Ashbee, Henry Spencer [pseud. Pisanus Fraxi] (1834–1900), book collector and bibliographer, was born on 21 April 1834 at 24 Blackfriars Road, Southwark, London, the only child of Robert Ashbee (1804–1867), manager of the Curtis and Harvey gunpowder mills, and his wife, Frances Elizabeth, ...
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David Chambers
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Astle, Thomas (1735–1803), archivist and collector of books and manuscripts, was born on 22 December 1735 at Yoxall, on the edge of Needwood Forest, Staffordshire, the eldest son of Daniel Astle (d. 1775), keeper of the forest, who was of a family long established at ...
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Atkinson, James (1759–1839), surgeon and bibliographer, the son of a medical practitioner and friend of Laurence Sterne, received his medical education as a pupil of Henry Cline of St Thomas's Hospital, London, and attended the lectures of Thomas Denman, physician-accoucheur to the Middlesex Hospital...
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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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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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James McLaverty
Beauclerk, Topham (1739–1780), book collector, was born on 21 December 1739, the only son of Lord Sidney Beauclerk (1703–1744), member of parliament, privy councillor, and vice-chamberlain of the royal household, and his wife, Mary (d. 1766), daughter of Thomas Norris of Speke Hall, Lancashire...
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Rolf Baumgarten
Best, Richard Irvine (1872–1959), philologist and bibliographer, was born at 3 Bishop Street, Derry, on 17 January 1872, the son of Henry Best (who was of English descent), an excise officer, and his wife, Margaret Jane Irvine. He was educated at Foyle College...
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Bliss, Philip (1787–1857), antiquary and book collector, was the elder son of Philip Bliss (d. 1803), rector of Dodington and Frampton Cotterell, near Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, where Bliss was born on 21 December 1787. His mother was Anne, daughter of Thomas Michell...
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Boase, George Clement (1829–1897), bibliographer, born at Chapel Street, Penzance, on 20 October 1829, was the second son of John Josias Arthur Boase (1801–1896), a banker, and his wife, Charlotte (1802–1873), daughter of Robert Sholl of Truro. Charles William Boase and Frederic Boase...
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Michael Borrie
Bond, Sir Edward Augustus (1815–1898), librarian, was born on 31 December 1815 at Hanwell, the son of the Revd John Bond, who conducted a large private school there, and Sophia Bond. He was admitted to Merchant Taylors' School in December 1830. In 1833 he was appointed assistant at the ...
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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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Britton, Thomas (1644–1714), concert promoter, book collector, and coal merchant, was born on 14 January 1644 at Rushden near Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire. He migrated to London where he apprenticed himself to a ‘small-coal’ (slack-coal, or charcoal) merchant near St John the Baptist's Street...
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Burney, Charles (1757–1817), schoolmaster and book collector, was born on 4 December 1757 in King's Lynn, the fifth surviving child and second surviving son of Dr Charles Burney (1726–1814), music historian, and his first wife, Esther Sleepe (1723–1762). His siblings included the writers ...
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Cockerell, Sir Sydney Carlyle (1867–1962), museum director and book collector, was born at Brighton on 16 July 1867, the second child (and second son) of the family of four sons and two daughters of Sydney John Cockerell (1842–1877), coal merchant, of London, and his wife, ...
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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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Stanley Lane-Poole
revised by Elizabeth Baigent
Curzon, Robert, fourteenth Baron Zouche of Harringworth (1810–1873), traveller and collector of manuscripts, elder son of Harriet Anne Bishopp, suo jure Baroness Zouche of Harringworth (1787–1870), and the Hon. Robert Curzon (1774–1863), son of Assheton, first Viscount Curzon, was born at 58 Welbeck Street, London...
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John Sunderland
Dalton, Richard (c. 1715–1791), art dealer and librarian, was the son of the Revd John Dalton of Darlington, co. Durham, and younger brother of the Revd John Dalton, rector of St Mary-at-Hill, London. Dalton was apparently apprenticed to a coach-painter at Clerkenwell, London...
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Davies, Sir William Llewelyn (1887–1952), librarian, was born at Plas Gwyn schoolhouse, near Pwllheli, on 11 October 1887, the third child and younger son of William Davies and his wife, Jane Evans, both natives of Llanafan, Cardiganshire. His father, formerly the earl of Lisburne's...
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John V. Richardson Jr.
Dibdin, Thomas Frognall (1776–1847), bibliographer, was born in Calcutta, India, and baptized there on 31 August 1776, the elder son of Thomas Dibdin (c.1731–1780), naval captain and later merchant venturer, and his second wife, Elizabeth Compton (d. c.1780). When he was about the age of four both his parents died: his father on his way to ...
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Dryander, Jonas Carlsson (1748–1810), botanist and librarian, was born on 5 March 1748 in Göteborg, Sweden, son of Carl Leonard Dryander (d. 1757), lecturer, and Brita Maria Montin. His uncle, Dr Lars Montin, a botanist and pupil of Linnaeus, advised him on his education after the early death of his father. After attending school in ...
