Intriguing People and their Connections with British History
Intriguing people in British history. In this historic theme we muse upon characters we find intriguing. People whose deeds or words capture our imagination find there way onto our time line. What is really intriguing is seeing the people who we know about disparately but who lived at the same time. Did they know each other, were they friends or foes? Take a look at the timeline to find out more.
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious
Albert Einstein
In this theme we explore individuals who left their mark on history or influenced others. Drawn from a wide sphere Kings, Queens, Princes, Politicians, Reformers, Artists, Scientists, Matchmakers and Lamplighters, Engineers to Philosophers, what makes them do what they do and be who are they?
Intriguing people who sometimes slip through the net of history.
Lt. Colonel Percival Harrison Fawcett born in 1867 was a British artillery officer, archaeologist and South American explorer. Along with his eldest son, he disappeared under unknown circumstances in 1925 during an expedition to find "Z", his name for what he believed to be an ancient lost city in the uncharted jungles of Brazil.
Percival Harrison Fawcett
Some people have been written out of history or not included in the first place, Many influential women, whose influence has changed the course of history are some of the most intriguing. Everyone has their place in history and the voices of rich and poor need to be heard. All are intriguing people, their actions and inaction, their friends and families, colleagues and known associates and even their enemies, detractors and opponents.
Despite our island status, our history, stretches outwards, far and wide across 5 continents.
British Kings and Queens - the Monarchs and their Prime Ministers.
Intriguing People will always be growing as we establish interests, connections and linkages between the lives of these amazing characters and their roles in British History; Aritists, Authors, Architects, Artisans and Women in History. Interactive and searchable lists, articles, timelines and family trees to help you make your own intriguing connections.
Matilda Duchess of Saxony
| Year | Person | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 1147 - 1219 | William Marshall | Politician Knight under King John. |
| 1167 - 1216 | King John King of England who sealed Magna Carta | monarch |
| 1445 - 1527 | Jane Shore | Mistress of King Edward IV |
| 1485 - 1540 | Thomas Cromwell | English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540. Cromwell was one of the strongest and most powerful advocates of the English Reformation |
| 1494- 1536 | William Tyndale | English scholar who became a leading figure in Protestant reform under King Henry VIII until he was executed. He is well known for his translation of the Bible into English |
| 1543 - 1634 | Lettice Knollys | Rival to Queen Elizabeth I, she was Countess of Essex and Countess of Leicester, was an English noblewoman and mother to the courtiers Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Lady Penelope Rich, although via her marriage to Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, she incurred the Queen's unrelenting displeasure |
| 1552 - 1634 | Edward Coke | English barrister and judge who opposed James I and authored the Petition of Right |
| 1561 - 1626 | Francis Bacon | English philosopher and statesman. His works are credited with developing the scientific method, and remained influential through the scientific revolution. |
| 1588 - 1679 | Thomas Hobbes | English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book Leviathan |
| 1617 - 1692 | Elias Ashmole | English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer and student of alchemy. |
| 1623 - 1673 | Margaret Cavendish | English aristocrat, philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction-writer, and playwright |
| 1624 - 1691 | George Fox | Theologian. English dissenter and Founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers) |
| 1632 - 1704 | John Locke | English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism" |
| 1632 - 1723 | Christopher Wren | English anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist, as well as one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. |
| 1644 - 1718 | William Penn Theologian Lawyer | Theologian Lawyer. The son of an admiral and landowner, he was educated in theology and the law. In his twenties he converted to the Quaker religion and was jailed several times for his resistance to the Church of England. In 1681, he received a royal charter to form a new colony in America, to be named Pennsylvania; he envisioned this territory as a peaceful refuge for members of all religious beliefs. |
| 1659 - 1695 | Henry Purcell | English composer. Although incorporating Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, Purcell's legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music |
| 1660 - 1731 | Daniel Defoe | English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe |
| 1660 - 1731 | Daniel Defoe. | Writer, journalist and dissenter. Educated at Newington Green Academy, Defoe is probably best known for his book, Robinson Crusoe. He was however at heart a trader who believed that trade was the most noble, most instructive and improving of anyway of life. He was a man of his time who thought that all hope for Britain's future lay in its ability to trade with the rest of the world. |
| 1666 - 1731 | Mary Astell | English feminist and rhetorician. Her advocacy of equal educational opportunities for women earned her the title, the first English feminist. |
| 1672 - 1719 | Joseph Addison | English essayist, poet and politician who along with Richard Steele founded the spectator. |
| 1689 - 1762 | Mary Wortley Montagu Writer and Social Reformer Aristocrat, writer and social reformer. | Writer Social Reformer |
| 1693 - 1776 | John Harrison | Clock maker and inventor of the marine chronometer for determining longitude. |
| 1697 - 1764 | William Hogarth. | Engraver, painter, satirist and social critic who dared to poke and prod the deepest and darkest aspects of life as he saw it. His series of moral works, The Harlots Progress and The Rakes Progress brought him instant recognition. |
| 1709 - 1784 | Dr Samuel Johnson. | Writer, lexicographer |
| 1716 - 1772 | James Brindley | English engineer who is best known for his work on canal building. |
| 1717 - 1806 | Elizabeth Carter | English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. |
| 1725 - 1795 | Robert Bakewell | English agriculturalist. Recognized as one of the most important people in the Agricultural Revolution. Implemented system of selective breeding. |
| 1728 - 1792 | Robert Adams | Scottish Neoclassical architect. Interior and furniture designer. |
| 1728 - 1809 | Matthew Boulton | Manufacturer and business man. Founder of the Lunar Society. |
| 1728 - 1779 | James Cook | Captain in the Royal Navy, scientist, cartographer and explorer |
| 1731 - 1802 | Erasmus Darwin | One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor and poet. |
| 1737 - 1794 | Edward Gibbon | Historian, writer, Member of Parliament. Author of The History of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. |
| 1743 - 1820 | Joseph Banks | British explorer and naturalist, and one of the great men of his age. As long-time President of the Royal Society he steered the course of British science for the first part of the 19th century. |
| 1746 - 1815 | James Lackington. | Bookseller, trader, author. Bookseller who owned a book shop called the 'Temple of the Muses' and who through selling books cheaply, revolutionised the sale of books and who saw reading as enlightenment. |
| 1748 - 1832 | Jeremy Bentham | Philosopher, social reformer and founder of modern Utilitarianism. |
| 1749 - 1806 | Charlotte Turner Smith | Poet, Novelist whose hard life did not diminish her but seemed to spur her to write. Wordsworth identified her as having an important influence on the Romantic Movement. |
| 1759 - 1833 | William Wilberforce English politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. | Politician Philanthropist |
| 1762 - 1851 | Joanna Baillie | Scottish poet and dramatist. |
| 1770 - 1852 | Sarah Guppy Engineer In 1811 she patented the first of her inventions, a method of making safe piling for bridges. She was a friend of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and gave him and the government advice on the GWR. | Engineer |
| 1775 - 1817 | Jane Austen | English novelist primarily known for her 6 major novels. |
| 1778 - 1818 | Mary Brunton | English naturalist, botanist and patron of the Natural Sciences. |
| 1780 - 1845 | Elizabeth Fry English prison reformer, social reformer and, as a Quaker, a Christian philanthropist | Social Reformer |
| 1781 - 1864 | Lucy Aikin | Engish historical writer, biographer and correspondent. |
| 1788 - 1872 | Samuel Bamford | English radical and writer. |
| 1792 - 1867 | Archibald Alison | Scottish advocate and historian. |
| 1799 - 1847 | Mary Anning Fossil Hunter Dorset fossil dealer and palaeontologist who became famous for her discovery of the first ichthyosaur skeleton. | Scientist |
| 1805 - 1865 | Robert Fitzroy Royal Naval Officer. Captain of HMS Beagle with Darwin. Scientist and meteorologist who created an accurate way of forecasting weather for sailors. | Naval Officer Scientist |
| 1812 - 1870 | Charles Dickens | English writer and social reformer, friend of Florence Nightingale. |
| 1815 - 1852 | Ada Lovelace | English mathematician who worked with Charles Babbage on his early mechanical computer |
| 1819 - 1891 | Joseph Bazalgette | Engineer who built London's sewers and embanked the Thames. |
| 1820 - 1910 | Florence Nightingale | English social reformer, statistician and founder of modern nursing. |
| 1827 - 1912 | Joseph Lister | British surgeon and pioneer of the use of antiseptics in surgery. |
| 1828 - 1906 | Josephine Butler | Feminist and social reformer who was especially concerned with the welfare of prostitutes.She campaigned against child prostitution and against the Contagious Diseases Acts which allowed women suspected of being prostitutes to be forceably examined. She also campaigned on educational issues. |
| 1831 - 1904 | Isabella Bird English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist. She worked with Josephine Butler on various social issues. | Writer Explorer naturalist social reformer |
| 1855 - 1926 | Dorothy Tennant Stanley Victorian neo-classicist painter who married Henry Stanley the explorer. She was also an author. | Writer Painter |
| 1862 - 1900 | Mary Kingsley Writer and Scientist | Ethnographic and Science writer who explored and wrote about Africa among the founders of the Royal African Society. She was the niece of Charles Kingsley the writer. |
| 1871 - 1962 | Ethel Mary Charles | Architect. First woman to be admitted to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1898. |
| 1876 - 1928 | Eglantyne Jebb | Founder of Save the Children Social Reformer |
| 1894 - 1978 | Victoria Drummond First woman marine engineer in Britain | Engineer |
| 1908 - 1964 | Ian Fleming Author of James Bond Novels In WW2 Ian Fleming received a commission in the Royal Navy and worked for British Naval Intelligence. Eventually serving as the assistant to Admiral John Godfrey, the director of Naval Intelligence. He learnt about espionage and after the war became an author, writing the James Bond novels. | Novelist |
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