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Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell

(Encyclopedia)Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell fouˈəl [key], 1786–1845, British social reformer. As a member of Parliament (1818–37) he began his reform activities immediately with the publication of An Inquiry Whet...

D'Ewes, Sir Simonds

(Encyclopedia)D'Ewes, Sir Simonds dyo͞oz [key], 1602–50, English antiquarian, b. Coxden. He collected many old manuscripts and made transcriptions of others with the intention of writing a history of England; th...

Canning, Charles John Canning, Earl

(Encyclopedia)Canning, Charles John Canning, Earl, 1812–62, British statesman; third son of George Canning. Succeeding to the peerage conferred on his mother, he took his seat as Viscount Canning in the House of ...

Wren, Sir Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Wren, Sir Christopher, 1632–1723, English architect. A mathematical prodigy, he studied at Oxford. He was professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, from 1657 to 1661, when he became Savilia...

Cecil, Edgar Algernon Robert, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood

(Encyclopedia)Cecil, Edgar Algernon Robert, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, 1864–1958, British statesman, known in his earlier life as Lord Robert Cecil; 3d son of the 3d marquess of Salisbury. A Conservative who...

Grey, Charles Grey, 2d Earl

(Encyclopedia)Grey, Charles Grey, 2d Earl, 1764–1845, British statesman. Elected to Parliament in 1786, he was one of those appointed to manage the impeachment of Warren Hastings. From 1792 he was a leader of the...

Napier, Sir William Francis Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Napier, Sir William Francis Patrick nāˈpēr, nəpērˈ [key], 1785–1860, British general and historian; brother of Sir Charles James Napier. He served in the Peninsular War and wrote a famous and ...

Petition of Right

(Encyclopedia)Petition of Right, 1628, a statement of civil liberties sent by the English Parliament to Charles I. Refusal by Parliament to finance the king's unpopular foreign policy had caused his government to e...

O'Neill, Peter Charles Paire

(Encyclopedia)O'Neill, Peter Charles Paire, 1965–, Papua New Guinea political leader, grad. Univ. of Papua New Guinea, 1986. A businessman before he was first elected to parliament in 2002, he became leader of th...

Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order of the

(Encyclopedia)Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order of the, occult-oriented fraternal organization established by the Freemasons in England (1888), led by S. L. MacGregor Mathers (1854–1917). The order's rituals were deriv...