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Woburn, village, England

(Encyclopedia)Woburn wo͞oˈbərn [key], village, Central Bedfordshire, S central England. It is famous for Woburn Abbey (seat of the dukes of Bedford; see Russell, family), an 18th-century mansion constructed on t...

Motherwell and Wishaw

(Encyclopedia)Motherwell and Wishaw wĭshˈô [key], town (1991 pop. 30,616), North Lanarkshire, S central Scotland. The two parts of the town were united in 1920. Formerly a center of heavy industry (coal and stee...

Trevelyan, George Macaulay

(Encyclopedia)Trevelyan, George Macaulay, 1876–1962, English historian; son of Sir George Otto Trevelyan. Educated at Cambridge, he became professor of modern history there in 1927 and was master of Trinity Colle...

Buchanan, George

(Encyclopedia)Buchanan, George, 1506–82, Scottish humanist. Educated at St. Andrews and Paris, he became (1536) tutor to James V's illegitimate son James Stuart (later earl of Murray). He was imprisoned (1539) fo...

Blanche of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Blanche of Castile bläNsh, kăstēlˈ [key], 1185?–1252, queen of Louis VIII of France and regent during the minority (1226–34) of their son Louis IX. A forceful and capable ruler, she checked th...

Avon, former county, England

(Encyclopedia)Avon, former county, SW England, bordering the Severn estuary and the Bristol Channel. Created in 1974 from S Gloucestershire, Bristol, and N Somerset. it was dissolved in 1996 into four unitary autho...

Ormonde, James Butler, 5th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Ormonde, James Butler, 5th earl of, 1420–61, Irish nobleman. He was knighted in his youth by Henry VI of England and was created earl of Wiltshire in 1449. He succeeded to the earldom of Ormonde in ...

diminishing returns, law of

(Encyclopedia)diminishing returns, law of, in economics, law stating that if one factor of production is increased while the others remain constant, the overall returns will relatively decrease after a certain poin...

Mull of Galloway

(Encyclopedia)Mull of Galloway gălˈəwā [key], headland, 239 ft (73 m) high, Dumfries and Galloway, SW Scotland, the southernmost extremity of Scotland, on the southern tip of the Rhinns of Galloway. ...

Stair, John Dalrymple, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Stair, John Dalrymple, 1st earl of, 1648–1707, Scottish statesman; son of Viscount Stair. He served under James II, but sponsored the accession (1688) of William III in the Scottish Parliament and b...