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Vetch, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Vetch, Samuel, 1668–1732, British soldier and colonial administrator, b. Scotland. He settled in Albany, N.Y., in 1699 and became a trader with the Native Americans. Author of a plan to capture Fren...

Rhodes, Cecil John

(Encyclopedia)Rhodes, Cecil John sĕsˈĭl, rōdz [key], 1853–1902, British imperialist and business magnate. A trip in 1875 through the rich territories of Transvaal and Bechuanaland apparently helped to insp...

Porter, David

(Encyclopedia)Porter, David, 1780–1843, American naval officer, b. Boston. Appointed a midshipman in 1798, he served in the West Indies and in the war with Tripoli. In 1803 his ship, the Philadelphia, was capture...

Pinang

(Encyclopedia)Pinang or Penang both: pənăngˈ [key], state (1991 pop. 1,065,075), c.400 sq mi (1,040 sq km), Malaysia, on the Strait of Malacca. It consists of Pulau Pinang (an island of 108 sq mi/280 sq km), for...

Northumberland, Hugh Percy, 2d duke of

(Encyclopedia)Northumberland, Hugh Percy, 2d duke of, 1742–1817, British general. He fought on the Continent in the Seven Years War and, although he disapproved of the war against the colonists in America, served...

Mann, Tom

(Encyclopedia)Mann, Tom, 1856–1941, British labor leader and socialist. He was an organizer of the 1889 London dock strike, which was an important step in the unionization of unskilled English laborers. Secretary...

Ramsay, Sir Bertram Home

(Encyclopedia)Ramsay, Sir Bertram Home, 1883–1945, British admiral. A career naval officer who retired in 1938, he returned to the service in World War II to command British and Allied naval units in some of the ...

National Trust

(Encyclopedia)National Trust, British association to preserve for the nation places of natural beauty or buildings of architectural or historic interest in the British Isles; founded 1894, chartered 1895. By act of...

Tracy, Honor

(Encyclopedia)Tracy, Honor, pseud. of Lilbush Wingfield, 1913–89, British writer, b. Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk. A long-time foreign correspondent, Tracy is best known as a travel writer. Her novels satirize Briti...

Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce

(Encyclopedia)Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce, 1571–1631, English antiquarian. The Cottonian collection of books, manuscripts, coins, and antiquities became a part of the British Museum when it was founded in 1753. Cott...