1.
Adam Smith
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Adam Smith FRSA was a Scottish economist, philosopher, and author. He was a philosopher, a pioneer of political economy. He is best known for two works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and An Inquiry into the Nature. The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford, after graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh, leading him to collaborate with David Hume during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote, in his later life, he took a tutoring position that allowed him to travel throughout Europe, where he met other intellectual leaders of his day. Smith laid the foundations of free market economic theory. The Wealth of Nations was a precursor to the academic discipline of economics. In this and other works, he developed the concept of division of labour, Smith was controversial in his own day and his general approach and writing style were often satirised by Tory writers in the moralising tradition of William Hogarth and Jonathan Swift. In 2005, The Wealth of Nations was named among the 100 Best Scottish Books of all time, the minor planet 12838 Adamsmith was named in his memory. Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, in the County of Fife and his father, also Adam Smith, was a Scottish Writer to the Signet, advocate, and prosecutor and also served as comptroller of the Customs in Kirkcaldy. In 1720 he married Margaret Douglas, daughter of the landed Robert Douglas of Strathendry and his father died two months after he was born, leaving his mother a widow. The date of Smiths baptism into the Church of Scotland at Kirkcaldy was 5 June 1723, and this has often been treated as if it were also his date of birth, Smith was close to his mother, who probably encouraged him to pursue his scholarly ambitions. He attended the Burgh School of Kirkcaldy—characterised by Rae as one of the best secondary schools of Scotland at that period—from 1729 to 1737, he learned Latin, mathematics, history, Smith entered the University of Glasgow when he was fourteen and studied moral philosophy under Francis Hutcheson. Here, Smith developed his passion for liberty, reason, in 1740 Smith was the graduate scholar presented to undertake postgraduate studies at Balliol College, Oxford, under the Snell Exhibition. Adam Smith considered the teaching at Glasgow to be far superior to that at Oxford, according to William Robert Scott, The Oxford of time gave little if any help towards what was to be his lifework. Nevertheless, Smith took the opportunity while at Oxford to teach several subjects by reading many books from the shelves of the large Bodleian Library. When Smith was not studying on his own, his time at Oxford was not a happy one, near the end of his time there, Smith began suffering from shaking fits, probably the symptoms of a nervous breakdown
2.
Canton of Geneva
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The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French-speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. As is the case in several other Swiss cantons, this canton is referred to as a republic within the Swiss Confederation, the canton of Geneva is located in the southwestern corner of Switzerland, and is considered one of the most cosmopolitan areas of the country. As a center of the Calvinist Reformation, the city of Geneva has had a influence on the canton. The Republic of Geneva was proclaimed in 1541, under John Calvin, the Republic of Geneva reinforced its alliance to the Protestant cantons of the Swiss Confederacy, becoming an everlasting ally in 1584. The French Revolution reached Geneva in 1792, and in February 1794, after the death of Robespierre in July of the same year, there was a counter-revolution, which gained the upper hand by 1796. This prompted the French invasion of 1798, and the annexation of Geneva as part of the French département du Léman, Geneva finally joined the Swiss Confederation in 1815 as the 22nd canton, having been enlarged by French and Savoyard territories at the Vienna Congress. The area of the canton of Geneva is 282 square kilometers, the canton is surrounded on almost all sides by France and bordered by the Swiss canton of Vaud on northeast. The adjoining French départements are Ain and Haute-Savoie, the current boundaries of the canton were established in 1815. There are 45 municipalities in the canton, Geneva does not have any administrative districts. There are 10 cities with a population of over 10,000 as of 2007, Genève, Vernier, Lancy, Meyrin, Carouge, Onex, Thônex, Versoix, Grand-Saconnex, Chêne-Bougeries. The constitution of the canton was established in 1847, and has, the cantonal government has seven members who are elected for four years. The legislature, the Grand Council, has 100 seats, with deputies elected for four years at a time, the last elecation was held on 7 October 2013. In a similar way to what happens at the Federal level, in addition, any law can be subject to a referendum if it is demanded by 7,000 persons entitled to vote, and 10,000 persons may also propose a new law. The republique and canton of Geneva has 11 seats in the National Council, on 18 October 2015, in the federal election the most popular party was the The Liberals which received three seats with 20. 5% of the votes. In the federal election, a total of 106,852 votes were cast, and she is part of the Council of States since 2007. Councilor Robert Cramer, member of the Green Party, was re-elected in the round with a majority of 42,075 votes. He is part of the Council of States since 2007, ^a FDP before 2009, FDP. The Liberals after 2009 ^b * indicates that the party was not on the ballot in this canton. ^c Part of the FDP for this election ^d Part of the SD for this election The population of the canton is 484,736, as of 2013, the population included 194,623 foreigners from 187 different nations, or about 40. 1% of the total population
3.
Bank of England
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The Bank of England, formally the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world, after the Sveriges Riksbank, and it was established to act as the English Governments banker and is still one of the bankers for the Government of the United Kingdom. The Bank was privately owned by stockholders from its foundation in 1694 until it was nationalised in 1946, in 1998, it became an independent public organisation, wholly owned by the Treasury Solicitor on behalf of the government, with independence in setting monetary policy. The Banks Monetary Policy Committee has a responsibility for managing monetary policy. The Banks Financial Policy Committee held its first meeting in June 2011 as a macro prudential regulator to oversee regulation of the UKs financial sector, the Banks headquarters have been in Londons main financial district, the City of London, on Threadneedle Street, since 1734. It is sometimes known by the metonym The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street or The Old Lady, the busy road junction outside is known as Bank junction. Until 2016, the bank provided banking services as a popular privilege for employees. Englands crushing defeat by France, the dominant naval power, in naval engagements culminating in the 1690 Battle of Beachy Head, England had no choice but to build a powerful navy. No public funds were available, and the credit of William IIIs government was so low in London that it was impossible for it to borrow the £1,200,000 that the government wanted. To induce subscription to the loan, the subscribers were to be incorporated by the name of the Governor, the Bank was given exclusive possession of the governments balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issue bank notes. The lenders would give the government cash and issue notes against the government bonds, the £1. 2m was raised in 12 days, half of this was used to rebuild the navy. This helped the new Kingdom of Great Britain – England and Scotland were formally united in 1707 – to become powerful, the power of the navy made Britain the dominant world power in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The establishment of the bank was devised by Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, the plan of 1691, which had been proposed by William Paterson three years before, had not then been acted upon. The Royal Charter was granted on 27 July through the passage of the Tonnage Act 1694, the first governor was Sir John Houblon, who is depicted in the £50 note issued in 1994. The charter was renewed in 1742,1764, and 1781, the Bank moved to its current location in Threadneedle Street in 1734, and thereafter slowly acquired neighbouring land to create the edifice seen today. When the idea and reality of the National Debt came about during the 18th century, the 1844 Bank Charter Act tied the issue of notes to the gold reserves and gave the Bank sole rights with regard to the issue of banknotes. Private banks that had previously had that right retained it, provided that their headquarters were outside London, a few English banks continued to issue their own notes until the last of them was taken over in the 1930s. Scottish and Northern Irish private banks still have that right, the bank acted as lender of last resort for the first time in the panic of 1866
4.
Joshua Reynolds
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Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential eighteenth-century English painter, specialising in portraits. He promoted the Grand Style in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect and he was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, and was knighted by George III in 1769. Reynolds was born in Plympton, Devon, on 16 July 1723 the third son of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds and his father had been a fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, but did not send any of his sons to the university. One of his sisters was Mary Palmer, seven years his senior, author of Devonshire Dialogue, in 1740 she provided £60, half of the premium paid to Thomas Hudson the portrait-painter, for Joshuas pupilage, and nine years later advanced money for his expenses in Italy. His other siblings included Frances Reynolds and Elizabeth Johnson, as a boy, he came under the influence of Zachariah Mudge, whose Platonistic philosophy stayed with him all his life. The work that came to have the most influential impact on Reynolds was Jonathan Richardsons An Essay on the Theory of Painting, having shown an early interest in art, Reynolds was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable London portrait painter Thomas Hudson, who had been born in Devon. Hudson had a collection of old master drawings, including some by Guercino, although apprenticed to Hudson for four years, Reynolds only remained with him until summer 1743. Having left Hudson, Reynolds worked for some time as a portrait-painter in Plymouth Dock and he returned to London before the end of 1744, but following his fathers death in late 1745 he shared a house in Plymouth Dock with his sisters. In 1749, Reynolds met Commodore Augustus Keppel, who invited him to join HMS Centurion, of which he had command, while with the ship he visited Lisbon, Cadiz, Algiers, and Minorca. From Minorca he travelled to Livorno in Italy, and then to Rome, while in Rome he suffered a severe cold, which left him partially deaf, and, as a result, he began to carry a small ear trumpet with which he is often pictured. Reynolds travelled homeward overland via Florence, Bologna, Venice, and he was accompanied by Giuseppe Marchi, then aged about 17. Apart from a brief interlude in 1770, Marchi remained in Reynolds employment as an assistant for the rest of the artists career. Following his arrival in England in October 1752, Reynolds spent three months in Devon, before establishing himself in London, where he remained for the rest of his life. He took rooms in St Martins Lane, before moving to Great Newport Street and he achieved success rapidly, and was extremely prolific. In 1760 Reynolds moved into a house, with space to show his works and accommodate his assistants. Alongside ambitious full-length portraits, Reynolds painted large numbers of smaller works, in the late 1750s, at the height of the social season, he received five or six sitters a day, each for an hour. By 1761 Reynolds could command a fee of 80 guineas for a full-length portrait, the clothing of Reynolds sitters was usually painted either by one of his pupils, his studio assistant Giuseppe Marchi, or the specialist drapery painter Peter Toms. Lay figures were used to model the clothes and he had an excellent vantage from his house, Wick House, on Richmond Hill, and painted the view in about 1780
5.
Thomas Lawrence
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Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA FRS was a leading English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. He was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper, at the age of ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his pastel portraits. At eighteen he went to London and soon established his reputation as a painter in oils, receiving his first royal commission. He stayed at the top of his profession until his death, aged 60, self-taught, he was a brilliant draughtsman and known for his gift of capturing a likeness, as well as his virtuoso handling of paint. He became an associate of the Royal Academy in 1791, a member in 1794. Lawrences love affairs were not happy and, in spite of his success, at his death, Lawrence was the most fashionable portrait painter in Europe. His reputation waned during Victorian times, but has since been partially restored, Thomas Lawrence was born at 6 Redcross Street, Bristol, the youngest surviving child of Thomas Lawrence, a supervisor of excise, and Lucy Read, the daughter of a clergyman. The couple had 16 children but only five survived infancy, Lawrences brother Andrew became a clergyman, William had a career in the army, sisters Lucy and Anne married a solicitor and a clergyman. Soon after Thomas was born his father decided to become an innkeeper and took over the White Lion Inn and next-door American Coffee House in Broad Street, Bristol. It was during the familys stay at the Black Bear Inn that Lawrence senior began to make use of his sons precocious talents for drawing and reciting poetry. Visitors would be greeted with the words Gentlemen, heres my son – will you have him recite from the poets, among those who listened to a recitation from Tom, or Tommy as he was called, was the actor David Garrick. Lawrences formal schooling was limited to two years at The Fort, a school in Bristol, when he was aged six to eight, and he also became accomplished in dancing, fencing, boxing and billiards. But once again Lawrence senior failed as a landlord and, in 1779, he was declared bankrupt, from now on, Lawrence was to support his parents with the money he earned from his portraits. The family settled at 2 Alfred Street in Bath, and the young Lawrence established himself as a portraitist in pastels, the oval portraits, for which he was soon charging three guineas, were about 12 inches by 10 inches, and usually portrayed a half-length. His sitters included the Duchess of Devonshire, Sarah Siddons, Sir Henry Harpur, Warren Hastings, sometime before his eighteenth birthday in 1787 Lawrence arrived in London, taking lodgings in Leicester Square, near to Joshua Reynolds studio. He was introduced to Reynolds, who advised him to study nature, Lawrence set up a studio at 41 Jermyn Street and installed his parents in a house in Greek Street. In the Royal Academy exhibition of 1788 Lawrence was represented by five portraits in pastels and one in oils, a medium he quickly mastered. Between 1787 and his death in 1830 he would miss two of the annual exhibitions, once,1809, in protest about the way his paintings had been displayed and once, in 1819
6.
Geneva
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Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic, the municipality has a population of 198,072, and the canton has 484,736 residents. In 2014, the compact agglomération du Grand Genève had 946,000 inhabitants in 212 communities in both Switzerland and France, within Swiss territory, the commuter area named Métropole lémanique contains a population of 1.25 million. This area is essentially spread east from Geneva towards the Riviera area and north-east towards Yverdon-les-Bains, Geneva is the city that hosts the highest number of international organizations in the world. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, Geneva was ranked as the worlds ninth most important financial centre for competitiveness by the Global Financial Centres Index, ahead of Frankfurt, and third in Europe behind London and Zürich. A2009 survey by Mercer found that Geneva has the third-highest quality of life of any city in the world, the city has been referred to as the worlds most compact metropolis and the Peace Capital. In 2009 and 2011, Geneva was ranked as, respectively, the city was mentioned in Latin texts, by Caesar, with the spelling Genava, probably from a Celtic toponym *genawa- from the stem *genu-, in the sense of a bending river or estuary. The medieval county of Geneva in Middle Latin was known as pagus major Genevensis or Comitatus Genevensis, the name takes various forms in modern languages, Geneva /dʒᵻˈniːvə/ in English, French, Genève, German, Genf, Italian, Ginevra, and Romansh, Genevra. The city in origin shares its name, *genawa estuary, with the Italian port city of Genoa, Geneva was an Allobrogian border town, fortified against the Helvetii tribe, when the Romans took it in 121 BC. It became Christian under the Late Roman Empire, and acquired its first bishop in the 5th century, having been connected to the bishopric of Vienne in the 4th. In the Middle Ages, Geneva was ruled by a count under the Holy Roman Empire until the late 14th century, around this time the House of Savoy came to dominate the city. In the 15th century, a republican government emerged with the creation of the Grand Council. In 1541, with Protestantism in the ascendancy, John Calvin, by the 18th century, however, Geneva had come under the influence of Catholic France, which cultivated the city as its own. France also tended to be at odds with the ordinary townsfolk, in 1798, revolutionary France under the Directory annexed Geneva. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, on 1 June 1814, in 1907, the separation of Church and State was adopted. Geneva flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming the seat of international organizations. Geneva is located at 46°12 North, 6°09 East, at the end of Lake Geneva. It is surrounded by two chains, the Alps and the Jura
7.
University of Edinburgh
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The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582, is the sixth oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotlands ancient universities. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city of Edinburgh, the University of Edinburgh was ranked 17th and 21st in the world by the 2014–15 and 2015-16 QS rankings. It is now ranked 19th in the according to 2016-17 QS Rankings. It is ranked 16th in the world in arts and humanities by the 2015–16 Times Higher Education Ranking and it is ranked the 23rd most employable university in the world by the 2015 Global Employability University Ranking. It is ranked as the 6th best university in Europe by the U. S. News Best Global Universities Ranking and it is a member of both the Russell Group, and the League of European Research Universities, a consortium of 21 research universities in Europe. It has the third largest endowment of any university in the United Kingdom, after the universities of Cambridge and it continues to have links to the British Royal Family, having had the Duke of Edinburgh as its Chancellor from 1953 to 2010 and Princess Anne since 2011. Edinburgh receives approximately 50,000 applications every year, making it the fourth most popular university in the UK by volume of applicants, after St Andrews, it is the most difficult university to gain admission into in Scotland, and 9th overall in the UK. This was a move at the time, as most universities were established through Papal bulls. Established as the Tounis College, it opened its doors to students in October 1583, instruction began under the charge of another St Andrews graduate Robert Rollock. It was the fourth Scottish university in a period when the more populous. It was renamed King Jamess College in 1617, by the 18th century, the university was a leading centre of the Scottish Enlightenment. The universitys first custom-built building was the Old College, now Edinburgh Law School and its first forte in teaching was anatomy and the developing science of surgery, from which it expanded into many other subjects. From the basement of a nearby house ran the anatomy tunnel corridor and it went under what was then North College Street, and under the university buildings until it reached the universitys anatomy lecture theatre, delivering bodies for dissection. It was from this tunnel the body of William Burke was taken after he had been hanged, towards the end of the 19th century, Old College was becoming overcrowded and Robert Rowand Anderson was commissioned to design new Medical School premises in 1875. The medical school was more or less built to his design and was completed by the addition of the McEwan Hall in the 1880s. The building now known as New College was originally built as a Free Church college in the 1840s and has been the home of divinity at the university since the 1920s. The two oldest schools – law and divinity – are both well-esteemed, with law being based in Old College and divinity in New College on the Mound and they are also represented by the Edinburgh University Sports Union which was founded in 1866. The medical school is renowned throughout the world and it was widely considered the best medical school in the English-speaking world throughout the 18th century and first half of the 19th century
8.
Guy's Hospital
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Guys Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kings Health Partners and it is a large teaching hospital and is, with St Thomas Hospital and Kings College Hospital, the location of Kings College London School of Medicine. The Tower Wing is the second tallest hospital building, standing at 148.65 metres with 34 floors. The hospital was founded in 1721 by Thomas Guy, a publisher of unlicensed Bibles who had made a fortune in the South Sea Bubble and it was originally established as a hospital to treat incurables discharged from St Thomas Hospital. Guy had been a Governor and benefactor of St Thomas and his fellow Governors supported his intention by granting the south-side of St Thomas Street for a rent for 999 years. Guy is interred in the crypt of the Chapel of his foundation, Guys has expanded over the centuries. The original buildings formed a courtyard facing St Thomas Street, comprising the hall on the east side, two inner quadrangles were divided by a cloister which was later restyled and dedicated to the hospitals members who fell in World War I. The east side comprised the wards and the counting house with the governors Burfoot Court Room. The north-side quadrangle is dominated by a statue of Lord Nuffield who was the chairman of governors for many years and these original parts of the hospital are now administrative and social accommodation. Despite substantial bomb damage during World War II, the original 18th century chapel remains intact including the tomb of Thomas Guy with a sculpture by John Bacon. A bequest of £200,000 by William Hunt in 1829, one of the largest charitable bequests in England in historic terms, Hunts name was given to the southern expansion of the hospital buildings. These were replaced c.2000 by new buildings for Kings College. In 1974, the added the 34-storey Guys Tower and 29-storey Guys House. At 148.65 metres high, Guys Tower regained its tallest hospital building in the status in 2014 and is currently the 21st tallest building in London. It was designed by Watkins Gray, over 13,650 staff work in Guys Hospital and St Thomas Hospital. They are two of the oldest teaching hospitals, and they are situated right in the heart of the capital, one of the services that the trust provides is dental care, looking after over 120,000 patients a year. The site consists of 19 distinct, but interconnected, buildings with functions including public medical services, teaching, research, collectively the buildings are known by local students as the squirrel due to the buildings strange silhouette. It was for six years surpassed by the Phase 3 Building of the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital in Happy Valley, in May 2014 it regained its title following the completion of extensive repair and improvement works
9.
Royal Society
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Founded in November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by King Charles II as The Royal Society. The society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the Societys President, according to a set of statutes and standing orders. The members of Council and the President are elected from and by its Fellows, the members of the society. As of 2016, there are about 1,600 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS, there are also royal fellows, honorary fellows and foreign members, the last of which are allowed to use the postnominal title ForMemRS. The Royal Society President is Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who took up the post on 30 November 2015, since 1967, the society has been based at 6–9 Carlton House Terrace, a Grade I listed building in central London which was previously used by the Embassy of Germany, London. The Royal Society started from groups of physicians and natural philosophers, meeting at variety of locations and they were influenced by the new science, as promoted by Francis Bacon in his New Atlantis, from approximately 1645 onwards. A group known as The Philosophical Society of Oxford was run under a set of rules still retained by the Bodleian Library, after the English Restoration, there were regular meetings at Gresham College. It is widely held that these groups were the inspiration for the foundation of the Royal Society, I will not say, that Mr Oldenburg did rather inspire the French to follow the English, or, at least, did help them, and hinder us. But tis well known who were the men that began and promoted that design. This initial royal favour has continued and, since then, every monarch has been the patron of the society, the societys early meetings included experiments performed first by Hooke and then by Denis Papin, who was appointed in 1684. These experiments varied in their area, and were both important in some cases and trivial in others. The Society returned to Gresham in 1673, there had been an attempt in 1667 to establish a permanent college for the society. Michael Hunter argues that this was influenced by Solomons House in Bacons New Atlantis and, to a lesser extent, by J. V. The first proposal was given by John Evelyn to Robert Boyle in a letter dated 3 September 1659, he suggested a scheme, with apartments for members. The societys ideas were simpler and only included residences for a handful of staff and these plans were progressing by November 1667, but never came to anything, given the lack of contributions from members and the unrealised—perhaps unrealistic—aspirations of the society. During the 18th century, the gusto that had characterised the early years of the society faded, with a number of scientific greats compared to other periods. The pointed lightning conductor had been invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1749, during the same time period, it became customary to appoint society fellows to serve on government committees where science was concerned, something that still continues. The 18th century featured remedies to many of the early problems
10.
Mary Somerville
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Mary Fairfax Somerville was a Scottish science writer and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and was nominated to be jointly the first female member of the Royal Astronomical Society at the time as Caroline Herschel. When John Stuart Mill, the British philosopher and economist, organised a petition to Parliament to give women the right to vote. When she died in 1872, Mary Somerville was hailed by The Morning Post as The Queen of Nineteenth-Century Science. Mary was the daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir William George Fairfax, scion of a family of Fairfaxes. She was born at the manse of Jedburgh, in the Borders and her childhood home was at Burntisland, Fife. Returning from sea, her father considered the 10-year-old Mary a savage and sent her for a year of tuition at Musselburgh and she returned being able to read and write, albeit poorly, she could perform simple arithmetic and knew a little French. Following this, she was informally taught elementary geography and astronomy, to supplement this, her uncle, Dr Thomas Somerville, taught her Latin, he described her as an eager student. Once, listening in to her brother receive tutoring in mathematics, she answered when he could not and she also studied art with Alexander Nasmyth in Edinburgh, who taught her about perspective. Inspired, she managed to obtain a copy of Euclids Elements of Geometry, around this time, however, following the death of her sister at age ten, her parents forbade Mary from further study, believing it had contributed to her sisters death. This did not deter her from studying on her own, although she had to continue in secret, I had studied plane and spherical trigonometry, conic sections, and Fergussons Astronomy. I think it was immediately after my return to Scotland that I attempted to read Newtons Principia, in 1804 she married her distant cousin, the Russian consul in London, Captain Samuel Greig, son of Admiral Samuel Greig. They had two children, one of whom, Woronzow Greig, would become a barrister and scientist. They lived in London, but it was not a time for Somerville – although she could study more easily. Indeed, Mr. Greig possessed in full the prejudice against learned women which was common at that time, however, he died in 1807 and she returned home to Scotland. Her inheritance from Greig gave her the freedom to pursue intellectual interests, in 1812 she married another cousin, Dr William Somerville, inspector of the Army Medical Board, who encouraged and greatly aided her in the study of the physical sciences. Somerville warmly encouraged her zeal for study and supported her in it and his love and admiration for her were unbounded, he frankly and willingly acknowledged her superiority to himself. William was elected to the Royal Society and together they moved in the scientific circles of the day
11.
Henry Hallam
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Henry Hallam FRS FRSE FSA was an English historian. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, he practised as a barrister on the Oxford circuit for years before turning to history. Although he took no part in politics himself, he was acquainted with the band of authors. In an 1828 review of Constitutional History, Robert Southey claimed that the work was biased in favour of the Whigs, Hallam was a fellow of the Royal Society, and a trustee of the British Museum. In 1830 he received the medal for history founded by George IV. The only son of Rev John Hallam, canon of Windsor and dean of Bristol, Henry Hallam was born on 9 July 1777 and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in 1799. He was, however, a supporter of many popular movements—particularly of that which ended in the abolition of the slave trade. Hallams earliest literary work was undertaken in connection with the Whig periodical, the Edinburgh Review and his first major work, View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, was published in 1818, and was followed nine years later by The Constitutional History of England. Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries appeared in 1837. A volume of notes to his Middle Ages was published in 1843. These works represent nearly all of Hallams career, Hallam was a fellow of the Royal Society, and a trustee of the British Museum. In 1830 he received the medal for history founded by George IV. Hallam described his work Middle Ages as a series of dissertations for the period from the 5th to the 15th century. The work consists of nine chapters, the histories of France, Italy, Spain, Germany. Others deal with major features of medieval society, the feudal system, the ecclesiastical system. The last chapter sketches society, commerce, manners, and literature in the Middle Ages. The Quarterly Review for 1828 contains an article on the Constitutional History, written by Robert Southey, full of reproach. It was his distant treatment of Charles I, Thomas Cranmer, Hallam, like Thomas Babington Macaulay, ultimately referred political questions to the standard of Whig constitutionalism
12.
Harriet Martineau
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Harriet Martineau was a British social theorist and Whig writer, often cited as the first female sociologist. She earned enough to be supported entirely by her writing, a feat for a woman in the Victorian era. A young Princess Victoria enjoyed reading Martineaus publications, the queen invited Martineau to her coronation in 1838—an event which Martineau described, in great and amusing detail, to her many readers. Martineau said of her own approach to writing, when one studies a society, one must focus on all its aspects, including key political, religious and she believed a thorough societal analysis was necessary to understand womens status under men. The novelist Margaret Oliphant said as a lecturer and politician she was less distinctively affected by her sex than perhaps any other, male or female. Martineau introduced feminist sociological perspectives into her writing on otherwise overlooked issues such as marriage, children, domestic and religious life, the sixth of eight children, Harriet Martineau was born in Norwich, England, where her father Thomas was a textile manufacturer. A highly respected Unitarian, he was deacon of the Octagon Chapel. Harriets mother was the daughter of a sugar refiner and a grocer, the Martineau family was of French Huguenot ancestry and professed Unitarian views. Her uncle was the surgeon Philip Meadows Martineau, whom she had enjoyed visiting at his nearby estate, Martineau was closest to her brother James, who became a clergyman in the tradition of the English Dissenters. According to the writer Diana Postlethwaite, Harriets relationship with her mother was strained and lacking affection, Martineau claimed her mother abandoned her to a wet nurse. Her ideals on domesticity and the faculty for housewifery, as described in her book Household Education. Her mother urged all her children to be well-read, but at the time opposed female pedantics with a sharp eye for feminine propriety. Her daughters could never be seen in public with a pen in their hand and her mother strictly enforced proper feminine behaviour, pushing her daughter to hold a sewing needle as well as the pen. Martineau began losing her senses of taste and smell at an age, becoming increasingly deaf. It was the beginning of health problems in her life. In 1821 she began to write anonymously for the Monthly Repository, a Unitarian periodical, in 1829, the familys textile business failed. Martineau, then 27 years old, stepped out of the roles of feminine propriety to earn a living for her family. Along with her needlework, she began selling her articles to the Monthly Repository, earning accolades and her regular work with the Repository helped establish her as a reliable and popular freelance writer
