London, the only child of William Arthur Aickman (1858-1941), an architect, and his wife, Mabel Violet (1890–1943), daughter of ...
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Daniel Albone (1860–1906) by unknown photographer, c.1902 © Biggleswade History Society
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Albone, Daniel [Dan] (1860–1906), cycle and motor tractor manufacturer, was born at the Ongley Arms inn, Shortmead Street, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, on 12 September 1860, the fourth son and youngest of eight children of Edward Albone (d. 1864), publican and market gardener, and his wife, ...
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Peter G. Cooksley
Alcock, Sir John William (1892–1919), aviator, was born at Basford House Cottage, Seymour Grove, Old Trafford, Manchester, on 6 November 1892, the eldest son of John Alcock, a domestic coachman and later a horsedealer, and his wife, Mary Whitelegg. He had a boyhood fascination with machines, and after attending the parish school at ...
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Maker: Ambrose McEvoy
Sir John William Alcock (1892–1919) by Ambrose McEvoy, 1919 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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R. C. D. Baldwin
Aldersey, Laurence (1546–1597/8), sea captain, was born at Aldersey Hall, Spurstow, Cheshire, the son of Thomas Aldersey (d. 1557), sheriff of Chester in 1539 and mayor in 1549, and his wife, Cecilia Garnet (fl. 1513–1594), also of Chester. As the sixth in a family of at least eight children, in the mid-1560s he looked to ...
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John Hibbs
Alexander, Walter (1879–1959), bus operator, was born on 2 May 1879 at Bonnybridge, Falkirk, son of Robert Alexander, a carter, and his wife, Elizabeth, née Stirling. In 1902 the family opened a general store at Camelon, near Falkirk, which also sold, hired, and repaired bicycles. In 1913 ...
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Allport, Sir James Joseph (1811–1892), railway manager, was born at Birmingham on 27 February 1811, the third son of William Allport (d. 1823) of Birmingham and his wife, Phoebe, daughter of Joseph Dickinson of Woodgreen, Staffordshire. His father was a manufacturer of small arms, and for a time prime warden of the ...
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Alper, Samuel [Sam] (1924–2002), caravan manufacturer, was born on 25 April 1924 at 351 Queens Road, Plaistow, Essex, the son of Morris Alper and his wife, Lily, née Levy. His father was described as a draper on Alper's birth certificate but as a hairdresser on his second marriage certificate. ...
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Robb Robinson
Alward, George Lowe (1842–1933), trawler owner, was born in Ramsgate, Kent, on 26 August 1842, the fourth son of the seven children of Robert Lowe Alward (1802–1871), fisherman and his wife, Mary Anne Wootton, née Hillman (1803–1874). His parents were natives of Brixham...
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Anderson, Sir Alan Garrett (1877–1952), public servant and shipowner, was born in London on 9 March 1877, the only son of James George Skelton Anderson and his wife, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836–1917), the first woman to qualify as a doctor in Great Britain...
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Arthur Anderson (1792–1868) by Thomas Francis Dicksee, 1850 reproduced by kind permission of The P&O Art Collection
