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B Gratz Brown was an American politician. He was a Liberal Republican governor of Missouri from 1871 until 1873.
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B K Henagan was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of South Carolina during 1840.
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Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth) was an American baseball player. He was born in 1895 and died in 1948. He started his career as a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox, but is best known for his batting, regularly driving balls out of the park, and in 1919 set a home run record of 29 which he broke in 1920 with 54 when playing for the New York Yankees. In 1927 he set another season record of 60 home runs. By the time he retired in 1935 he had set a record of 714 home runs, which stood until it was beaten in 1974 by Hank Aaron.
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Baber was the founder of the Mogul dynasty which ruled northern India for 300 years. He was born in 1483 and died in 1530. He was a grandson of the great Tartar prince Timur or Tamerlane, and was sovereign of Kabul. He several times invaded Hindustan, and in 1525 finally overthrew and killed Sultan Ibrahim, the last Hindu emperor of the Patan or Afghan race. He made many improvements, social and political, in his empire, and left a valuable autobiography.
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The Babi are a Persian religious sect formed in 1843 by Bab Ed Din.
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Babrius was a Greek poet who lived during the second or third century of the Christian era. He wrote a number of AEsopian fables. Several versions of these made during the middle ages have come down to us as AEsop's fables. In 1840 a manuscript containing 120 fables by Babrius, previously unknown, was discovered on Mount Athos.
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Babur was the first Mogul Emperor of India. He was born in 1483 at Ferghana, Central Asia and died in 1530. He was born into a princely family of mixed Mongol and Turkish blood. Failure to recover his father's lands caused him to turn reluctantly south-east, for India seemed to present the last hope for his ambitions. Defeat of Ibrahim Lodi, the Afghan ruler of Delhi, at the battle of Panipat in 1526 initiated 200 years of strong Mogul rule in India. Having conquered much of northern India,
Babur ruled by force, lacking any civil administration. In addition to his military genius, he possessed a love of learning and wrote his own memoirs.
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Bacchylides was a Greek lyrical poet. He was born about the middle of the 5th century BC at the island of Cos. He was a nephew of Simonides and a contemporary of Pindar.
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Baccio Bandinelli was Italian sculptor. He was born in 1493 at Florence and died in 1560. He was jealous of and strove to rival Michaelangelo. Among his works are a Hercules and Cacus, the dead body of Christ held up by an angel, Adam and Eve, etc.
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Baccio D'Agnolo was a Florentine wood-carver, sculptor, and architect. He was born in 1460 and died in 1543. He designed some of the finest palaces, etc, in Florence, such as the Villa Borghese, the Palais Bartolini, etc.
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Bachelor was a term applied anciently to a person in the first or probationary stage of knighthood who has not yet raised his standard in the field. The term also denotes a person who has taken the first degree in the liberal arts and sciences, or in divinity, law, or medicine, at a college or university; or a man of any age who has not been married.
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The Baganda are a group of settled farmers in Uganda. They constituted a kingdom in the 19th century, in which the king was seen as the supreme ruler who exercised his power through a system of district chiefs. The Baganda consist of fifty exogamous clans, each distinguished by totemic symbols. Originally practitioners of a form of ancestor worship, they are now predominantly Christian.
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The Baggara are a Muslim Bedouin people of the Nile Basin.
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Baha'dur Shah was the last of the Grand Moguls of India. A descendant of Tamerlane, in 1857, during the Indian mutiny, the Muslims who wished to restore the empire of the Moguls placed him, then a very old man, at the head of the movement in Delhi, but the city was soon retaken by the British, and the emperor was banished to Rangoon, where he died in 1862.
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The Bahmani were a dynasty of sultans of the Deccan plateau in central India from 1347 to 1518. The dynasty was founded by Ala-ud-din Bahman Shah, who in 1347 rebelled against his Delhi suzerain. His successors expanded over the west-central Deccan, reaching a peak in the late 15th century under Mahmud Gawan, who successfully held encroaching Hindu and Muslim powers at bay. During the early 16th century the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar to the south expanded at the Bahmanis' expense, and between 1490 and 1518 the sultanate gradually dissolved into five successor Muslim states, Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda, Berar, and Bidar.
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Bajazet I (Bayasid I) was a Turkish emperor. In 1389, having strangled his brother Jacob, succeeded his father Murad or Amurath, who fell in the battle of Cassova against the Serbians. From the rapidity of his conquests he received the name of Ilderim, the Lightning. In three years he subjected Bulgaria, part of Serbia, Macedonia, Thessaly, and the states of Asia Minor, and besieged Constantinople (Istanbul) for ten years, defeating Sigismund and the allied Hungarians, Poles, and French, in 1395. The attack of Timur (Tamerlane) on Natolia, in 1400, saved the Greek Empire, Bajazet being defeated and taken prisoner by him near Ancyra, Galatia, 1402. The story of his being carried about in a cage by Timur is improbable; but Bajazet died in 1409, in Timur's camp, in Caramania. His successor was Soilman I.
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Bajazet II was a Turkish emperor, He succeeded his father, Mohammed II, as sultan of the Turks, in 1481. He increased the Turkish Empire by conquests on the north-west and in the east took Lepanto, Modon, and Durazzo in a war against the Venetians, and ravaged the coasts of the Christian states on the Mediterranean, to revenge the expulsion of the Moors from Spain. Having abdicated in favour of his younger son Selim he died on his way to a residence near Adrianople in 1513. He did much for the improvement of his empire and the promotion of the sciences.
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The Bakalahari are a Bechuana tribe inhabiting the Kalahari Desert, South Africa.
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A baker is a person who manufacturers bread.
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Bal Gangadhar Tilak was an Indian patriot. He was born in 1856 at Batnagiri and died in 1920. Born of the Brahman caste of Chitpavans, he was educated at the Deccan college, became a lawyer and in 1880 founded two newspapers, The Mahratta, printed in English and The Kesari printed in a local language. From his newspapers he attacked British occupation of India and appealed for independence. He was imprisoned by the British for sedition, and in 1908 following violent resistance among his supporters to the British occupation, he was sentenced to six years' transportation. In 1918 he went to Britain to prosecute his action against Sir Valentine Chirol claiming defamation contained in articles written by Chirol.
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Baldassare Castiglione was an Italian writer. He was born in 1478 and died in 1529. Among his works the Libro del Cortegiano (Book of the Courtier) is the most celebrated. His letters are valuable contributions to political and literary history.
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Baldred was king of the Heptarchy in 805. He was killed by Egbert, king of Wessex in 823 who took over the kingdom of Heptarchy.
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Baldwin I was Emperor of Constantinople. He was born in 1172 and died in 1206. He was the founder of the short-lived dynasty of Latin sovereigns of the Eastern empire, and was hereditary Count of Flanders and Hainault. His courage and conduct in the fourth crusade led to his unanimous election as Emperor of the East after the capture of Constantinople by the French and Venetians in 1204. In the absence of Baldwin's brother with a large part of the army, the Greeks rose in revolt under the instigation of Joannices, King of Bulgaria. Baldwin marched on Adrianople, but was taken prisoner and died in captivity. Baldwin was succeeded by his brother Henry.
Baldwin I was the first Latin king of Jerusalem. He was born in 1058 and died in 1118. Having taken part in the first crusade with his eldest brother, Godfrey of Boulogne, he succeeded on the death of Godfrey to the government of Jerusalem in 1100.
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Baldwin II was the fifth and last Latin Emperor of Constantinople. He was born in 1217 and died in 1270. During his minority John of Brienne was regent, but on his assuming the power himself the empire fell to pieces. In 1261 Constantinople was taken by the forces of Michael Palaeologus, and Baldwin retired to Italy.
Baldwin II was king of Jersualem. He was the cousin and successor of Baldwin I, king of Jersualem, and reigned from 1118 until 1131. During his reign the reduction of Tyre and institution of the order of Templars took place.
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Baldwin III was King of Jerusalem from 1143 to 1162. He was son and successor of Foulques of Anjou, and the embodiment of the best aspects of chivalry. After defeating Noureddin in 1152, and again in 1157, he was enabled to devote himself to the hopeless task of improving the kingdom and establishing the Christian chivalry in the East. His death in 1162 was almost immediately followed by the total collapse of the kingdom.
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Balfour Stewart was a Scottish physicist. He was born in 1828 at Edinburgh and died in 1887. He was educated at St Andrews and Edinburgh. He went to Australia for several years and on his return was appointed successively assistant to Professor Forbes in Edinburgh, director of Kew Observatory, and professor of physics in Owen's College, Manchester. He wrote numerous books.
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The Bambara are a Negroid people of west Africa living chiefly in Mali and by the headwaters of the River Niger in Guinea.
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The Bamessing are a tribe of Cameroon.
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The Bamum (Mum, Mom) are a sedentary people of West Africa centred around Foumban in Cameroon. They are primarily farmers, who conduct a little fishing and less hunting, growing chiefly maize, millet, cassava and sweet potatoes.
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The term bandit,from the Italian bandito, originally meant an exile, banished man, or outlaw, and hence, as persons outlawed frequently adopted the profession of brigand or highwayman, the word came to be synonymous with brigand, and was around the late 19th century applied to members of the organized gangs which then infested some districts of Italy, Sicily, Spain, Greece, and Turkey.
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The Bania are a Hindu caste of traders (Vishnuites). They are vegetarian and distinguished by thrift and commercial acumen.
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A Banian, or Banyan is an Indian trader or merchant, one engaged in commerce generally, but more particularly one of the great traders of Western India, as in the seaports who traditionally carried on a large trade by means of caravans with the interior of Asia, and with Africa by vessels. They form a class of the Vaisya caste, wear a peculiar dress, and are strict in the observance of fasts and in abstaining from the use of flesh. Hence the term - Banian days which were days in which sailors in the navy had no flesh meat served out to them. Banian days were abolished before the start of the 20th century , but the term is still applied to days of poor fare.
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Sir Bannastre Tarleton was a British soldier. He was born in 1754 and died in 1833. A colonel, he went to America from England with Charles Cornwallis in 1776. He engaged in Colonel Harcourt's raid upon Baskingridge, New Jersey. In 1779 he organized the British Legion, or Tarleton's Legion, in South Carolina, with which he conducted partisan warfare. He slaughtered Colonel Buford's regiment at Waxhaw Creek and fought bravely at Camden and Fishing Creek. He was defeated at Blackstock Hill by General Sumter and his force was almost annihilated at Cowpens by General Morgan. He surrendered with Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown. He wrote 'A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America'.
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A banneret is a dignity between baron and knight, which was anciently conferred by the king under the royal standard on the field of battle, a knight being so made as a reward for bravery, with the ceremony of cutting off the point of his pennon and making it into a banner.
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The Bantu are a wide-spread race in south Africa, which includes the Zulu, Matabele, Damaras and Mashonas. They were nicknamed Kaffirs (unbelievers) by Islamic traders to south Africa.
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The Banyarwanda are an indigenous people of Rwanda.
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Baptiate Honore Raymond Capefigue was a French historian and biographer. He was born in 1801 and died in 1872. He held various journalistic posts in connection with the Temps, the Messager, etc, his royalist articles winning him a temporary appointment in the foreign office under the Bourbons. His numerous works include biographies and histories extending over the whole field of French history from the time of Hugh Capet to that of the Empire.
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The Barabinzians were an uncultivated tribe of Tartars, living on the banks of the river Irtish, and subsisting chiefly on the produce of their herds and on fish supplied by the lakes of the Baraba steppe.
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Barbara Roberts was an American politician. She was a Democratic governor of Oregon from 1991 until 1995.
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A barber is someone who shaves and cuts the hair of a client for business. In England, a barber was formerly also a surgeon, and they were called Barber-Surgeons. A London company of barbers was formed in 1308. The union of barbers and surgeons was dissolved in 1540 by an act of Henry VIII which stated that; 'No person using any shaving or barbery in London shall occupy any surgery, letting of blood, or other matter, except only drawing of teeth.' And that the surgeons were not to shave or practise 'barbery,' and the barbers were to perform no higher surgical operation than blood-letting and tooth-drawing. This continued until the time of George II. The signs of the old profession - the pole which the patient grasped, its spiral decoration in imitation of the bandage, and the basin to catch the blood - are still sometimes retained. The barbers' shops, always notorious for gossip, were in some measure the news-centres of classic and mediaeval times.
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A bard was a Celtic poet.
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The Bari are a negro people of Africa, dwelling on both sides of the White Nile. They traditionally practise agriculture, cattle-rearing, smith work, etc. Their country was conquered by Baker for Egypt.
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The Barnabites were an order of monks established in Milan about 1530 who were much engaged in instructing youth, relieving the sick and aged, and converting heretics. A few monasteries of the order still existed in France and Italy at the start of the 20th century.
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The Barnburners were a mid-19th century faction of the American Democratic Party in New York State, so called from an alleged eagerness for radical measures, in allusion to the story of the Dutchman who burned down his barn in order to clear it of rats. The election of Polk in 1844 resulted in a split of the Democratic party in New York into two factions, the Barnburners, representing the Van Buren wing and opposing the extension of slavery in the territories, and the Hunkers, representing the administration and its views. In 1848 at the democratic National Convention there were contesting delegations from New York representing the two factions. Unable to secure complete recognition, the Barnburners joined in the Free-Soil Convention, voted for Van Buren, and in so doing helped to elect Taylor. The breach between the Barnburners and the Hunkers had more or less healed by 1852.
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Barnet Newman was an American painter. He was born in 1905 and died in 1970. He was a founder of Abstract Expressionism.
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Barnett Barnato was an Anglo-Jewish diamond merchant. He was born in 1852 at London and died in 1897 apparently committing suicide by jumping overboard of a ship. He went to South Africa and built a large diamond trading firm, before merging with the De Beers firm in 1888.
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Barney Oldfield (real name Berna Eli Oldfield) was an American racing driver. He was the first person to travel one mile in one minute.
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Baron is the lowest but oldest rank of nobility in Britain. The title seems to have been used first to describe men who held grants of land direct from the Crown. By the reign of Edward I 'barony by tenure' was becoming obsolete and the title became confined to the great landowners who were summoned by the king's writ as barons to attend the Great Council, the nucleus of Parliament. In 1387 the first barony by letters patent was created, but baronies still continued to be created by writ until 1607. The only form of creation nowadays is by letters patent, although there are still some barons who hold their rank hereditarily by writ. The baron's mantle has only two bars of ermine, and his coronet has six large silver balls fixed to a silver circlet.
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Baron de Kalb (real name Johann Kalb) was a French spy. He was born in 1731 and died in 1780. He visited America as a secret agent of the French Government in 1768. He was encouraged by Franklin and Silas Deane to join the Continental army, and accompanied Lafayette to the United States in 1777. He was appointed major-general and served under George Washington in New Jersey and Maryland. In 1780 he was despatched to South Carolina in command of the Delaware and Maryland troops. At Camden his troops defeated the opposing British force, but were subsequently surrounded and DeKalb was mortally wounded.
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Baron Munchhausen was a German soldier. He was born in 1720 and died in 1797. He is remembered for telling exaggerated tales about his adventures during the campaigns he served in. He is the feature of a book, The adventures of
Baron Munchhausen written by Rudolph Raspe in 1785.
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Baroness Emmusca Orczy was a Hungarian born novelist. She was born in 1865 and died in 1947. She is remembered for writing 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', which she wrote in 1905.
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Baronet is the first in rank among the gentry, and the only knighthood that is hereditary. They were instituted by James I in 1611 as a result of the rebellion in Ulster, it being required of a baronet on his creation, to pay into the exchequer as much as would maintain 'thirty soldiers three years at eight pence a day in the province of Ulster in Ireland.' It was also required that a baronet should be a gentleman born, and have a clear estate of 1000 pounds per annum.
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The Barrowists were a religious sect following the teachings of Henry Barrows, a church reformer of the late 16th century who advocated church government by elders, and freedom of religious thought within certain limits. The Congregational Church of New England developed from the Barrowists.
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Barry Humphries is an Australian entertainer, aesthete and novelist. He was born in 1934. He is perhaps best known for his stage alter-ego 'Dame Edna Everage'.
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Barry Pain was an English journalist and humours author. He was born in 1867 and died in 1928. He became editor of 'To-day' in 1897. Thomas Pain was an English author and agitator. He was born in 1737 and died in 1809. He published 'Common Sense' in 1776 which advocated American Independence.
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Barry Saint Leger was a British soldier. He was born in 1737 and died in 1789. He wemt to America as a soldier in 1757. He commanded a company at Louisbourg in 1758 and served under Wolfe at Quebec in 1759. He commanded the British expedition against Fort Stanwix and distinguished himself by his strategy at Oriskany. From 1780 to 1781 he conducted a guerilla warfare, with headquarters at Montreal.
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Barry Sheene was an English motorcycle racer. He was born in 1950 at London and died in 2003 of throat cancer. He was 500cc world champion in 1976 and 1977, riding for Suzuki, though he was perhaps best loved for his natural good looks, charm and survivability, enduring horrendous crashes during his career. In 1978 he was awarded the MBE . After suffering a terrible crash in 1982 (he smashed into a bike lying across the Silverstone track during a British Grand Prix practice) in which both his legs were rebuilt with metal pins and plates, he retired from motorcycle racing in 1984 and moved to Australia where he became a television star - though he returned to win the Jester International Classic race on a Molnar FWD Manx at Donnington park, England in July 2001.
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Barthel Beham was a German engraver and painter. He was born in 1498 at Nurnberg and died in 1540. he was a pupil of Durer. A picture by him in the Pinakothek at Munich ranks among the master-pieces of the old German school.
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Bartolome Esteban Murillo was a Spanish painter. He was born in 1617 at Seville and died in 1682.
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Bartolomeo Ammanati was an Italian sculptor and architect. He was born in 1511 at Florence and died in 1589. He executed the Leda at Florence, a gigantic Neptune for St Mark's Place at Venice, a colossal Hercules at Padua, and built the celebrated Trinity Bridge at Florence.
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Bartolomeo Campagnoli was an Italian violinist. He was born in 1751 and died in 1827. He was a pupil and imitator of Nardini and attained celebrity status in his day by his marvellous technique.
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Count Bartolommeo Borghesi was an Italian archaeologist and numismatist. He was born in 1781 at Savignano and died in 1860. He catalogued the Vatican collection of coins.
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Bartolommeo Suardi ('Bramantino') was an Italian painter, architect and military engineer. He was born in 1455 at Milan and died in 1535. He worked a great deal in Milan, and was also at one time employed by Pope Julius II.
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Baruch De Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher. He was born in 1632 at Amsterdam and died in 1677. At first a student of theology, his unorthodox ideas caused him to be excommunicated and an attempt made to kill him. As a result he left Amsterdam and devoted himself to philosophy, declining an offer of a professorship at Heidelberg lest it interfere with his studies, and instead earned a living polishing lenses.
His philosophy is based upon that of Descartes, but set forth according to a rigorously geometrical method. His most important work was entitled 'Ethics', a form of pantheism. In it he starts from the definition of substance as that which is in itself and is conceived by itself, he argues that there is only one substance - God, the absolutely infinite. This infinite substance he argues possesses infinite attributes, of which we only know two, thought and extension. Spinoza further argued that each of these attributes carries with it an infinity of modes; the totality of these modes is the world. By attribute he meant that which constitutes the essence of substance; by mode that which is in something else by which also it is conceived.
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Barzilla W Clark was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Idaho from 1937 until 1939.
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The Bashkirs are a tribe of Finnish or of Tatar origin, inhabiting the Russian governments of Ufa, Orenburg, Perm, and Samara. They formerly roamed about under their own princes in Southern Siberia, but in 1556 they voluntarily placed themselves under the Russian sceptre. They are nominally Islamic, and traditionally lived by hunting, cattle-rearing, breeding of cattle and horses, and keeping of bees.
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Basil I 'the Macedonian' was a Byzantine Emperor and founder of the Macedonian Dynasty. He was born in Thrace and died in 886. He was emperor from 867 to 886, at first jointly with Michael III but assassinated him in 868.
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Basil II was a Byzantine Emperor. He was born in 958 and died in 1025. He became emperor in 976 and waged a 15-year war against the Bulgarians which culminated in his victory in the Belasica mountains, after which he had thousands of prisoners blinded and sent back to Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria who died of shock in 1015, Bulgaria being annexed to the Byzantine empire in 1018.
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The Basques or Biscayans (properly the Euscaldunac) are an ancient people of the Pyrenees of south-west France and northern Spain. They are probably descendants of the ancient Iberi, who occupied Spain before the Celts. They preserve their ancient language, former manners, and national dances, and even in the 19th century were renowned for making admirable soldiers, especially in guerrilla warfare. Their language is highly polysynthetic, and no connection between it and any other language has as yet been made out. There are four principal dialects, which are not only distinguished by their pronunciation and grammatical structure, but differ even in their vocabularies.Legend tells that the Basques visited America prior to Christopher Columbus in pursuit of whales and fish. During the 20th century an independence movement formed in northern Spain seeking independence from Spain for the Basque people, the campaign being often punctuated by terrorist attacks directed at the Spanish people.
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A Basselisse tapestry is a kind of tapestry wrought with a horizontal warp.
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The Bastarnae were a warlike tribe in Podolia and Moldavia. They were hired by Perseus, king of Macedon, in his wars with Rome, 168 BC.
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The Batak are six distinct but related peoples of northern and central Sumatra in Indonesia, speaking Austronesian languages. Their ancestors were Proto-Malayan people fairly isolated in the Sumatran highlands until the early 19th century.
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The Batavians were an old German nation which inhabited a part of the present Holland, especially the island called Batavia, formed by that branch of the Rhine which empties itself into the sea near Leyden, together with the Waal and the Meuse. Tacitus asserts them to have been a branch of the Catti. They were subdued by Germanicus, and were granted special privileges for their faithful services to the Romans, but revolted under Vespasian. They were, however, again subjected by Trajan and Adrian, and at the end of the third century the Salian Franks obtained possession of the island of Batavia.
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The Bathori were a Hungarian family, which gave Transylvania five princes, and Poland one of its greatest kings. The more important members were: Stephen born in 1532, elected Prince of Transylvania in 1571, on the death of Zapolya, and in 1575 king of Poland. He accomplished many internal reforms, recovered the Polish territories in possession of the Czar of Muscovy, and reigned prosperously until his death in 1586.
Sigismund, nephew of Stephen, educated by the Jesuits, became waiwode or prince of Transylvania in 1581, shook off the Ottoman yoke, and had begun to give hopes of reigning gloriously when he resigned his dominions to the emperor Rudolph II, in return for two principalities in Silesia, a cardinal's hat, and a pension. Availing himself, however, of an invitation by the Transylvanians, he returned, and placed himself under the protection of the Porte, but was defeated by the Imperialists in every battle, and finally sent to Prague, where he died almost forgotten in 1613.
Elizabeth, niece of Stephen, king of Poland, and wife of Count Nadasdy, of Hungary. She is said to have bathed in the blood of 300 young girls in the hope of renewing her youth, and to have committed other attrocities. She was latterly seized and confined until her death in 1614.
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The Battas are a people belonging to the Malayan race inhabiting the valleys and plateaus of the mountains that extend longitudinally through the island of Sumatra. They traditionally practised agriculture and cattle-rearing, and were skilful in various handicrafts; they also had a written literature and an alphabet of their own, their books treating of astrology, witchcraft, medicine, war, etc. They were traditionally under the rule of hereditary chieftains.
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Batthyanyi is one of the oldest and most celebrated Hungarian families, traceable as far back as the Magyar invasion of Pannonia in the ninth century. Among later bearers of the name have been Count Casimir Batthyanyi, who was associated with Kossuth, was minister of foreign affairs in Hungary during the insurrection of 1849, and who died in Paris 1854.
Count Louis Batthyanyi, born 1809, of another branch of the family, was leader of the opposition in the Hungarian diet until the breaking out of the commotions of 1848, when he took an active part in promoting the national cause; but on the entry of Windischgratz into Pesth he was arrested and shot in 1849.
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The Batwa are a nomad tribe of African pygmies living in the Congo. They were discovered in 1880 by Pogge and Wissmann. The Batwa are renowned for their habit of chipping their teeth to a point for fashion.
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Baxterians were followers of Richard Baxter in respect of his attempted compromise between Calvinism and Arminianism. They rejected the doctrine of reprobation, admited a universal potential salvation, becoming actual in the case of the elect, and asserted the possibility of falling from grace. Exponents of Baxterism were Dr. Watts and Dr. Doddridge.
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Bayaderes is the general European name for the dancing and singing girls of India, some of whom are attached to the service of the Hindu temples, while others travel about and dance at entertainments for hire. Those in the service of the temples are generally devoted to this profession (including that of prostitution) from their childhood.
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Pierre Du Terrail, Seigneur De Bayard was a French knight. He was born in 1476 at Catle Bayard and died in 1524. He was known as chevalier sanspeur et sans reproche (knight without fear and without reproach). At the age of eighteen he accompanied Charles VIII to Italy, and in the battle at Verona took a standard. At the beginning of the reign of Louis XII, in a battle near Milan, he entered the city at the heels of the fugitives, and was taken prisoner, but dismissed by Ludovico Sforza without ransom.
In Apulia he killed his calumniator, Sotomayor, and afterwards defended a bridge over the Garigliano singly against the Spaniards, receiving for this exploit as a coat of arms a porcupine, with the motto Vires agminis unus habet ('one has the strength of a band'). He distinguished himself equally against the Genoese and the Venetians, and, when Julius II declared himself against France, went to the assistance of the Duke of Ferrara.
He was severely wounded at the assault of Brescia, but returned, as soon as cured, to the camp of Gaston de Foix, before Ravenna, and after new exploits was again dangerously wounded in the retreat from Pavia. In the war commenced by Ferdinand the Catholic he displayed the same heroism, and the fatal reverses which embittered the last years of Louis XII only added to the personal glory of Bayard. When Francis I ascended the throne he sent Bayard into Dauphine to open a passage over the Alps and through Piedmont. Prosper Colonna lay in wait for him, but was made prisoner by Bayard, who immediately after further distinguished himself in the battle of Marignano.
After his defence of Mezieres against the invading army of Charles V he was saluted in Paris as the saviour of his country, receiving the honour paid to a prince of the blood. His presence reduced the revolted Genoese to obedience, but failed to prevent the expulsion of the French after the capture of Lodi. In the retreat the safety of the army was committed to Bayard, who, however, was mortally wounded by a stone from a blunderbuss in protecting the passage of the Sesia. He kissed the cross of his sword, confessed to his squire, and died on April the 30th, 1524. He was buried in a church of the Minorites, near Grenoble.
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Bayard Taylor was an American writer. He was born in 1825 at Chester County, Pennsylvania and died in 1878. After being apprenticed to a printer he published a volume of poems and then procured orders for travel articles and set off on a pedestrian tour of Europe. In 1847 he joined the staff of the New York Tribune, travelling as a special correspondent in California, Mexico, Egypt, the Middle East, Syria, India, China, Japan, Greece, Sweden and Russia. In 1871, while spending time in Germany he translated Faust, and in 1878 was for several months American ambassador at Berlin.
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The Bazigars are a tribe of Indians dispersed throughout the whole of Hindustan mostly in wandering tribes. They are divided into seven castes; their chief' occupation is that of jugglers, acrobats, and tumblers, in which both males and females are equally skilful. They present many features analogous to the gypsies of Europe.
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The Bazoche or Basoche were a brotherhood formed by the clerks of the parliament of Paris at the time it ceased to be the grand council of the French king. They had a king, chancellor, and other dignitaries; and certain privileges were granted them by Philip the Fair early in the fourteenth century, as also by subsequent monarchs. They had an annual festival, having as a principal feature dramatic performances in which satirical allusions were freely made to passing events. The representation of these farces or satires was frequently interdicted, but their development had a considerable effect on the dramatic literature of France.
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A beadle was a British parish officer, chosen by the vestry, who acted as a messenger and servant, keeping order in church and punishing petty offenders. The name was also used for a person whose duty it was to bid or cite persons to appear to a summons.
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The Beaker People were formerly thought to be people of Iberian origin who spread out over Europe in the 2nd millennium BC, however, it is now (since about 1990) known that they were in fact an industrialized and highly organised indigenous British stone-age people who built Stonehenge in England. They are called the Beaker People because their remains include earthenware beakers.
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Beatrice Cenci, called the beautiful parricide, was the daughter of Francesco Cenci, a noble and wealthy 16th century Roman, who, according to the common story, after his second marriage, behaved towards the children of his first marriage in the most shocking manner, procured the assassination of two of his sons, on their return from Spain, and sexually abused his youngest daughter Beatrice. She failed in an appeal for protection to the pope, and planned and executed the murder of her father assisted by her step-mother and brother. She was beheaded 1599 along with her accomplices, and the Cenci estates confiscated. She is the alleged subject of an admired painting by Guido, and is the heroine of one of Shelley's most powerful plays.
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Beauford H Jester was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Texas from 1947 until 1949.
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Bebe Buell (real name Beverle Lorence Buell) is an American glamour model. She was born in 1953 at Portsmouth, Virginia. Moving to New York, she started modelling when she was seventeen years old. A fashion model, in 1974 she became the first fashion model to pose nude for Playboy magazine, a contract which resulted in her being discharged by the Ford modelling agency.
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The Bechuanas or Betchuanas are a widely spread race of people inhabiting the central region of South Africa north of the old Cape Colony. They belong to the great Kaffre stem, and are divided into tribal sections. They traditionally live chiefly by husbandry and cattle rearing, and they work with some skill in iron, copper, ivory, and skins. During the 19th century they were led to seek British protection owing to the encroachments of the Boers, and subsequently had their lands taken by the British.
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The Venerable Bede (Beda or Baeda) was an Anglo-Saxon scholar. He was born in 672 or 673 in the neighbourhood of Monkwearmouth, county Durham and died in 735. He was educated at St Peter's monastery, Wearmouth; took deacon's orders in his nineteenth year at St Paul's monastery, Jarrow, and was ordained priest at thirty by John of Beverley, bishop of Hexham.
His life was spent in studious seclusion, the chief events in it being the production of homilies, hymns, lives of saints, commentaries, and works in history, chronology, grammar, etc. He was the most learned Englishman of his day, and in some sense the father of English history, his most important work being his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (or Ecclesiastical History of England), afterwards translated by King Alfred into Anglo-Saxon. Besides his familiarity with Latin, he knew Greek and had some acquaintance with Hebrew.
Most of his writings were on scriptural and ecclesiastical subjects, but he also wrote on chronology, physical science, grammar, etc, and had considerable ability in the writing of Latin verse. An interesting record of his closing days was preserved in a letter by his pupil Cuthbert. After his death his body was after a lapse of time removed from Jarrow church to Durham, but of the shrine which formerly inclosed them only the Latin inscription remains, ending with the verse 'Hac sunt in fossa Bedae venerabilis ossa.'
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Bedrich Smetana was a Czech composer. He was born in 1824 at Litomysl and died in 1884. He opened a music school, with funding from Franz Liszt in 1848, but is best known for composing the 1866 opera 'The Bartered Bride'.
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The beghards or beguards were a religious body which arose in Flanders in the thirteenth century. They disclaimed the authority of princes, and refused to submit unconditionally to the rules of any order, but bound themselves to a life of extreme sanctity without necessarily quitting their secular vocations. They were persecuted in the latter half of the fourteenth century as heretics, and either dispersed or distributed over the Dominican and Franciscan orders.
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The beguines were an order of females, who, without taking the monastic vows, formed societies for devotion and charity, living in houses called beguinages. The order originated, towards the end of the eleventh century, in Germany and the Netherlands, and was very flourishing in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. They still existed in Holland, Belgium, and Germany in 1900, though the modern beguinage was an eleemosynary institution for lodging unmarried women rather than of the old type.
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Bela Bartok was a Hungarian composer. He was born in 1881 and died in 1945.
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Bela I was a king of Hungary. He was a son of Ladislaf, competed for the crown with his brother Andrew, whom he defeated, killed, and succeeded in 1061. He died in 1063, after introducing many reforms.
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Bela II (Bela the Blind) was a king of Hungarey. He mounted the throne in 1131, and after ruling under the evil guidance of his queen, Helena, died from the effects of his vices in 1141.
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Bela III was king of Hungary. He was crowned in 1174, corrected abuses, repelled the Bohemians, Poles, Austrians, and Venetians, and died in 1196.
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Bela IV was king of Hungary. He succeeded his father Andrew II in 1235 and was shortly after defeated by the Tartars and detained prisoner for some time in Austria, where he had sought refuge. In 1244 he regained his throne, with the aid of the knights of Rhodes, and defeated the Austrians, but was in turn beaten by the Bohemians. He died in 1270.
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The Belgae were a collection of German and Celtic tribes who anciently inhabited the country extending between the Marne and Seine and the lower Rhine, and bounded north-west by the sea. Caesar, on his invasion of Britain, found them established also in Kent and Sussex.
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Belisarius or the White Prince, was a Roman soldier. He was born about 505 in Illyria and died in 565. He served in the bodyguard of the emperor, soon after obtained the chief command of an army on the Persian frontiers, and in 530 gained a victory over a superior Persian army. The next year, however, he lost a battle, and was recalled. In the year 532 he checked the disorders in Constantinople arising from the Green and Blue factions; and was then sent with 15,000 men to Africa to recover the territories occupied by the Vandals.
He took Carthage and led Gelimer, the Vandal king, in triumph through Constantinople. Dissensions having arisen in the Ostrogothic kingdom, he was sent to Italy, and though ill supplied with money and troops, stormed Naples, held Rome for a year, took Ravenna, and led captive Vitiges, the Gothic king. He rendered honourable service in later campaigns in Italy and against the Bulgarians, but was accused of conspiracy and flung into prison. He afterwards seems to have recovered his property and dignities, the story of Tzetzes (a twelfth-century monk), that Belisarius wandered about as a blind beggar, being probably an invention. The only weaknesses in the character of Belisarius appear in connection with his profligate wife Antonina, an associate of the Empress Theodora.
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Bellmen were appointed in London to proclaim the hour of the night before public clocks became general, and were numerous around 1556. They were to ring a bell at night and cry, 'Take care of your fire and candle, be charitable to the poor, and pray for the dead.'.
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The Bemba are an African people of northern Zambia.
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Ben Jonson was a British poet and dramatist. He was born in 1573 and died in 1637. He wrote 'Song to Celia'.
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Ben S Paulen was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Kansas from 1925 until 1929.
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Ben W Hooper was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Tennessee from 1911 until 1915.
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Ben W Olcott was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Oregon from 1919 until 1923.
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Bendigo (William Thompson) was a British boxer who won the prize ring championship of England in 1839 though little more than a middleweight. He was born in 1811 and died in 1880.
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Benedict Arnold was an American soldier. He was born in 1741 at Norwich, Connecticut and died in 1801. A druggist, he joined the Colonial army and was appointed a colonel by the Massachusetts Congress when the American War Of Independence broke out. Benedict Arnold served as a volunteer in capture of Ticonderoga, and became famous for his masterly conduct of the right flank in the attack on Canada in 1775, being wounded at the assault on Quebec. Promoted to brigadier-general he was defeated by the British flotilla at Valcour Island in Lake Champlain in October 1776 but managed a skilful retreat. Further promoted to major-general he took part in the Burgoyne Campaign.
He commanded in Philadelphia but was court-martialled on trivial charges and reprimanded by George Washington. Obtaining the charge of West Point he intrigued with Henry Clinton for the betrayal of West Point to the British, but the capture of the negotiator frustrated the scheme and Benedict Arnold escaped to the British who rewarded him with a position of brigadier-general, a sum of money and the chance to make attacks upon Virginia and New London. After the war he went to England and lived out the remainder of his life there. Benedict Arnold is perhaps the most notorious traitor in American history.
Benedict Arnold was an American politician. He was born in 1615 at Rhode Island and died in 1678. He was elected President of Rhode Island in 1657 and under the royal charter of 1663 was its first Governor.
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Benedict Biscop was an Anglo-Saxon monk. He was born in 628 or 629 in Northumbria and died in 690. He was of a noble Northumbrian family and at the age of twenty-five he accompanied Wilfrid on a pilgrimage to Rome. Here he lived for more than ten years, when he returned to England; but not very long after he again went to Rome on a mission from the King of Northumbria. On his way back he entered the Benedictine monastery of Lerius, in Provence, where he took the tonsure, and remained some time. On a third visit to Rome he was commissioned to return to England as assistant and interpreter to Theodoric, Archbishop of Canterbury.
In 674 he founded a monastery at the mouth of the Wear, and endowed it with numerous books, pictures, and relics obtained by him on his various journeys to Rome. In 682 he founded a second monastery at Jarrow, dependent on that of Wear-mouth. His great pupil the 'Venerable Bede,' who was a monk in the monastery of Jarrow, and who wrote his life, was undoubtedly much indebted to the collections made by Benedict Biscop for the learning he acquired.
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Benedict I was a pope. He became pope on the death of John III in 574.
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Benedict IX was a pope. He was born in 1021 and died in 1054. He succeeded John XIX. in 1033, being placed on the papal throne as a boy of twelve years. His licentiousness caused him to be ignominiously expelled by the citizens, who elected Sylvester III. Six months after he regained the ascendency, and excommunicated Sylvester III; but finding the general detestation too strong to permit him to resume his chair, sold it to John Gratianus, who assumed the title of Gregory VI. There was thus a trio of popes, and the emperor, Henry III, to put an end to the scandal, deposed all the three.
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Benedict XIII was a pope. He was a learned and well-disposed man, originally Cardinal Orsini and Archbishop of Benevento, he became pope in 1724, He bestowed his confidence on Cardinal Coscia, who was unworthy of it, and abused it in gratifying his avarice. He died in 1730, and was succeeded by Clement XII.
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Pope Benedict XIV (real name Prospero Lambertini) was Pope from 1740 until 1758. He was born in 1675 at Bologna and died in 1758. He became bishop of Ancona in 1727, cardinal in 1728, and archbishop of Bologna in 1731. In 1742 and 1743 he published bulls forbidding the accommodation of Christian usage to pagan superstition.
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BENEDICT XIV
Bendict XIV (real name Prospero Lambertini) was an Italian pope. He was born in 1675 at Bologna and died in 1758. A man of superior talents, passionately fond of learning, of historical researches, and monuments of art, Benedict XIII. made him, in 1727, bishop of Ancona; in 1728 cardinal, and in 1732 archbishop of Bologna. In every station he fulfilled his duties with the most conscientious zeal. He succeeded Clement XII as pope in 1740, and showed himself a liberal patron of literature and science. He was the author of several esteemed religious works.
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Benedictines are members of the most famous and widely-spread of all the orders of monks, founded at Monte Casino, about half-way between Rome and Naples, in 529, by St Benedict.
No religious order has been so remarkable for extent, wealth, and men of note and learning as the Benedictines. Among the branches of the order the chief were the Gluniacs, founded in 910 at Clugny in Burgundy; the Cistercians, founded in 1098, and reformed by St Bernard in 1116; and the Carthusians from the Chartreuse, founded by Bruno about 1080. The order was probably introduced into England about 600 by St Augustine of Canterbury, and a great many abbeys, and all the cathedral priories of England, save Carlisle, belonged to it. Their habit consists of a loose black gown with large wide sleeves, and a cowl on the head ending in a- point. The Benedictines have produced many valuable literary works.
The fraternity of St Maur, founded in 1618, had in the beginning of the 18th century 180 abbeys and priories in France, and acquired fame by means of its learned members, such as Mabillon and Montfaucon. They published the celebrated chronological work, L'Art de Verifier les Dates, besides others.
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The Beni-Israel are (were?) a race of people living in the west of India around the Konkan sea-board, Bombay, etc, who keep a tradition of Jewish origin, and whose religion is a modified Judaism. They were supposed to be a remnant of the ten tribes.
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The Beni-Mzab are a race or tribe of Berbers that live in the Sahara near its northern border.
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Benito P Juarez was a Mexican statesman. He was born in 1806 and died in 1872. He was Governor of Mexico from 1847 to 1852, including part of the war with the United States. He was Minister of Justice and Religion from 1855 to 1857. He was Secretary of the Interior from 1857 to 1858. In 1858 he assumed the control of the executive, and was recognized by the US Government in 1859. He maintained his government against the clerical party with difficulty throughout the revolutionary troubles, but from the withdrawal of the French and the death of Maximilian until his own death he ruled the republic.
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Benito Mussolini was an Italian dictator. He was born in 1883 at Predappio and died in 1945 when he was executed by Italian Partisans. He founded the fascist movement in 1919 and sided with Hitler during the Second World War.
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Benjamin Ames was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Maine from 1821 until 1822.
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Benjamin B Moeur was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Arizona from 1933 until 1937.
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Benjamin B Odell Jr was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New York from 1901 until 1904.
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Benjamin Britten was a British composer. He was born in 1913 and died in 1976. He composed Peter Grimes, Turn of the Screw, A Ceremony of Carols and War Requiem.
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Sir Benjamin Collins Bartholemew Brodie was an English surgeon. He was born in 1783 and died in 1862. He was the leading surgeon of his day, and attended George IV, and was sergeant-surgeon to William IV. and to Queen Victoria. He was made a baronet in 1834; from 1858 to 1861 was president of the Royal Society, and was connected with many other scientific and learned societies. He published a number of works all connected with his profession.
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Benjamin Gratz Brown was an American politician, journalist and soldier. He was born in 1826 and died in 1885. From 1852 until 1858 he was a member of the Missouri Legislature. From 1854 until 1859 he edited the 'Missouri Democrat'. During the American Civil War he commanded a brigade. From 1863 until 1867 he was a Republican Senator for Missouri, and played an important role in the Liberal-Republican movement and was the Liberal republican and Democrat candidate for Vice-President on the ticket with Horace Greeley in 1872.
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Benjamin Church was an American soldier. He was born in 1639 at Massachusetts and died in 1718. He was active in King Philip's War, was in the Great Swamp Fight in the Narragansett country and finally compassed Philip's death on August 12, 1676.
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Benjamin Conley was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Georgia from 1871 until 1872.
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Benjamin Crowninshield was an American sailor and politician. He was born in 1772 at Massachusetts and died in 1851. He was Secretary of the Navy from 1814, in Madison's cabinet until 1818 in James Monroe's Cabinet, was a Presidential elector in 1820, and a Democratic member of Congress from 1823 to 1831.
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Benjamin R Curtis was an American judge. He was born in 1809 and died in 1874. He was appointed to the US Supreme Court in 1851 by President Eillmore, dissented in the Dred Scott case and resigned in 1857. He was one of the counsel for President Johnson in the impeachment trial of 1868.
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Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield) was a British statesman and writer. He was born in 1804 at London and died in 1881. Of Jewish extraction, he was the eldest son of Isaac D'Israeli, author of the Curiosities of Literature. He attended for a time a private school, and was first destined for the law, but showing a decided taste for literature he was allowed to follow his inclination. In 1826 he published Vivian Grey, his first novel; and subsequently travelled for some time, visiting Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Syria, and gaining experiences which were afterwards reproduced in his books. His travels and impressions are embodied in a volume of letters addressed to his sister and his father. In 1831 another novel, The Young Duke, came from his pen. It was followed at short intervals by Contarini Fleming, Alroy, Henrietta Temple, Venetia, The revolutionary Epic (a poem), etc.
In 1832, and on two subsequent occasions, he appeared as candidate for the representation of High Wycombe, with a programme which included vote by ballot and triennial parliaments, but was unsuccessful. His political opinions gradually changed: in 1835 he unsuccessfully contested Taunton as a Tory. In 1837 he gained an entrance to the House of Commons, being elected for Maidstone. His first speech in the house was treated with ridicule; but he finished with the prophetic declaration that the time would come when they would hear him. During his first years in parliament he was a supporter of Peel; but when Peel pledged himself to abolish the corn-laws, Disraeli became the leader of the protectionists.
About this time he became a leader of what was known as the 'Young England' party, the most prominent characteristic of which was a sort of sentimental advocacy of feudalism. This spirit showed itself in his two novels of Coningsby and Sybil, published respectively in 1844 and 1845. Having acquired the manor pf Hughenden in Buckinghamshire, he was in 1847 elected for this county, and he retained his seat until raised to the peerage nearly thirty years later.
His first appointment to office was in 1852, when he became chancellor of the exchequer under Lord Derby. The following year, however, the ministry was defeated. He remained out of office until 1858, when he again became chancellor of the exchequer, and brought in a reform bill which wrecked the government. During the time the Palmerston government was in office Disraeli led the opposition in the lower house with conspicuous ability and courage. In 1866 the Liberals resigned, and Derby and Disraeli came into power, the latter being again chancellor of the exchequer. They immediately brought in, and carried, after a violent and bitter struggle, a reform Bill on the basis of household suffrage.
In 1868 he became premier on the resignation of Lord Derby, but his tenure of office was short. In 1874 he again became prime-minister with a strong Conservative majority, and he remained in power for six years. This period was marked by his elevation to the peerage in 1876 as Earl of Beaconsfield, and by the prominent part he took in regard to the Eastern question and the conclusion of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. In 1880 parliament was rather suddenly dissolved, and the new parliament showing an overwhelming Liberal majority, he resigned office, though he still retained the leadership of his party. Within a few months of his death the publication of a novel called Endymion (his last, Lothair, had been published ten years before) showed that his intellect was still vigorous. Among others of his writings besides those already mentioned are: A Vindication of the English Constitution, 1834; Alarcos; a Tragedy, 1839; and Lord George Bentinck, a Political Biography, 1852.
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Benjamin Edes was an American newspaperman and agitator. He was born in 1732 and died in 1803. From 1755 until 1798 he was editor of the Boston Gazette and the Country Journal which were influential during the American War of Independence, and he actively supported, encouraged and financed the uprising known as the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
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Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American lawyer, soldier and politician. He was born in 1818 at Deerfield, New Hampshire and died in 1893. He became noted as a criminal lawyer; in 1853 commenced to take a prominent part in politics on the Democratic side and in 1861, on the outbreak of the American Civil War, held the commission of brigadier-general of militia, and took service with his brigade on the Union side. In his field operations he was not a successful general, and as governor of New Orleans, which had been taken by Admiral Farragut, he made his rule memorable by its severity. In 1866 he was elected Republican member of congress for Massachusetts and acquired great influence in the legislature, holding the post until 1875 and again from 1877 until 1879. In 1882 General Butler was elected Democratic governor of Massachusetts, a post he held until 1884.
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Benjamin F Perry was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of South Carolina during 1865.
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Benjamin F Prescott was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Hampshire from 1877 until 1879.
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Benjamin Fitzpatrick was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Alabama from 1841 until 1845.
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Benjamin Flanders was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Louisiana from 1867 until 1868.
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Benjamin Fletcher was an English colonial governor. He was appointed Governor of New York by William and Mary. He arrived in New York in 1692 and received a commission to assume also the government of Pennsylvania, which he did in 1693. He was zealous in the extension of the English Church. In 1698 he was deposed on account of suspicions of complicity with pirates.
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Benjamin Franklin was an American statesman and scientist. He was born in 1706 at Boston and died in 1790. The son of a tallow-chandler and soap-boiler, he was apprenticed to his elder brother, a printer, and developed an eager fondness for books and writing.
At seventeen he ran away to Philadelphia, where, in 1729, he established a newspaper. His public spirit, his talents as a writer and the fame of his scientific discoveries advanced him in prominence. In 1753 he was appointed deputy postmaster-general of the British colonies. In 1754, being a member of the Albany Convention, he proposed an important plan for colonial union.. From 1757 to 1763, and again from 1764 to the American War of Independence, he was agent of Pennsylvania in England; part of the time, also, for Massachusetts, New Jersey and Georgia.
In 1773, acting as agent for the political leaders in Massachusetts, he sent over to them the correspondence of Hutchinson, Oliver and other Massachusetts loyalists with a confidant of the British Ministry. The publication of the letters aroused great excitement in the colonies, and brought down upon Franklin violent abuse on the part of the ministerialists, and dismissal from his office of postmaster-general.
In 1775 seeing that reconciliation was impossible, he returned to Pennsylvania, and was at once chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress. In 1776 he was one of the committee of five who drew up the Declaration of Independence,, and in the autumn was sent to join Arthur Lee and Silas Deane in the mission to France. In Paris he was received with great enthusiasm. He succeeded in obtaining from the French Government not only the treaty of 1778, but also large sums of money supplied in secret before that government declared war on England and openly afterward. Franklin had a leading part in the beginnings of negotiation with Great Britain for peace and independence. In respect to the actual manner in which the treaty was concluded, he was overruled by John Adams and Jay, who deemed it best, contrary to the instructions of Congress, to negotiate apart from France and make separate terms. Franklin played an important part in the arrangements of the treaty, especially those respecting the loyalists. After the Treaty of Versailles had thus been signed on September the 3rd, 1783, Franklin negotiated a favourable treaty with Prussia.
In 1785 Franklin returned to America, and was chosen president of Pennsylvania, and again in 1786 and 1787. He was an influential member of the Convention of 1787, and died at Philadelphia a few years later. Beside his eminence as a statesman and as a philosopher and scientific discoverer, Franklin was noted as a shrewd and practical philanthropist, and was one of the best of English writers. He was renowned for his identification of lightning with electricity, but also wrote widely criticising corruption, philosophising and even describing Harvard College as a place where money was valued above intelligence.
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Benjamin G Humphreys was an American politician. He was a Whig governor of Mississippi from 1865 until 1868.
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Benjamin Goodhue was an American politiicna. He was born in 1748 and died in 1814. He was a Massachusetts member of the Continental Congress from 1784 until 1789, was a US Congressman from 1789 until 1795, and a Federalist Senator from 1796 to 1800. He drafted many of the revenue laws, and served on the Committee on Commerce in the Senate.
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Benjamin Guerard was an American politician. He was a governor of South Carolina from 1783 until 1785.
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Benjamin H Eaton was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Colorado from 1885 until 1887.
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Benjamin Harrison was an American politician. He was born in 1740 at Virginia and died in 1791. He was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1764, a member of the Correspondence Committee in 1773, and a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1778. From 1778 to 1782 he was Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and ardently advocated united opposition to Great Britain. He was Governor of the State from 1782 to 1784, and when a delegate to the State Convention of 1788 opposed the ratification of the Constitution as being a national and not a Federal document.
Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president of the USA from 1889 to 1893. He was born in 1833 at North Bend, Ohio and died in 1901. The grandson of President William Henry Harrison, he graduated at Miami University in 1852, and settled as a lawyer in Indianapolis. He was elected reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court in 1860, but his term was interrupted by the American Civil War.
He volunteered in 1863 and was colonel of an Indiana regiment in the battles of Resaca and Peach Tree Creek in 1864 he won distinction. Leaving the army with the brevet of brigadier-general, he resumed his position of Supreme Court reporter.
General Harrison was a successful lawyer and campaign orator, and in 1876 he received the Republican nomination for Governor, being defeated by a small majority. His name was presented to the Republican National Convention of 1880. Elected to the US Senate, he served from 1881 to 1887. At the National Convention of 1888 he was a leading candidate from the start, received the nomination, and was elected over President Cleveland in a campaign in which protection was the principal issue.
In his Cabinet, James Blaine in the State and Windom in the Treasury Department were national figures. Proctor, and later Elkins, was in the War Department, B F Tracy in the Navy, Noble in the Interior, Rusk Secretary of Agriculture, Miller Attorney-General, and Wanamaker Postmaster-General. The administration was marked politically by | 
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