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Penrose, Sir Roger

(Encyclopedia)Penrose, Sir Roger, 1931–, British mathematical physicist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1958. He taught and conducted research at a number of British and American colleges and universities before becoming a pro...

Winwood, Sir Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Winwood, Sir Ralph, 1563?–1617, English diplomat and statesman. He served as ambassador to France (1601–3) and agent to the States-General of the Netherlands (1603–14). At The Hague he assisted ...

Sidney, Sir Philip

(Encyclopedia)Sidney or Sydney, Sir Philip, 1554–86, English author and courtier. He was one of the leading members of Queen Elizabeth's court and a model of Renaissance chivalry. He served in several diplomatic ...

Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner

(Encyclopedia)Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner, 1822–88, English jurist and historian, educated at Cambridge. A pioneer in the historical and comparative study of institutions, he viewed the history of laws as the m...

Murray, Sir James Augustus Henry

(Encyclopedia)Murray, Sir James Augustus Henry, 1837–1915, English lexicographer. In 1879 he assumed the editorship of the New English Dictionary (the Oxford English Dictionary), which was his life's work (see di...

Cockburn, Sir Alexander James Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Cockburn, Sir Alexander James Edmund, 1802–80, British jurist. He was called to the bar in 1829, and a volume of reports on election cases (1832) brought him into national prominence as a trial lawy...

Fenwick, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Fenwick, Sir John, 1645?–1697, English conspirator. A persistent Jacobite plotter, he was arrested in 1696 for conspiring to murder William III. In his confession he tried to implicate leading Whigs...

Ayckbourn, Sir Alan

(Encyclopedia)Ayckbourn, Sir Alan ākˈbôrn [key], 1939–, English playwright and director, b. London. One of Britain's most successful and prolific dramatists, he had his first play produced in 1959 and since th...

North, Sir Dudley

(Encyclopedia)North, Sir Dudley, 1641–91, English merchant and economist. Agent for the Turkey Company in Constantinople from 1662 to 1680, he returned to England a wealthy man and was commissioner of the customs...

Ayton, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Ayton or Aytoun, Sir Robert both: āˈtən [key], 1570–1638, English poet and courtier. He was private secretary to the queens of James I and Charles I, besides holding other posts of honor. He wrot...