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Steele, Sir Richard

(Encyclopedia)Steele, Sir Richard, 1672–1729, English essayist and playwright, b. Dublin. After studying at Charterhouse and Oxford, he entered the army in 1694 and rose to the rank of captain by 1700. His first ...

Mackenzie, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Mackenzie, Sir William, 1849–1923, Canadian railroad builder and financier, b. Ontario. In the early 1870s he became a railroad contractor. He constructed portions of the Canadian National and the C...

Tenniel, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Tenniel, Sir John tĕnˈyəl [key], 1820–1914, English caricaturist and illustrator. He became well known for his original and good-humored political cartoons in Punch, with which he was associated ...

Hughes, Sir Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Hughes, Sir Samuel, 1853–1921, Canadian political leader, b. Ontario. A schoolteacher and newspaper editor, he entered the House of Commons in 1892 and held a seat until his death. As minister of mi...

Frobisher, Sir Martin

(Encyclopedia)Frobisher, Sir Martin frōˈbĭshər [key], 1535?–1594, English mariner. He went to sea as a boy, and spent much of his youth in the African trade. He later gained the friendship of Sir Humphrey Gil...

Gobineau, Joseph Arthur, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Gobineau, Joseph Arthur, comte de zhôzĕfˈ ärtürˈ kôNt də gōbēnōˈ [key], 1816–82, French diplomat and man of letters. The chief early French proponent of the theory of Nordic supremacy, h...

Lalande, Joseph Jérôme Lefrançais de

(Encyclopedia)Lalande, Joseph Jérôme Lefrançais de läläNdˈ [key], 1732–1807, French astronomer. Under the direction of the French Academy of Science, he went to Berlin in 1751 to make observations on the p...

Des Barres, Joseph Frederick Wallet

(Encyclopedia)Des Barres or Desbarres, Joseph Frederick Wallet dābärˈ [key], 1721?–1824, British army officer, surveyor, and artist. He was born of French parents (probably in Switzerland), was educated at Bas...

Littleton, Sir Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Littleton, Sir Thomas, 1422?–1481, English jurist. He became a sergeant-at-law, i.e., a barrister, in the Court of Common Pleas in 1453 and a judge in 1466. He is best known for his Tenures, a short...

Saltonstall, Sir Richard

(Encyclopedia)Saltonstall, Sir Richard sôlˈtənstôl [key], 1586–1658, early English colonist in Massachusetts. Of a prominent Yorkshire family (he was knighted in 1618), Saltonstall became a member and was app...