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Shore, Jane

(Encyclopedia)Shore, Jane, or Elizabeth Shore, d. 1527?, mistress of Edward IV of England. The wife of William Shore, a goldsmith, she became c.1470 mistress to Edward IV and exerted a great influence over the king...

Godolphin, Sidney Godolphin, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Godolphin, Sidney Godolphin, 1st earl of gədŏlˈfĭn [key], 1645–1712, English statesman. He early established a lasting friendship with John Churchill (later duke of Marlborough), and their polit...

Walpole, Robert, 1st earl of Orford

(Encyclopedia)Walpole, Robert, 1st earl of Orford, 1676–1745, English statesman. Walpole is usually described as the first prime minister of Great Britain, but he was not a prime minister in the modern sense. A...

Rosebery, Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Rosebery, Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th earl of rōzˈbərē [key], 1847–1929, British statesman. He succeeded his grandfather as earl in 1868. A Liberal, Rosebery was undersecretary for home affai...

William IV, king of Great Britain and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)William IV, 1765–1837, king of Great Britain and Ireland (1830–37), third son of George III. He went to sea in 1779, served under Admiral George Rodney in action off Cape St. Vincent (1780), and b...

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

(Encyclopedia)Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, 1803–73, English novelist. The son of Gen. William Bulwer and Elizabeth Lytton, he assumed the name Bulwer-Lytton in 1843 when he inherit...

Baring

(Encyclopedia)Baring bârˈĭng [key], British family of bankers. Sir Francis Baring (1740–1810) founded (1763) the John and Francis Baring Company, which he renamed Baring Brothers and Company in 1806. At first ...

Wellesley, Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess

(Encyclopedia)Wellesley, Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess, 1760–1842, British colonial administrator; brother of Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington. He became earl of Mornington on his father's death ...

Duveen, Joseph, 1st Baron Duveen of Millbank

(Encyclopedia)Duveen, Joseph, 1st Baron Duveen of Millbank dyo͝ovēnˈ, do͞o– [key], 1869–1939, English art dealer, b. Hull. Beginning his career (1886) in his father's antiques firm, Duveen Brothers, he soon...

Rye House Plot

(Encyclopedia)Rye House Plot, 1683, conspiracy to assassinate Charles II of England and his brother James, duke of York (later James II), as they passed by Rumbold's Rye House in Hertfordshire on the road from Newm...