1.
Niger River
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The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about 4,180 km. Its drainage basin is 2,117,700 km2 in area and its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea. The Niger is the third-longest river in Africa, exceeded only by the Nile and its main tributary is the Benue River. The Scottish explorer Mungo Park was the first Westerner known to have travelled to the portion of the Niger River. The earliest use of the name Niger for the river is by Leo Africanus in his Della descrittione dell’Africa et delle cose notabili che iui sono published in Italian in 1550, the name may come from Berber phrase ger-n-ger meaning river of rivers. As Timbuktu was the end of the principal Trans-Saharan trade route to the western Mediterranean. When European colonial powers began to send ships along the West coast of Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Niger Delta, pouring into the Atlantic through mangrove swamps and thousands of distributaries along more than 160 kilometres, was thought to be no more than coastal wetlands. The Niger River is a clear river, carrying only a tenth as much sediment as the Nile because the Nigers headwaters lie in ancient rocks that provide little silt. Like the Nile, the Niger floods yearly, this begins in September, peaks in November, an unusual feature of the river is the Inner Niger Delta, which forms where its gradient suddenly decreases. The result is a region of braided streams, marshes, and lakes the size of Belgium, the river loses nearly two-thirds of its potential flow in the Inner Delta between Ségou and Timbuktu to seepage and evaporation. All the water from the Bani River, which flows into the Delta at Mopti, the average loss is estimated at 31 km3/year, but varies considerably between years. The river is joined by various tributaries, but also loses more water to evaporation. The quantity of water entering Nigeria measured in Yola was estimated at 25 km3/year before the 1980s, the most important tributary of the Niger in Nigeria is the Benue River which merges with the river at Lokoja in Nigeria. The Niger takes one of the most unusual routes of any major river and this strange geography apparently came about because the Niger River is two ancient rivers joined together. Over time upstream erosion by the lower Niger resulted in capture of the upper Niger by the lower Niger. The northern part of the river, known as the Niger bend, is an important area because it is the major river and this made it the focal point of trade across the western Sahara, and the centre of the Sahelian kingdoms of Mali and Gao. The surrounding Niger River Basin is one of the distinct physiographic sections of the Sudan province, the origin of the rivers name remains unclear. What is clear is that Niger was an appellation applied in the Mediterranean world from at least the Classical era, when knowledge of the area by Europeans was slightly better than fable
2.
Benue River
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The Benue River, previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately 1,400 kilometres long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months, as a result, it is an important transportation route in the regions through which it flows. Large tributaries are the Faro River, the Gongola River and the Mayo Kébbi, other tributaries are Taraba River and River Katsina Ala. At the point of confluence, the Benue exceeds the Niger by volume, the mean discharge before 1960 was 3,400 cubic metres per second for the Benue and 2,500 cubic metres per second for the Niger. During the following decades, the runoff of both rivers decreased markedly due to irrigation, the Benue River flooded in October 2012, resulting in a large increase in the population of venomous snakes in the Duguri District, Alkaleri Local Government Area, Bauchi State. A July 2013 report indicated that over 200 people in the district had died of snakebite. The General Hospital in Kaltungo, Gombe State is the nearest location for treatment of snakebite, whoever is lucky to make it to Kaltungo is treated in only two days and then they return home
3.
Nigeria
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Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. It comprises 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Nigeria is officially a democratic secular country. Modern-day Nigeria has been the site of numerous kingdoms and tribal states over the millennia, the modern state originated from British colonial rule beginning in the 19th century, and the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914. The British set up administrative and legal structures whilst practising indirect rule through traditional chiefdoms, Nigeria became a formally independent federation in 1960, and plunged into a civil war from 1967 to 1970. Nigeria is often referred to as the Giant of Africa, owing to its large population, with approximately 184 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world. Nigeria has one of the largest populations of youth in the world, Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Christians, who live mostly in the southern part of the country, and Muslims in the northern part. A minority of the population practise religions indigenous to Nigeria, such as native to the Igbo. As of 2015, Nigeria is the worlds 20th largest economy, worth more than $500 billion and $1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and it overtook South Africa to become Africas largest economy in 2014. The 2013 debt-to-GDP ratio was 11 percent, Nigeria is a member of the MINT group of countries, which are widely seen as the globes next BRIC-like economies. It is also listed among the Next Eleven economies set to become among the biggest in the world, Nigeria is a founding member of the African Union and a member of many other international organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations and OPEC. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country and this name was coined in the late 19th century by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Lord Lugard, a British colonial administrator. The origin of the name Niger, which applied only to the middle reaches of the Niger River, is uncertain. The word is likely an alteration of the Tuareg name egerew n-igerewen used by inhabitants along the middle reaches of the river around Timbuktu prior to 19th-century European colonialism. The Nok civilisation of Northern Nigeria flourished between 500 BC and AD200, producing life-sized terracotta figures which are some of the earliest known sculptures in Sub-Saharan Africa, further north, the cities Kano and Katsina have a recorded history dating to around 999 AD. Hausa kingdoms and the Kanem-Bornu Empire prospered as trade posts between North and West Africa, the Kingdom of Nri of the Igbo people consolidated in the 10th century and continued until it lost its sovereignty to the British in 1911. Nri was ruled by the Eze Nri, and the city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture, Nri and Aguleri, where the Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umeuri clan. Members of the clan trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure Eri, in West Africa, the oldest bronzes made using the lost-wax process were from Igbo Ukwu, a city under Nri influence. The Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo in southwestern Nigeria became prominent in the 12th and 14th centuries, the oldest signs of human settlement at Ifes current site date back to the 9th century, and its material culture includes terracotta and bronze figures
4.
Exeter Hall
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Exeter Hall was a hall on the north side of The Strand, London, England. It was erected between 1829 and 1831 on the site of Exeter Exchange, to designs by John Peter Gandy, the site was formerly part of Exeter House, the London residence of the Earls of Exeter, almost opposite the Savoy Hotel. The official opening date was 29 March 1831, the façade in The Strand featured a prominent recessed central extrance behind a screen of paired Corinthian columns set into a reserved Late Georgian front of housing over shopfronts. The smaller halls auditorium could hold around 1,000 people, Exeter Hall was used for holding religious and philanthropic meetings, including the Protestant Reformation Society, the Protestant Association, and the Trinitarian Bible Society. On 30 June 1834 the South Australia Company hosted a huge 7-hour public meeting there to support the establishment of the colony of South Australia. The meetings of the Anti-Slavery Society were also there and such were the significance of the political meetings that the phrase Exeter Hall became a metoynm for the Anti-Slavery lobby. In addition to its function as a meeting place, it functioned as the YMCA headquarters. Hector Berlioz first conducted concerts in Exeter Hall in 1852, Exeter Hall was torn down in 1907. The site where Exeter Hall used to be located is today occupied by the Strand Palace Hotel,32, Sackville Street, Piccadilly, and in other private buildings. The site of Exeter Change, in the Strand, was selected, as central and convenient, and the fabric, known as Exeter Hall, was completed in 1831. This joins, at angles, the passage from the side entrance, so that the ground plan of these passages resembles a capital T. They are now completely open. In the centre of its front row stands the chair, which in form much resembles that of King Edward the Confessor and it is of handsomely carved mahogany, with massy open elbows, and is cushioned, in the seat and back, with purple leather. Its dimensions are large, and any gentleman of small, or even of moderate size. Those who have seen it tenanted by Lord Winchelsea, will agree that few sit there with greater dignity, the platform is nominally appropriated to gentlemen, but the more curious sex seldom fail to get admittance there, in limited numbers. With all this enlargement, however, the Hall is still insufficient for the crowds who often flock thither, as is known by the audiences of the various Missionary. When the room is filled, the finest view of it is from the deep recesses behind the platform. The scene visible from thence is truly magnificent, over their heads, the whole scene is crowned by the back gallery, at a height of many feet, behind the crimson draperies which extend among the pillars, and this is completely full also
5.
Albert, Prince Consort
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Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the husband of Queen Victoria. He was born in the Saxon duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld to a family connected to many of Europes ruling monarchs, at the age of 20, he married his first cousin, Queen Victoria, they had nine children. He was heavily involved with the organisation of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Queen came to depend more and more on his support and guidance. Albert died at the young age of 42, plunging the Queen into deep mourning for the rest of her life. Upon Queen Victorias death in 1901, their eldest son succeeded as Edward VII, Albert was born at Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, Germany, the second son of Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his first wife, Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Alberts future wife, Victoria, was earlier in the same year with the assistance of the same midwife. Albert was baptised into the Lutheran Evangelical Church on 19 September 1819 in the Marble Hall at Schloss Rosenau with water taken from the local river, in 1825, Alberts great-uncle, Frederick IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, died. His death led to a realignment of Saxon duchies the following year and Alberts father became the first reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg, Albert and his elder brother, Ernest, spent their youth in a close companionship marred by their parents turbulent marriage and eventual separation and divorce. After their mother was exiled from court in 1824, she married her lover, Alexander von Hanstein, Count of Polzig and she presumably never saw her children again, and died of cancer at the age of 30 in 1831. The brothers were educated privately at home by Christoph Florschütz and later studied in Brussels, like many other German princes, Albert attended the University of Bonn, where he studied law, political economics, philosophy and the history of art. He played music and excelled at sport, especially fencing and riding and his tutors at Bonn included the philosopher Fichte and the poet Schlegel. By 1836, the idea of marriage between Albert and his cousin, Victoria, had arisen in the mind of their ambitious uncle Leopold, at this time, Victoria was the heiress presumptive to the British throne. Her father, Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, the son of King George III, had died when she was a baby. Her mother the Duchess of Kent, was the sister of both Alberts father—the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha—and King Leopold. Leopold arranged for his sister, Victorias mother, to invite the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, William IV, however, disapproved of any match with the Coburgs, and instead favoured the suit of Prince Alexander, second son of the Prince of Orange. Victoria was well aware of the matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes. Alexander, on the hand, she described as very plain. Victoria wrote to her uncle Leopold to thank him for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me and he possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy
6.
Fowell Buxton
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Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet was an English Member of Parliament, brewer, abolitionist and social reformer. Buxton was born at Castle Hedingham, Essex and his father was also named Thomas Fowell Buxton. His mothers maiden name was Anna Hanbury, through the influence of his mother, who was a Quaker, Buxton became associated with the Gurney family of Earlham Hall, Norwich. He was especially close to Joseph John Gurney, his sister the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, and their sister Hannah and he lived at Northrepps Hall in Norfolk. In 1808, Buxtons Hanbury family connections led to an appointment to work at the brewery of Truman, Hanbury & Company, in Brick Lane, Spitalfields, in 1811 he was made a partner in the business, renamed Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co. Although he was a member of the Church of England, Buxton attended meetings of the Religious Society of Friends with some of the Gurneys, in this way he became involved in the social reform movement, in which Friends were prominent. He helped raise money for the weavers of London, who were being forced into poverty by the factory system and he provided financial support for Elizabeth Frys prison reform work and joined her Association for the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate. Buxton was elected to Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in 1818, as an MP he worked for changes in prison conditions and criminal law and for the abolition of slavery, in which he was helped by his sister-in-law Louisa Gurney Hoare. He also opposed capital punishment and pushed for its abolition, Thomas and Hannah Buxton had eight children. Four of them died of whooping cough over a period around April 1820. Another one died of some time later. Hannah would send boxes of toys to the missionary Anna Hinderer in Nigeria in 1855, by 1866 her grandchildren were parcelling up toys to send to Nigeria. The slave trade had been abolished in 1807, but Buxton began to work for the abolition of the institution of slavery, in 1823 he helped found the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery. He also pressured the government to send dispatches to the colonies to improve the treatment of slaves, Buxton took over as leader of the abolition movement in the British House of Commons after William Wilberforce retired in 1825. He achieved his goal in 1833, when slavery was abolished in the British Empire, except in India. Buxton held his seat in Parliament until 1837, in 1839 Buxton urged the British government to make treaties with African leaders to abolish the slave trade. The government in turn backed the Niger expedition of 1841 put together by missionary organizations, more than 150 people were part of the expedition, which reached the Niger Delta and began negotiations. The British suffered such high mortality from fevers, with more than 25% of the group dying rapidly, david Livingstone was strongly influenced by Buxtons arguments that the African slave trade might be destroyed through the influence of legitimate trade and the spread of Christianity
7.
Robert Peel
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Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, FRS, PC, a British statesman and member of the Conservative Party, served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and twice as Home Secretary. He is regarded as the father of modern British policing and as one of the founders of the modern Conservative Party and he entered the House of Commons in 1809 under the tutelage of his father and of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington. Peel was widely seen as a star in the Conservative Party and served in various junior ministerial offices, becoming Chief Secretary for Ireland. He cut tariffs to stimulate trade, to replace the lost revenue he pushed through a 3% income tax and he played a central role in making free trade a reality and set up a modern banking system. In 1830 the Whigs finally returned to power and Peel became a member of the Opposition for the first time, Peel then issued the Tamworth Manifesto, laying down the principles upon which the modern British Conservative Party is based. His first ministry was a minority government, dependent on Whig support, after only four months, his government collapsed and he served as Leader of the Opposition during the second government of the Viscount Melbourne. Peel declined to head another minority government in May 1839, prompting a political crisis and he finally became Prime Minister again after the 1841 general election. His second government ruled for five years - its major legislation included the Mines and Collieries Act 1842, the Income Tax Act 1842, the Factories Act 1844, Peels government was weakened by anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment following the controversial Maynooth Grant of 1845. After the outbreak of the Great Irish Potato Famine, his decision to join with Whigs, Peel remained an influential backbench MP and leader of the Peelite faction until his death in 1850. Peel often started from a traditional Tory position in opposition to a measure, then reversed his stance, Peel, a Conservative, achieved repeal with the support of the Whigs in Parliament, overcoming the opposition of most of his own party. Many critics accordingly saw him as a traitor to the Tory cause, or as a Liberal wolf in sheeps clothing, taylor says, Peel was in the first rank of 19th century statesman. He carried Catholic Emancipation, he repealed the Corn Laws, he created the modern Conservative Party on the ruins of the old Toryism. Peel was born at Chamber Hall, Bury, Lancashire, to the industrialist and parliamentarian Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet and his father was one of the richest textile manufacturers of the early Industrial Revolution. Peel was educated briefly at Bury Grammar School, at Hipperholme Grammar School, then at Harrow School and finally Christ Church, Oxford and he was a law student at Lincolns Inn in 1809 before entering Parliament. Peel saw part-time military service as a Captain in the Manchester Regiment of Militia in 1808, Peel entered politics in 1809 at the age of 21, as MP for the Irish rotten borough of Cashel, Tipperary. With a scant 24 electors on the rolls, he was elected unopposed and his sponsor for the election was the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, with whom Peels political career would be entwined for the next 25 years. Peel made his speech at the start of the 1810 session. His speech was a sensation, famously described by the Speaker, Charles Abbot, as chief secretary in Dublin in 1813, he proposed the setting up of a specialist police force, later called peelers
8.
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
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William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, PC, FRS, usually addressed as Lord Melbourne, was a British Whig statesman who served as Home Secretary and Prime Minister. He is best known for his intense and successful mentoring of Queen Victoria, at ages 18–21, but he was kind, honest and not self-seeking. Melbourne was dismissed by King William IV in 1834, the last British prime minister to be dismissed by a monarch. Born in London in 1779 to an aristocratic Whig family, William Lamb was the son of The 1st Viscount Melbourne and Elizabeth, Viscountess Melbourne, though his paternity was questioned. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he fell in with a group of Romantic Radicals that included Percy Bysshe Shelley, against the background of the Napoleonic Wars, Lamb served at home as captain and major in the Hertfordshire Volunteer Infantry. In 1805 he succeeded his brother as heir to his fathers title and married Lady Caroline Ponsonby. The next year he was elected to the British House of Commons as the Whig MP for Leominster, for the election in 1806 he was moved to the seat of Haddington Burghs and for the 1807 election he successfully stood for Portarlington. The resulting scandal was the talk of Britain in 1812, eventually the two reconciled and, though they separated in 1825, her death in 1828 affected him considerably. In 1816 Lamb was returned for Peterborough by Whig grandee Lord Fitzwilliam and he told Lord Holland that he was committed to the Whig principles of the Glorious Revolution but not to a heap of modern additions, interpolations, facts and fictions. He therefore spoke against parliamentary reform and voted for the suspension of habeas corpus in 1817 when sedition was rife, lambs hallmark was finding the middle ground. Though a Whig, he accepted the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland in the moderate Tory governments of George Canning and Lord Goderich. Upon the death of his father in 1828 and his becoming The 2nd Viscount Melbourne, of Kilmore in the County of Cavan and he had spent 25 years in the Commons as a backbencher and was not politically well known. When the Whigs came to power under Lord Grey in November 1830 Melbourne became Home Secretary in the new government, during the disturbances of 1830–32 he acted both vigorously and sensitively, and it was for this function that his reforming brethren thanked him heartily. The disturbances over reform in 1831–32 were countered with the enforcement of the usual laws, after Lord Grey resigned as Prime Minister in July 1834, the King was forced to appoint another Whig to replace him, as the Tories were not strong enough to support a government. Melbourne was the man most likely to be acceptable to the King and hold the Whig party together. Melbourne hesitated after receiving from Grey the letter from the King requesting him to him to discuss the formation of a government. Melbourne thought he would not enjoy the work that accompanied the office of Premier but he did not want to let his friends. According to Charles Greville, Melbourne said to his secretary, Tom Young, I am in many minds as to what to do
9.
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
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Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC, FRS was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century. For most of 1830 to 1865 he dominated British foreign policy when Britain was at the height of her power and he succeeded to his fathers Irish peerage in 1802. He became a Tory MP in 1807, and was made Secretary at War in 1809 and he held the job until 1828, entering the cabinet in 1827 when George Canning became Prime Minister. Less than a later he resigned with other Canningites. In opposition he switched his focus to foreign policy, and he was Foreign Secretary when the Whigs were in power, dealing with a succession of crises in Europe and beyond. Some of his actions, now sometimes termed liberal interventionist, were highly controversial at the time. In 1852 he became Home Secretary in Aberdeens coalition government, the Peelites having insisted on Russell getting the Foreign Office and he passed various social reforms but opposed electoral ones. He had two periods in office, 1855–1858 and 1859–1865, before dying at almost 81, a few months after winning an election with an increased majority. He remains, to date, the last Prime Minister to die in office and his policies regarding India, Italy, Belgium and Spain had long-term impact, while his policies toward France, the Ottoman Empire, and the United States proved more ephemeral. He was a master of public opinion, achieved by stroking British nationalism and his weaknesses include mishandling of personal relations, and long-standing disagreements with the Queen over the royal role in determining foreign policy. Palmerston built a popular following among the British electorate, by promoting himself, British nationalism. He assiduously fostered the press, which gave him very favourable coverage, Queen Victoria and most of the political leadership distrusted him, but his popular strength prevailed. Henry John Temple was born in his familys Westminster house to the Irish branch of the Temple family on 20 October 1784, Henry was to become the 3rd Viscount Palmerston. His family derived their title from the Peerage of Ireland and his father was Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, and his mother Mary, daughter of Benjamin Mee, a London merchant. From 1792 to 1794, the young future Lord Palmerston accompanied his family on a long Continental tour, whilst in Italy Palmerston acquired an Italian tutor, who taught him to speak and write fluent Italian. He was educated at Harrow School, admiral Sir Augustus Clifford, 1st Bt. was a fag to Palmerston, Viscount Althorp and Viscount Duncannon and later remembered Palmerston as by far the most merciful of the three. Palmerston was often engaged in fights and fellow Old Harrovians remembered Palmerston as someone who stood up to bullies twice his size. Palmerstons father took him to the House of Commons in 1799, Palmerston was then at the University of Edinburgh, where he learnt political economy from Dugald Stewart, a friend of the Scottish philosophers Adam Ferguson and Adam Smith
10.
Bioko
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Bioko is an island 32 km off the west coast of Africa, and the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea. Its population was 334,463 at the 2015 Census and it covers an area of 2,017 km2, the island is located off Cameroon, in the Bight of Bonny portion of the Gulf of Guinea. Its geology is volcanic, its highest peak is Pico Basile at 3,012 m, Bioko has a total area of 2,017 km2. It is 70 km long from NNE to SSW and about 32 km across and it is volcanic and very mountainous with the highest peak Pico Basile. It thus resembles neighbouring islands São Tomé and Príncipe, like them, it lies on the Cameroon line. Bioko used to be the end of an attached to the mainland in what is now Cameroon. The island has a population of 334,463 inhabitants and its historic indigenous people are the Bubi people who currently constitute 58% of the population. Other ethnicities include the Fang, the Igbo who constitute 7% of the population, biokos native name is Otcho in the Bube language. The Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó in 1472 named it Formosa Flora, the island was inhabited in the middle of the first millennium BC by Bantu tribes from the mainland, who formed the Bubi ethnic group. Unlike other islands in the area, Bioko had an indigenous African population, the Bubi speak a Bantu language. The island has probably been inhabited by this or other Bantu-speaking groups since before the 7th century BC, in 1472, the Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó was the first European to visit the island. In 1494 it was renamed Fernando Pó in his honor after being claimed as a colony by the Portuguese, the Portuguese developed the island for sugarcane crops, and while considered poor quality, the refineries output was such that Fernando Po sugar briefly dominated the trade centres in Europe. In 1642, the Dutch East India Company established trade bases on the island without Portuguese consent and it temporarily centralized from there its slave trade in the Gulf of Guinea. The Portuguese appeared again on the island in 1648, replacing the Dutch Company with one of their own, also dedicated to slave trading and established in its neighbour island Corisco. Parallel with this establishment, the Bubi clans began the process of establishing the core of a new kingdom on the island. During a period when enslavement was increasing in the region, local clans abandoned their coastal settlements, under the 1778 Treaty of El Pardo, Portugal ceded Fernando Po, Annobón, and the Guinea coast, Rio Muni, to Spain, together forming modern Equatorial Guinea. The treaty was signed by Queen Mary I of Portugal and King Charles III of Spain, in exchange for territory on the American continent, Spain mounted an expedition to Fernando Po, led by the Conde de Argelejos, who stayed for four months. In October 1778, Spain installed a governor on the island who stayed until 1780, chief Molambo was succeeded by another local leader, Lorite, who was succeeded by Lopoa
11.
Preventive healthcare
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Preventive healthcare consists of measures taken for disease prevention, as opposed to disease treatment. Health, disease, and disability are dynamic processes which begin before individuals realize they are affected, Disease prevention relies on anticipatory actions that can be categorized as primal, primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Each year, millions of people die of preventable deaths, a 2004 study showed that about half of all deaths in the United States in 2000 were due to preventable behaviors and exposures. Leading causes included cardiovascular disease, chronic disease, unintentional injuries, diabetes. This same study estimates that 400,000 people die each year in the United States due to poor diet and this is an increase from the year 2000, during which 60% of deaths were attributed to these diseases. Preventive healthcare is especially important given the rise in prevalence of chronic diseases. There are many methods for prevention of disease, genetic testing can also be performed to screen for mutations that cause genetic disorders or predisposition to certain diseases such as breast or ovarian cancer. However, these measures are not affordable for every individual and the cost effectiveness of healthcare is still a topic of debate. Preventive healthcare strategies are described as taking place at the primal, primary, secondary, in the 1940s, Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark coined the term primary prevention. They worked at the Harvard and Columbia University Schools of Public Health, respectively, goldston notes that these levels might be better described as prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation, though the terms primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention are still in use today. A separate category of health promotion has recently been propounded and this new way of promoting health is now commonly called primal prevention. It consists mainly in providing future parents with pertinent, unbiased information on primal health and this includes adequate parental leave - ideally for both parents - with kin caregiving and financial help where needed. Another related concept is primordial prevention which to refers to all measures designed to prevent the development of risk factors in the first place, primary prevention consists of traditional health promotion and specific protection. Health promotion activities are current, non-clinical life choices, for example, eating nutritious meals and exercising daily, that both prevent disease and create a sense of overall well-being. Preventing disease and creating overall well-being, prolongs our life expectancy, health-promotional activities do not target a specific disease or condition but rather promote health and well-being on a very general level. On the other hand, specific protection targets a type or group of diseases, whereas specific protective measures would be using prophylactics during sex and avoiding sexual promiscuity. Food is very much the most basic tool in preventive health care, the 2011 National Health Interview Survey performed by the Centers for Disease Control was the first national survey to include questions about ability to pay for food. Difficulty with paying for food, medicine, or both is a problem facing 1 out of 3 Americans and these are often low-income neighborhoods with the majority of residents lacking transportation
12.
David Boswell Reid
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David Boswell Reid was a Scottish physician, chemist and inventor. Through reports on public hygiene and ventilation projects in public buildings and he has been called the grandfather of air-conditioning. Reid was born in Edinburgh, the son of Dr. Peter Reid by Christian, eldest daughter of Hugo Arnot of Balcormo. He was educated at Edinburgh University, obtained his diploma on 12 July 1830. In 1831 Reid began to give classes in practical chemistry and he was soon appointed assistant to Thomas Charles Hope, professor of chemistry at the university. In 1833, however, he had a disagreement with Hope, at this point he set up a laboratory of his own. One of his students was Macquorn Rankine. Reid continued to give private classes until he moved to London in 1847. Reid invited participants at the 1834 meeting of the British Association, in Edinburgh, to visit his laboratory, fortuitously there was a very destructive fire at the Houses of Parliament at Westminster later in 1834, and Reid was brought in as a consultant. He did innovative work in the accommodation on forced ventilation. When the new building started on the same site, he was in a strong position to carry out plans that were systematic as far as ventilation was concerned. He was remembered as Dr. Reid the ventilator in the twenty-first century in discussions of energy efficiency, by Lord Wade of Chorlton. In January 1840 Reid was appointed by the committee for the House of Lords dealing with the construction of the replacement for the Houses of Parliament that had burned down six years earlier. The post was in the capacity of ventilation engineer, in effect, Reids ventilation system was adopted reluctantly by Barry in this new Palace of Westminster. Reid was engaged for five years at Westminster on this work, Reid made a reputation by his work in Westminster. He was commissioned for an air quality survey in 1837 by the Leeds, the steam vessels built for the Niger expedition of 1841 were fitted with ventilation systems based on Reids Westminster model. Air was dried, filtered and passed over charcoal, the system proved a cumbersome failure. A detailed account was published by James Ormiston McWilliam, Reids ventilation method was also applied more fully to St. Georges Hall, Liverpool, the only building, he said, in which his system was completely carried out
13.
Palace of Westminster
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The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, the Palace lies on the bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster. The palace is owned by the monarch in right of the Crown and for ceremonial purposes, the building is managed by committees appointed by both houses, which report to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker. The first royal palace was built on the site in the 11th century, part of the New Palaces area of 3.24 hectares was reclaimed from the Thames, which is the setting of its nearly 300-metre long façade, called the River Front. Barry was assisted by Augustus Pugin, an authority on Gothic architecture and style. The Palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom, Westminster has become a metonym for the UK Parliament, the Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The Palace of Westminster site was important during the Middle Ages. Known in medieval times as Thorney Island, the site may have been first-used for a residence by Canute the Great during his reign from 1016 to 1035. St Edward the Confessor, the penultimate Anglo-Saxon monarch of England, Thorney Island and the surrounding area soon became known as Westminster. Neither the buildings used by the Anglo-Saxons nor those used by William I survive, the oldest existing part of the Palace dates from the reign of William Is successor, King William II. The Palace of Westminster was the principal residence in the late Medieval period. The predecessor of Parliament, the Curia Regis, met in Westminster Hall, simon de Montforts parliament, the first to include representatives of the major towns, met at the Palace in 1265. The Model Parliament, the first official Parliament of England, met there in 1295, in 1512, during the early years of the reign of King Henry VIII, fire destroyed the royal residential area of the palace. In 1534, Henry VIII acquired York Place from Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, renaming it the Palace of Whitehall, Henry used it as his principal residence. Although Westminster officially remained a royal palace, it was used by the two Houses of Parliament and by the various law courts. Because it was originally a residence, the Palace included no purpose-built chambers for the two Houses. Important state ceremonies were held in the Painted Chamber which had originally built in the 13th century as the main bedchamber for King Henry III. The House of Commons, which did not have a chamber of its own, the Commons acquired a permanent home at the Palace in St Stephens Chapel, the former chapel of the royal palace, during the reign of Edward VI
14.
Steamboat
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A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S. S. or S/S or PS, the term steamboat is used to refer to smaller, insular, steam-powered boats working on lakes and rivers, particularly riverboats. As using steam became more reliable, steam power became applied to larger, Early attempts at powering a boat by steam were made by the French inventor Denis Papin and the English inventor Thomas Newcomen. Papin invented the steam digester and experimented with closed cylinders and pistons pushed in by atmospheric pressure, Papin proposed applying this steam pump to the operation of a paddlewheel boat and tried to market his idea in Britain. He was unable to convert the piston motion into rotary motion. Newcomens design did solve the first problem, but remained shackled to the inherent limitations of the engines of the time, a steamboat was described and patented by English physician John Allen in 1729. In 1736, Jonathan Hulls was granted a patent in England for a Newcomen engine-powered steamboat, William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, having learned of Watts engine on a visit to England, made his own engine. In 1763 he put it in a boat, the boat sank, and while Henry made an improved model, he did not appear to have much success, though he may have inspired others. At its first demonstration on 15 July 1783, Pyroscaphe travelled upstream on the river Saône for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed, presumably this was easily repaired as the boat is said to have made several such journeys. Following this, De Jouffroy attempted to get the government interested in his work, De Jouffroy did not have the funds for this, and, following the events of the French revolution, work on the project was discontinued after he left the country. Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries and this boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour and traveled more than 2,000 miles during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year, a boat made 30-mile excursions, and in 1790. Miller sent King Gustav III of Sweden an actual version,100 feet long. Miller then engaged engineer William Symington to build his patent steam engine drove a stern-mounted paddle wheel in a boat in 1785. The boat was successfully tried out on Dalswinton Loch in 1788 and was followed by a steamboat the next year. The boat was built by Alexander Hart at Grangemouth to Symingtons design with a cylinder engine. Trials on the River Carron in June 1801 were successful and included towing sloops from the river Forth up the Carron and thence along the Forth, in 1801, Symington patented a horizontal steam engine directly linked to a crank
15.
Liverpool
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Liverpool is a major city and metropolitan borough in North West England.24 million people in 2011. Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire and it became a borough from 1207 and a city from 1880. In 1889 it became a county borough independent of Lancashire, Liverpool sits on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary and its growth as a major port is paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city was also directly involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic and others such as the RMS Lusitania, Queen Mary, and Olympic. The city celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2007, and it held the European Capital of Culture title together with Stavanger, Norway, several areas of Liverpool city centre were granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2004. The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City includes the Pier Head, Albert Dock, tourism forms a significant part of the citys economy. Liverpool is also the home of two Premier League football clubs, Liverpool and Everton, matches between the two being known as the Merseyside derby, the world-famous Grand National horse race takes place annually at Aintree Racecourse on the outskirts of the city. The city is home to the oldest Black African community in the country. Natives of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians and colloquially as Scousers, a reference to scouse, the word Scouse has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect. Pool is a place name element in England from the Brythonic word for a pond, inlet, or pit, cognate with the modern Welsh. The derivation of the first element remains uncertain, with the Welsh word Llif as the most plausible relative and this etymology is supported by its similarity to that of the archaic Welsh name for Liverpool Llynlleifiad. Other origins of the name have suggested, including elverpool. The name appeared in 1190 as Liuerpul, and it may be that the place appearing as Leyrpole, in a record of 1418. King Johns letters patent of 1207 announced the foundation of the borough of Liverpool, the original street plan of Liverpool is said to have been designed by King John near the same time it was granted a royal charter, making it a borough. The original seven streets were laid out in an H shape, Bank Street, Castle Street, Chapel Street, Dale Street, Juggler Street, Moor Street, in the 17th century there was slow progress in trade and population growth. Battles for the town were waged during the English Civil War, in 1699 Liverpool was made a parish by Act of Parliament, that same year its first slave ship, Liverpool Merchant, set sail for Africa. Since Roman times, the city of Chester on the River Dee had been the regions principal port on the Irish Sea
16.
Henry Dundas Trotter
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Henry Dundas Trotter was a Scottish officer of the Royal Navy, who reached the rank of rear-admiral. The third son of Alexander Trotter of Dreghorn, near Edinburgh and he entered the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth in 1815. In February 1818 joined the Ister at Leith, in March 1821 he was moved to the Leander, flagship of Sir Henry Blackwood, by whom he was appointed acting lieutenant. On arriving in England the commission was confirmed, dating from 9 January 1823. He was then appointed to the Hussar, going out to the West Indies and he afterwards served in the Bellette and Rattlesnake, and on 20 February 1826 was made commander into the Britomart sloop. In July 1830 he commissioned the Curlew for service on the west coast of Africa, where he was for the most part senior officer and it was commanded by Pedro Gibert. On 4 June he seized the Panda in the Nazareth River, after a hunt of several months, he succeeded in capturing most of them, and took possession of the Esperanza, a Portuguese schooner, which had been assisting the fugitives. The prisoners and the Esperanza he took to England, the prisoners were sent over to Salem, Massachusetts, the brig they had plundered was then in harbour, and most of them were hanged, Trotter received the thanks of the American government. Trotter was called on to fit her out at his own expense, at Plymouth, however, the captains of the ships there sent parties of men who completed her refit free of cost to Trotter, and the Admiralty promoted him to post rank on 16 September 1835. For a few months in 1838 Trotter was flag-captain to Sir Philip Durham at Portsmouth, in 1840 he was appointed captain of the Albert steamer, commander of the Niger expedition of 1841, and chief of the commission authorised to conclude treaties of commerce with the local rulers. The squadron of three small steamers sailed from England in May 1841, and entered the Niger River on 13 August, in less than three weeks the other two vessels were incapacitated by fever, and obliged to return (see William Allen. He succeeded, however, in establishing some treaties, the state of his health, however, led him to refuse these offers, and it was not till the outbreak of the Crimean War that he accepted employment. He was then appointed commodore at the Cape of Good Hope, on 19 March 1857 Trotter became a rear-admiral on the retired list. He died suddenly in London on 14 July 1859, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery and he married, in November 1835, Charlotte, second daughter of Major-General James Pringle of the East India Companys service. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Trotter
17.
William Allen (Royal Navy officer)
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Rear-Admiral William Allen FRS was an English naval officer and explorer. Allen was born 25 November 1792 in Pimlico, London and entered the Royal Navy as Volunteer 1st Class on H. M. S. Naiad in 1804 and he was an artist and painted scenes of his travels. His maps of the River Niger enabled the ships crews to sail safely back to sea after many were lost due to fever. Allen collected the specimen of Allens gallinule near the River Niger. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, in 1848, Allen with Thomas Richard Heywood Thomson published, in two volumes as A Narrative of the Expedition sent by H. M. s Government to the River Niger in 1841. Allen also brought out two volumes of Picturesque Views on Ascension Island and the River Niger, with papers in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vols. vii. viii. xiii. and xxiii. Some of his paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Allen
18.
Sierra Leone
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Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north-east, Liberia to the south-east, Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rainforests. Sierra Leone has an area of 71,740 km2. Sierra Leone is divided into four regions, the Northern Province, Eastern Province, Southern Province and the Western Area. Freetown is the capital, largest city and its economic and political centre, Bo is the second largest city. The other major cities are Kenema, Makeni and Koidu Town, Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a directly elected president and a unicameral legislature. Sir Milton Margai built his government based on democratic principles. Throughout his time in power, Sir Milton Margai was very popular across Sierra Leone, the main opposition APC, led by its leader Siaka Stevens, narowly defeated the ruling SLPP under the leadership of Albert Margai in the 1964 general elections. Stevens ruled for eighteen years in a government, in which his critics. Soldiers and politicians convicted of plotting a coup to topple Stevens were executed, under president Stevens, the APC was made the only legal political party in Sierra Leone, and all other political parties were banned, including the main opposition. Stevens handpicked successor, retired major general Joseph Saidu Momoh, lacked the political dominance of Stevens, Momoh reestablished the country as a multi party democracy in 1991. The current constitution of Sierra Leone was adopted in 1991 during the presidency of Joseph Saidu Momoh, the rebels started the civil war in 1991 in the eastern part of the country during Momohs presidency. Momoh was very unpopular, and Public anger against the Momoh government increasingly grew due to corruption, poor economy. In 1992 a group of officers in the army led by a 25-year-old captain, Valentine Strasser. In 1996 during the war, another military coup of soldiers within Strassers inner circle, led by a 32 year old Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio, toppled Strasser. Since independent to present, Sierra Leones politics has been dominated by two political parties, the Sierra Leone Peoples Party and the All Peoples congress. From 1991 to 2002, the Sierra Leone civil war was fought and this proxy war left more than 50,000 people dead, much of the countrys infrastructure destroyed, and over two million people displaced as refugees in neighbouring countries. In January 2002, then Sierra Leones president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, fulfilled his promise by ending the civil war, with help by the British Government, ECOWAS
19.
Cape Coast
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Cape Coast, or Cabo Corso, is a city and fishing port, and the capital of Cape Coast Metropolitan District and Central Region of south Ghana. Cape Coast is situated on its south to the Gulf of Guinea, Cape Coast had a settlement population of 169,894 people. From the 16th century until Ghanaian independence, the city and fishing port changed hands between the British, the Portuguese, the Swedish, the Danish and the Dutch, Cape Coast was founded by the people of Oguaa. The Portuguese built a fort in the area. In 1610 the Swedes built a lodge that would become the better known Cape Coast Castle now a World Heritage Site. Most of the town expanded around it. The Dutch took it over in 1650, and expanded it in 1652 and it was then captured by the British in 1664. Trade was an important motivator in the creation of fortresses and settlements on Cape Coast, traders from various European countries built these trading lodges, forts and castles along the coast of modern Ghana. In 1874, the British dominated all European presence along the coast of modern-day Ghana using Cape Coast as their base of operations, with the establishment of formal colonial administration, they relocated to Accra following opposition to the window tax in 1877. Cape Coast Castle was also where most of the slaves were held before their journey on the Middle Passage, the area is dominated by batholith rock and is generally undulating with steep slopes. There are valleys of various streams between the hills, with Kakum being the largest stream, the minor streams end in wetlands, the largest of which drains into the Fosu Lagoon at Bakano. In the northern part of the district, however, the landscape is suitable for the cultivation of various crops, temperature Cape Coast is a humid area with mean monthly relative humidity varying between 85% and 99%. The sea breeze has an effect on the local climate. The crab is the mascot and a statue of one stands in the city centre. Fort William, built in 1820, was a lighthouse from 1835 to the 1970s. Other attractions include a series of Asafo Shrines, Cape Coast Centre for National Culture, the Oguaa Fetu Afahye harvest festival, and since 1992, the biennial Panafest theatre festival. The city is located 30 km south of Kakum National Park, one of the most diverse, Cape Coast also boast of being the first location where soccer was played in Ghana and Ebusua Dwarfs FC is the darling club of Cape Coasters. Cape Coast is the seat of the University of Cape Coast, Ghanas leading university in teaching, Cape Vars, as it is popularly called, lies on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean
20.
History of slavery
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The history of slavery spans nearly every culture, nationality, and religion from ancient times to the present day. However the social, economic, and legal positions of slaves were vastly different in different systems of slavery in different times and places, Slavery is rare among hunter-gatherer populations, as it is developed as a system of social stratification. Slavery was known in the very oldest civilizations such as Sumer in Mesopotamia which dates back as far as 3500 BC, the Byzantine–Ottoman wars and the Ottoman wars in Europe resulted in the taking of large numbers of Christian slaves. Slavery became common within much of Europe and the British Isles during the Dark Ages, the Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, British, Arabs and a number of West African kingdoms played a prominent role in the Atlantic slave trade, especially after 1600. During the 1983–2005 Second Sudanese Civil War people were taken into slavery, evidence emerged in the late 1990s of systematic slavery in cacao plantations in West Africa, see the chocolate and slavery article. Evidence of slavery predates written records, and has existed in many cultures, however, slavery is rare among hunter-gatherer populations. Mass slavery requires economic surpluses and a population density to be viable. Due to these factors, the practice of slavery would have only proliferated after the invention of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution, about 11,000 years ago. Such institutions were a mixture of debt-slavery, punishment for crime, the enslavement of prisoners of war, child abandonment, French historian Fernand Braudel noted that slavery was endemic in Africa and part of the structure of everyday life. During the 16th century, Europe began to outpace the Arab world in the export traffic, the Dutch imported slaves from Asia into their colony in South Africa. In 1807 Britain, which extensive, although mainly coastal, colonial territories on the African continent, made the international slave trade illegal. In Senegambia, between 1300 and 1900, close to one-third of the population was enslaved, in early Islamic states of the Western Sudan, including Ghana, Mali, Segou, and Songhai, about a third of the population was enslaved. In Sierra Leone in the 19th century about half of the population consisted of slaves. In the 19th century at least half the population was enslaved among the Duala of the Cameroon, the Igbo and other peoples of the lower Niger, the Kongo, among the Ashanti and Yoruba a third of the population consisted of slaves. The population of the Kanem was about a third slave and it was perhaps 40% in Bornu. Between 1750 and 1900 from one- to two-thirds of the population of the Fulani jihad states consisted of slaves. The population of the Sokoto caliphate formed by Hausas in northern Nigeria and it is estimated that up to 90% of the population of Arab-Swahili Zanzibar was enslaved. Roughly half the population of Madagascar was enslaved, the Anti-Slavery Society estimated that there were 2,000,000 slaves in the early 1930s Ethiopia, out of an estimated population of between 8 and 16 million
21.
Samuel Ajayi Crowther
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Samuel Ajayi Crowther was a linguist and the first African Anglican bishop in Nigeria. Born in Osogun, Crowther was a Yoruba who also identified with Sierra Leones ascendant Creole ethnic group, ajayis mother was a descendant of King Abiodun. While in Sierra Leone Crowther was cared for by the Anglican Church Missionary Society and was taught English. On the 11th of December 1825 he had a rebirth by baptism and he named himself after the vicar of Christ Church, Newgate, London - Samuel Crowther, Ajayi was baptized by John Raban. While in Freetown, Crowther became interested in languages, in 1826 he was taken to England to attend St Marys Church in Islington and the churchs school. After completing his studies he began teaching at the school and he married a schoolmistress, Asano, baptised Susan. She was also rescued from the Portuguese slave ship that originally brought Crowther to Sierra Leone and their several children included Dandeson Coates Crowther, archdeacon of the Niger Delta. Crowther was father-in-law to Thomas Babington Macaulay, a junior associate, Crowthers grandson Herbert Macaulay became one of the first Nigerian nationalists and played an important role in ending British colonial rule in Nigeria. Crowther was also an associate and friend of Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies. Both men collaborated on a couple of Lagos social initiatives such as the opening of The Academy on October 24,1866 with Crowther as the 1st patron, Crowther was selected to accompany the missionary James Schön on the Niger expedition of 1841. Together with Schön, he was expected to learn Hausa for use on the expedition, the goal of the expedition was to spread commerce, teach agricultural techniques, spread Christianity, and help end the slave trade. Following the expedition, Crowther was recalled to England, where he was trained as a minister and this after Schön had written to the Church Missionary Society noting Crowthers usefulness and ability on the expedition, recommending them to prepare him for ordination. He returned to Africa in 1843 and with Henry Townsend, opened a mission in Abeokuta, in todays Ogun State, Crowther began translating the Bible into the Yoruba language and compiling a Yoruba dictionary. In 1843, a book which he started working on during the Niger expedition was published. Crowther also compiled A vocabulary of the Yoruba language, including a number of local proverbs. He also began codifying other languages and he later received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Oxford. Crowther was on the island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean west of Morocco for a conference and he was accompanied by his son, Dandeson, an archdeacon, on church business in March 1881. Crowther is celebrated with a feast on the calendar of some Anglican churches, including the Episcopal Church
22.
James Ormiston McWilliam
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James Ormiston McWilliam was a Scottish naval surgeon, physician and writer on infectious diseases, best known as medical officer to the 1841 Niger expedition. Brought up in Dalkeith, McWilliam became a licentiate of the Edinburgh College of Surgeons in 1827, after serving abroad in this capacity for seven years, he was appointed surgeon to HMS Scout on the west coast of Africa. McWilliam returned to England in November 1839, and attended the London medical schools and hospitals, the Albert and two other vessels left England on 12 May 1841, and entered the Niger on 18 August. On 4 September a malignant fever broke out in the Albert, the latter were sent back to sea filled with the sick and dying, leaving the Albert to continue the voyage alone. By 4 October the Albert had also turned back, and was managed for some days by McWilliam and William Stanger, in ten days they reached the open sea. A few days later McWilliam himself was taken ill, out of 145 Europeans who took part in the expedition 130 went down with fever and 40 died, but among 158 Africans there were only 11 cases of fever and 1 death. McWilliam reached England on 19 November 1841, in 1847 he was appointed medical officer to the custom house, a post he retained till his death. In 1848 McWilliam was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, in 1858 he became Companion of the Order of the Bath and he was a member of the Epidemiological Society, and for several years acted as secretary. He was also one of the secretaries to the section of the International Statistical Congress held in London in 1860. He worked to ensure that medical officers obtained the official recognition of their rights. McWilliam died,4 May 1862, from the effects of a fall in his own home, No.14 Trinity Square and he left a widow and several children. McWilliams Journal of Practice from HMS Scout, in 1843 he brought out Medical History of the Niger Expedition, which was well received. McWilliams report which established that yellow fever had been imported into Boa Vista by the Eclair, was presented to parliament and he contributed to medical and other journals, and also wrote, Remarks on Dr. Gilbert Kings Report on the Fever at Boa Vista,1848. Exposition of the Case of the Assistant-Surgeons of the Royal Navy, further Observations on that portion of Second Report on Quarantine by General Board of Health which relates to Yellow Fever Epidemic on board H. M. S. Eclair, and at Boa Vista,1852, on the Health of Merchant Seamen. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Lee, Sidney, ed. McWilliam
23.
William Stanger (surveyor)
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William Stanger was best known as a surveyor-general in South Africa, but was also a geologist, botanist and medical doctor. He was the son of Willam Stanger and Mary Dent and he studied medicine and natural science at Edinburgh University, and after returning from a trip to Australia and New Zealand, ran a practice in London for some time. William Stanger took part as geologist and doctor in the ill-fated 1841 British expedition to the Niger, three vessels steamed about 320 miles up the Niger and Chadda. We found her in a worse state than the Wilberforce, all hands down with fever but for Drs MWilliam, Stanger, a gentleman, a marine, the boatswains mate. Captain Trotter very weak, Captain Bird Allen very low, no engineers and we sent our head engineer on board, and the Albert followed the Æthiope to the coast. Captain Becroft then went on board the Albert, and took her to Fernando Po. - The Times,27 January 1842 And from the report of Captain Trotter, Stanger arrived in poor health in the Cape in 1843. He came highly commended by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in 1845 he was appointed surveyor-general in Natal. One of Stangers first tasks was fixing Natals exact boundary and mapping its main geographical features, following on this he carried out a survey of Durban, Pietermaritzburg and smaller villages, and planned the route of the main road between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. According to an obituary in the The Lancet, Stanger suffered a death as a consequence of the so-called hydropathic treatment. A horseback ride from Pietermaritzburg to Port Natal had exhausted him, the next day inflammation of the lungs took place, which carried him off in one week. Sutherland and named after his late predecessor, the town of Stanger, now known as KwaDukuza on the north coast of Kwazulu-Natal was named after him. William Stanger is commemorated in the name of a species of lizard. William Stanger married on 22 September 1842 in Lowestoft, Sarah Hursthouse, daughter of Charles Hursthouse and Mary Jecks
24.
William Jackson Hooker
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Sir William Jackson Hooker KH FRS FRSE FLS was an English systematic botanist and organiser, and botanical illustrator. He held the post of Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University and he enjoyed the friendship and support of Sir Joseph Banks for his exploring, collecting and organising work. His son, Joseph Dalton Hooker, succeeded him to the Directorship of Kew Gardens and he was educated at Norwich School and afterwards took up as a recreation the study of natural history, especially ornithology and entomology. He subsequently confined his attention to botany, on the recommendation of Sir James Edward Smith, Hooker inherited enough money to be able to travel at his own expense. His first botanical expedition—at the suggestion of Sir Joseph Banks—was to Iceland, the specimens he collected, along with his notes and drawings, were destroyed by fire on the homeward voyage, an incident in which he nearly lost his life. His good memory, however, aided him to publish an account of the island, settling at Halesworth, Suffolk, he devoted himself to the formation of his herbarium, which became of worldwide renown among botanists. In 1816 the British Jungermanniae, his first scientific work, was published, in 1820 he accepted the regius professorship of botany in the University of Glasgow where he soon became popular as a lecturer, his style was both clear and ready. The following year he brought out the Flora Scotica, in which the method of arrangement of British plants was given with the artificial. He worked with the Glasgow botanist and lithographer Thomas Hopkirk to establish the Royal Botanic Institution of Glasgow and to lay out and develop the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. In 1815, he was made a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts, Hooker succeeded in convincing the British government that botanists should be appointed to their expeditions. While his works were in progress his herbarium received large and valuable additions from all parts of the globe, and his position as a botanist was thus vastly improved. He was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order and a Knight Bachelor in 1836, under his direction the gardens expanded from 10 to 75 acres, with an arboretum of 270 acres, many new glass-houses were erected, and a museum of economic botany was established. He was engaged on the Synopsis filicum with John Gilbert Baker when he contracted a throat infection then epidemic at Kew and he died in 1865 and is buried at St. Annes Church, Kew. He was succeeded at Kew Gardens by his son Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, K. Greville British Flora, of which several editions appeared, undertaken with Dr G. A. W. Arnott, &c. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Hooker. Allen, Mea The Hookers of Kew 1795–1911, William Jackson Hooker at Find a Grave Correspondence to William Hooker as Director of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is being made available online through the Directors Correspondence Project
25.
Philip Barker-Webb
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Philip Barker-Webb FRS was an English botanist. Born to a wealthy, aristocratic family, Barker-Webb was educated at Harrow School and Christ Church and he collected plants in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and was the first person to collect in the Tetuan Mountains of Morocco. En route to Brazil he made what was intended to be a visit to the Canary Islands. The results can be seen in the nine-volume LHistoire Naturelle des Iles Canaries, in company with Berthelot, who had lived on the islands for some time, Webb collected specimens on the islands between 1828 and 1830. The text of LHistoire Naturelle des Iles Canaries took 20 years to complete, specialists such as Justin Pierre Marie Macquart wrote appropriate parts. Barker-Webbs herbarium was bequeathed to the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze in Florence, gallica Digitised LHistoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries
26.
Joseph Dalton Hooker
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Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM GCSI CB PRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. He was a founder of botany and Charles Darwins closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, succeeding his father, William Jackson Hooker, Hooker was born in Halesworth, Suffolk, England. From age seven, Hooker attended his fathers lectures at Glasgow University, taking an early interest in plant distribution and he was educated at the Glasgow High School and went on to study medicine at Glasgow University, graduating M. D. in 1839. In 1851 he married Frances Harriet Henslow, daughter of Darwins mentor and they had four sons and three daughters, William Henslow Hooker Harriet Anne Hooker married William Turner Thiselton-Dyer Charles Paget Hooker Maria Elizabeth Hooker died aged 6. Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker Reginald Hawthorn Hooker statistician Grace Ellen Hooker Frances Harriet Henslows contribution to his work included translating French botanical texts which Hooker edited. After his first wifes death in 1874, in 1876 he married Lady Hyacinth Jardine, daughter of William Samuel Symonds and they had two sons, Joseph Symonds Hooker Richard Symonds Hooker. Joseph Hooker died in his sleep at midnight at home, the Camp, Sunningdale in Berkshire, on 10 December 1911 after a short, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey offered a grave near Darwins in the nave but also insisted that Hooker be cremated before. His memorial tablet in the church, with a motif of five plants, was designed by Matilds Smith. Hookers first expedition, led by James Clark Ross, consisted of two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, it was the last major voyage of exploration made entirely under sail, Hooker was the youngest of the 128-man crew. He sailed on the Erebus and was assistant to Robert McCormick, the ships sailed on 30 September 1839. Before journeying to Antarctica they visited Madeira, Tenerife, Santiago and Quail Island in the Cape Verde archipelago, St Paul Rocks, Trinidade east of Brazil, St Helena, and the Cape of Good Hope. Hooker made plant collections at each location and while travelling drew these and specimens of algae, from the Cape they entered the southern ocean. Their first stop was the Crozet Islands where they set down on Possession Island to deliver coffee to sealers and they departed for the Kerguelen Islands where they would spend several days. The expedition spent some time in Hobart, Van Diemens Land, and then moved on to the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island, and onward to Antarctica to locate the South Magnetic Pole. After spending 5 months in the Antarctic they returned to resupply in Hobart, then went on to Sydney, and they left New Zealand to return to Antarctica. They made a landing at Cockburn Island and after leaving the Antarctic, stopped at the Cape, St Helena and Ascension Island. The ships arrived back in England on 4 September 1843, the voyage had been a success for Ross as it was the first to confirm the existence of the southern continent, in 1845, Hooker applied for the Chair of Botany at the University of Edinburgh
27.
George Bentham
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George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterised by Duane Isely as the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century. Bentham was born in Stoke, Plymouth, on 22 September 1800 and his father, Sir Samuel Bentham, a naval architect, was the only brother of Jeremy Bentham to survive into adulthood. George Bentham had neither a school nor a college education, and he also had a remarkable linguistic aptitude. By the age of seven he could speak French, German and Russian and they eventually settled in the neighbourhood of Montpellier where Sir Samuel purchased a large estate. George Bentham became attracted to botanical studies by applying to them his uncles logical methods, while studying at Angoulême he came across a copy of A. P. de Candolles Flore française, and he became interested in the analytical tables for identifying plants. He immediately proceeded to test their use on the first plant he saw, the result was successful and he continued to apply it to every plant he came across. A visit to London in 1823 brought him contact with the brilliant circle of English botanists. In 1826, at the invitation of his uncle, he agreed to act as his secretary, at the same time entering Lincolns Inn. He was called in due time and in 1832 held his first and last brief, however, his interest in botany never flagged and he was secretary of the Horticultural Society of London from 1829 to 1840. In 1832, Jeremy Bentham died, leaving his property to his nephew, having inherited his fathers estate the previous year, he was now in a position of modest independence, and able to pursue wholeheartedly his favourite studies. For a time these were divided between botany, jurisprudence and logic, in addition to editing his fathers professional papers, Bentham married Sarah Jones, daughter of Sir Harford Jones Brydges, on 11 April 1833, they did not have children. Bentham died at his London home of 30 years,25 Wilton Place, on 10 September 1884 and he was laid to rest in Brompton Cemetery. Benthams life spanned the Darwinian revolution and, moreover, his young colleague Joseph Dalton Hooker was Darwins closest friend, Bentham was until then an unquestioning adherent of the dogma of the constancy of species. We can no more set up a typical species than a typical individual, Bentham was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1859 and elected a Fellow in 1862. He served as president of the Linnean Society of London from 1861 to 1874 and he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1866. He was appointed CMG in 1878 and his foreign awards included the Clarke Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1879. It is interesting to notice that in it Bentham adopted the principle from which he never deviated and this was followed by articles on various legal subjects, on codification, in which he disagreed with his uncle, on the laws affecting larceny and on the law of real property. But the most remarkable production of this period was the Outline of a new system of logic, in this the principle of the quantification of the predicate was first explicitly stated
28.
Ansellia
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The plants are found throughout neotropical and subtropical Africa. It was named after John Ansell, an English assistant botanist, who found the first specimens in 1841 on the Fernando Po Island in West Africa. This genus is abbreviated as Aslla in horticultural trade and it is referred to along with Grammatophyllum as a trash basket orchid due to its odd habit of creating a makeshift container of aerial roots to catch falling leaf litter for nutrients. This orchid is native to tropical and southern Africa, found alongside coasts and rivers in the canopy of trees and this is a large, perennial, and epiphyte, or at times a terrestrial plant, growing in sometimes spectacular clumps, attached to the branches of tall trees. The white, needle-like, aerial roots are characteristic for this orchid and they point upwards, taking the form of a trash basket around the tall, many-noded, fusiform, canelike, yellow pseudobulbs, catching the decaying leaves and detritus upon which the plant feeds. These pseudobulbs can develop a size, up to 60 cm long. This robust orchid can grow large, sometimes with an estimated weight over a tonne. Even eagle owls have been seen to make their nest in such a clump, breakdown and absorption of nutrients by the plant from the trash basket is performed by its fungal symbionts and the active absorbing roots. These pseudobulbs carry on their top 6 to 7, narrowly ligulate-lanceolate, acute, plicate and they give rise to a paniculate inflorescence, up to 85 cm long, with many, delicately scented flowers,6 cm across. The three-lobed lip grows into three yellow projections, the tepals are yellow or greenish yellow, lightly or heavily marked with brown spots. The flowers are short-lived, seldom lasting longer than 10 days and these plants are shy to flower in cultivation unless they receive very bright light of around 2000 foot candles and given a dry rest for about 6 weeks in the fall. In habitat, the plants can go periods of months without water, and are very drought tolerant. Plants which are receiving enough light will take on a yellowish coloration in the leaves and this is normal as these plants use CAM photosynthesis. Plants with very green leaves are not receiving enough light, unlike most epiphytic orchids, the roots of this species are not appreciably photosynthetic, are white and pale, and resemble the roots of terrestrial and mycoheterotrophic orchids. When the plants are not getting enough nitrogen, they start growing a trash basket with numerous non-absorbing roots growing upwards. These plants do not produce a trash basket if they are receiving sufficient nitrogen regularly, nilotica Senghas 1990 Ansellia gigantea var. nilotica Summerh. 1937 Ansellia humilis Bulliard 1891 Ansellia nilotica Baker N. E. Brown 1886 Cymbidium sandersoni Harv,1868 Jay Pfahl - The Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia
29.
Charles Dickens
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Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the worlds best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era and his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity, born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors prison. Dickenss literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers, within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the publication of narrative fiction. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audiences reaction, and he modified his plot. For example, when his wifes chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities and his plots were carefully constructed, and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the poor chipped in hapennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up. Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age and his 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also adapted, and, like many of his novels. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London, Dickens has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for his realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of depth, loose writing. The term Dickensian is used to something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, at 1 Mile End Terrace, Landport in Portsea Island and his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office and was temporarily stationed in the district. He asked Christopher Huffam, rigger to His Majestys Navy, gentleman, Huffam is thought to be the inspiration for Paul Dombey, the owner of a shipping company in Dickenss eponymous Dombey and Son. In January 1815 John Dickens was called back to London, when Charles was four, they relocated to Sheerness, and thence to Chatham, Kent, where he spent his formative years until the age of 11. His early life seems to have been idyllic, though he himself a very small. Charles spent time outdoors but also read voraciously, including the novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding, as well as Robinson Crusoe
30.
Bleak House
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Bleak House is one of Charles Dickenss major novels, first published as a serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has characters and several sub-plots, and the story is told partly by the novels heroine, Esther Summerson. At the centre of Bleak House is the legal case, Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Though the legal profession criticised Dickenss satire as exaggerated, this novel helped support a reform movement. There is some debate among scholars as to when Bleak House is set, the English legal historian Sir William Holdsworth sets the action in 1827, however, reference to preparation for the building of a railway in Chapter LV suggests the 1830s. Sir Leicester Dedlock and his wife Lady Honoria live on his estate at Chesney Wold, unknown to Sir Leicester, Lady Dedlock had a lover, Captain Hawdon, before she married – and had a daughter by him. Lady Dedlock believes her daughter is dead, the daughter, Esther, is in fact alive, and being raised by Miss Barbary, Lady Dedlocks sister. Esther does not know Miss Barbary is her aunt, after Miss Barbary dies, John Jarndyce becomes Esthers guardian and assigns the Chancery lawyer Conversation Kenge to take charge of her future. After attending school for six years, Esther moves in with him at Bleak House, Jarndyce simultaneously assumes custody of two other wards, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare. They are beneficiaries in one of the wills at issue in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, their guardian is a beneficiary under another will, and the two wills conflict. Richard and Ada soon fall in love, but though Mr Jarndyce does not oppose the match, Richard first tries a career in medicine, and Esther meets Allan Woodcourt, a physician, at the house of Richards tutor. When Richard mentions the prospect of gaining from the resolution of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, meanwhile, Lady Dedlock is also a beneficiary under one of the wills. Early in the book, while listening to the reading of an affidavit by the solicitor, Mr Tulkinghorn. The sight affects her so much she almost faints, which Tulkinghorn notices and investigates and he traces the copyist, a pauper known only as Nemo, in London. Lady Dedlock is also investigating, disguised as her maid, Mademoiselle Hortense and she pays Jo to take her to Nemos grave. Meanwhile, Tulkinghorn is concerned Lady Dedlocks secret could threaten the interests of Sir Leicester and he also enlists Inspector Bucket to run Jo out of town, so that there are no loose ends that might connect Nemo to the Dedlocks. Esther sees Lady Dedlock at church and talks with her later at Chesney Wold – though neither woman recognises their connection, later, Lady Dedlock does discover that Esther is her child. However Esther has become sick after nursing the homeless boy Jo, Lady Dedlock waits until she has recovered before telling her the truth
31.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
32.
Dictionary of National Biography
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The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885. The updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes and he approached Leslie Stephen, then editor of the Cornhill Magazine, owned by Smith, to become editor. Stephen persuaded Smith that the work should focus on subjects from the UK and its present, an early working title was the Biographia Britannica, the name of an earlier eighteenth-century reference work. The first volume of the Dictionary of National Biography appeared on 1 January 1885, in May 1891 Leslie Stephen resigned and Sidney Lee, Stephens assistant editor from the beginning of the project, succeeded him as editor. While much of the dictionary was written in-house, the DNB also relied on external contributors, by 1900, more than 700 individuals had contributed to the work. Successive volumes appeared quarterly with complete punctuality until midsummer 1900, when the series closed with volume 63, the year of publication, the editor and the range of names in each volume is given below. The supplements brought the work up to the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901. The dictionary was transferred from its original publishers, Smith, Elder & Co. to Oxford University Press in 1917, until 1996, Oxford University Press continued to add further supplements featuring articles on subjects who had died during the twentieth century. The supplements published between 1912 and 1996 added about 6,000 lives of people who died in the century to the 29,120 in the 63 volumes of the original DNB. In 1993 a volume containing missing biographies was published and this had an additional 1,000 lives, selected from over 100,000 suggestions. Consequently, the dictionary was becoming less and less useful as a reference work, in 1966, the University of London published a volume of corrections, cumulated from the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research. There were various versions of the Concise Dictionary of National Biography, the last edition, in three volumes, covered everyone who died before 1986. In the early 1990s Oxford University Press committed itself to overhauling the DNB, the new dictionary would cover British history, broadly defined, up to 31 December 2000. The research project was conceived as a one, with in-house staff co-ordinating the work of nearly 10,000 contributors internationally. Following Matthews death in October 1999, he was succeeded as editor by another Oxford historian, Professor Brian Harrison, in January 2000. The new dictionary, now known as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes in print at a price of £7500, most UK holders of a current library card can access it online free of charge. In subsequent years, the print edition has been able to be obtained new for a lower price. At publication, the 2004 edition had 50,113 biographical articles covering 54,922 lives, a small permanent staff remain in Oxford to update and extend the coverage of the online edition
33.
William Henry Giles Kingston
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William Henry Giles Kingston, often credited as W. H. G. Kingston, was an English writer of boys adventure novels. William Henry Giles Kingston was born in Harley Street, London on 28 February 1814 and he was the eldest son of Lucy Henry Kingston and his wife Frances Sophia Rooke, daughter of Sir Giles Rooke, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Kingstons paternal grandfather John Kingston was a Member of Parliament who staunchly supported the Abolition of the Slave Trade, despite having a plantation in Demerara. His father Lucy entered into the business in Oporto, and Kingston lived there for many years, making frequent voyages to England. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and afterwards entered his fathers wine business and his first book was The Circassian Chief, a story published in 1844. While still living in Oporto, he wrote The Prime Minister, a historical novel and he was afterwards a zealous volunteer and worked actively for the improvement of the condition of seamen. But from 1850, his occupation was writing books for boys, or editing boys annuals. He started the Union Jack, a paper for boys, only a few months before his death and he rewrote Richard Johnsons 1596 book The Seven Champions of Christendom to bring the language into more contemporary English. His writings occupy nine pages and a half of the British Museum Catalogue and they were very popular, his tales were quite innocuous, but most of them proved ephemeral. On 4 August 1853, Kingston married Agnes Kinloch, daughter of Captain Charles Kinloch of the 52nd Light Infantry who had served in the Peninsular War as aide-de-camp to General Sir John Hope, Agnes Kinloch was privately educated, as was the custom of the time. She bore her husband eight children but all died early, Kingstons brother George Kingston was a Canadian professor, meteorologist, author, and public servant. He has been called the father of Canadian Meteorology for successfully promoting and organising one of Canadas first national scientific services, beginning in 1860, Kingston suffered a number of financial reverses resulting from his publishing activities and, by 1868, he was very nearly bankrupt. In fact, he was forced to accept a grant of £50 from the Royal Literary Fund and, the financial troubles continued and resulted in Kingston living as a recluse during the last ten years of his life. Beginning in the 1870s, Kingston entered into a contract with publishers Sampson Low and these are the works for which Kingston is most remembered today. They were all published under his name, but the translations were actually done by his wife Agnes Kinloch Kingston. The Verne books which Mrs. Kingston translated are, The Mysterious Island, Sampson Low et al.3 volumes,1875, reprinted by Scribner, Armstrong, new York,1 volume,1876 Michael Strogoff, Sampson Low et al. Lippincott,1879 Kingston died at his home at 3 Brondesbury Villas, Willesden, Middlesex on 5 August 1880. The cause of death was cited on his certificate as Cancer of Kidney, Time not known
