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Coram, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Coram, Thomas kôrˈəm [key], 1668?–1751, English philanthropist and colonizer. He lived for some years in Massachusetts, working as a shipbuilder. On his return to England he became (1732) a trust...

Godfrey, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Godfrey, Thomas, 1736–63, American poet and playwright, b. Philadelphia. The son of Thomas Godfrey, who invented the quadrant, he became apprenticed to a watchmaker after his father's early death. G...

Thomas, Seth

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Seth, 1785–1859, American clock manufacturer, b. Wolcott, Conn. In 1812 he sold his partnership in a clock business established by Eli Terry and set up a factory to make metal-movement clock...

Tickell, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Tickell, Thomas tĭkˈəl [key], 1686–1740, English poet and translator. A contributor of verse to the Spectator, he was a friend of Addison, for whom he wrote a fine elegy (1721). His translation o...

Couture, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Couture, Thomas tômäˈ ko͞otürˈ [key], 1815–79, French academic painter. He was a pupil of Gros and Delaroche. He achieved fame with his vast orgy painting, Romans in the Decadence of the Empir...

Usk, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Usk, Thomas ŭsk [key], d. 1388, English politician and author. He was under-sheriff of London. While in Newgate Prison he wrote Testament of Love, an allegory in prose describing and justifying the p...

Thomas à Kempis

(Encyclopedia)Thomas à Kempis kĕmˈpĭs [key], b. 1379 or 1380, d. 1471, German monk, traditional author of The Imitation of Christ, b. Kempen, Germany. He was schooled at Deventer, in the Netherlands, the center...

Dalyell, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Dalyell or Dalzell, Thomas both: dēĕlˈ, dălˈyəl [key], 1599?–1685, Scottish soldier; also called Dalziel of the Binns. He fought for Charles II at the battle of Worcester (1651), was captured,...

Chalkley, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Chalkley, Thomas chôˈklē [key], 1675–1741, Quaker mariner and missionary preacher, b. England. He made his home after 1701 in Philadelphia. He traded chiefly with the West Indies, navigating his ...

Holcroft, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Holcroft, Thomas hōlˈkrôft [key], 1745–1809, English dramatist and novelist. Sometimes credited with having introduced melodrama to the London stage, he is the author of the sentimental play The ...