Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

borough-English

(Encyclopedia)borough-English, a custom of inheritance in parts of England whereby land passed typically to the youngest son in preference to his older brothers. Of Anglo-Saxon origin, the custom was abolished by l...

Rogers, John, English Protestant martyr

(Encyclopedia)Rogers, John, 1500?–1555, English Protestant martyr, grad. Cambridge, 1526. He became a Roman Catholic priest, but under the influence of William Tyndale, whom he met in Antwerp, he turned (1535) to...

Crerar, Thomas Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Crerar, Thomas Alexander, 1876–1975, Canadian political leader. Under his able direction the United Grain Growers, Ltd., of which he was president (1907–29), became one of the most successful farm...

Torrens, Sir Robert Richard

(Encyclopedia)Torrens, Sir Robert Richard tŏrˈənz [key], 1814–84, Australian statesman, b. Ireland. Son of Col. Robert Torrens (1780–1864), one of the founders of South Australia, he went to that colony in 1...

De Quincey, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)De Quincey, Thomas də kwĭnˈsē [key], 1785–1859, English essayist. In 1802 he ran away from school and tramped about the country, eventually settling in London. His family soon found him and ente...

Brooke, Sir James

(Encyclopedia)Brooke, Sir James, 1803–68, rajah of Sarawak on Borneo, b. India, of English parents. After active service in Burma (1825–26), he retired (1830) from the army of the East India Company. He sailed ...

Nast, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Nast, Thomas, 1840–1902, American caricaturist, illustrator, and painter, b. Landau, Germany. He was brought to the United States in 1846. He began his career as a draftsman for Frank Leslie's Illus...

Keltie, Sir John Scott

(Encyclopedia)Keltie, Sir John Scott, 1840–1927, Scottish geographer. He was inspector of geographical education for the Royal Geographic Society, librarian, and secretary of the society. In 1880 he became editor...

Borden, Sir Frederick William

(Encyclopedia)Borden, Sir Frederick William, 1847–1917, Canadian statesman, b. Cornwallis, N.S. He entered (1874) the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal and served (1896–1911) as Wilfrid Laurier's minister ...

Mandeville, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Mandeville, Sir John, 14th-century English author of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Originally written in Norman French, the work became enormously popular and was translated into English, Latin,...