Buckingham Palace is the London residence of the British royal family. It was built by John Sheffield, duke of Buckingham, in 1703. In 1761 it was bought by George III who in 1775 settled it on his queen, Charlotte who made it her town residence. Research Buckingham Palace
A grindstone is a cylindrical stone, on which sharpening, cutting, and abrasion are effected by the convex surface while the stone is revolving on its axis. They are made of sandstone, or sandstone grit of various degrees of fineness. Good stones are obtained in various parts of England, especially from the coal districts of Northumberland, Newcastle grindntones being especially famous. The Sheffield grindstone, traditionally used for grinding files and the like, is obtained from Hardsley, about 14 miles north of Sheffield. Artificial grindstones have also been successfully used. Research Grindstone
A hallmark is an official mark stamped on British gold, silver, and (from 1913) platinum.
Hallmarking was instituted in 1327 by the royal charter of London Goldsmiths so as to prevent fraud. After 1363, personal marks of identification were added. Today, tests of metal content are carried out at authorised assay offices in London, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Edinburgh; each assay office has its distinguishing mark, to which is added a maker's mark, date letter, and mark guaranteeing standard. Research Hallmark
Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave was a British intelligence officer and Conservative member of Parliament. He was born in 1916 and died in 1979. During the Second World War he escaped from Colditz, a German high-security prison camp. He became a Conservative MP in 1953 and as shadow undersecretary of state for Northern Ireland from 1975 and a close advisor of Margaret Thatcher, he became a target for extremist groups and was assassinated by an Irish terrorist bomb. Research Airey Neave
Charles Frederick Crisp was an English-born American lawyer. He was born in 1845 at Sheffield, Yorkshire and died in 1896. He served in the Confederate army from 1861 until 1864 and in 1866 was admitted to the bar. In 1872 he became Solicitor-General of Georgia, a post he held until 1882. From 1877 until 1882 he served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Georgia before resigning and accepting a nomination to Congress of which he was chosen speaker in 1891 and again in 1893. Research Charles Crisp
Christopher Addison was an English politician and surgeon. He was born in 1869 at Hogsthorpe, Lincolnshire and died in 1951. Educated at Harrogate and St Bartholomew's Hospital, London where he qualified, he was for a time professor of anatomy at University College, Sheffield and editor of the Quarterly Medical Journal. In 1910 he entered politics as Liberal member of parliament for Hoxton and in 1914 became parliamentary secretary to the Board of Education. He assisted Lloyd George in the scheme for National Health Insurance, and was appointed first secretary to the new Ministry of Munitions, and in 1917 head of the new Ministry of reconstruction. In 1919 Christopher Addison became Britain's first minister of health. In 1921 following difficulties with Lloyd George Christopher Addison resigned and joined the Labour Party. He was created a baron in 1937 and in 1940 assumed leadership of the Labour peers, in 1945 becoming leader of the House of Lords. Research Christopher Addison
Ebenezer Elliott (known as the 'Corn-law Rhymer') was an English poet and Chartist agitator. He was born in 1781 near Rotherham in Yorkshire and died in 1849. At the age of seventeen he published his first poem, the Vernal Walk, which was soon followed by others. In 1829 the Village Patriarch, the best of Ebenezer Elliott's larger pieces, was published. From 1831 to 1837 he carried on business as an iron merchant in Sheffield. His Corn-law Rhymes, periodically contributed to a local paper on behalf of the repeal of these laws, attracted attention, and were afterwards collected and published with a longer poem entitled The Banter. Commercial losses compelled him in 1837 to contract his business, and in 1841 he retired from it altogether. In 1850 two posthumous volumes appeared, entitled More Prose and Verse by the Corn-law Rhymer. Research Ebenezer Elliott
Edward Gibbon was an English writer and historian. He was born in 1737 at Putney and died in 1794. He was the son of a gentleman of an ancient Kentish family. He entered Magdalen College, Oxford, where he remained for fourteen mouths. Having declared himself a Roman Catholic, his father placed him under the care of Pavillard, a learned Calvinistic minister at Lausanne, by whom he was reconverted to the Protestant faith. His residence at Lausanne was highly favourable to his progress in knowledge and the formation of regular habits of study. The belles-lettres and the history of the humanmind chiefly occupied his attention. In 1758 he returned to England, and immediately began to lay the foundation of a copious library; and soon after composed in the French language his Essai sur l'Etude de la Litterature (published in 1761).
In 1763 he visited Paris and Lausanne, and he journeyed in Italy during 1764. It was here that the idea of writing his great history occurred to him as he sat musing among the ruins of the capitol at Rome, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter. In 1770 he published a pamphlet entitled Critical Observations on the Sixth Book of the AEneid. In 1774 he obtained a seat in parliament for Liskeard, and was a silent supporter of the North administration and its American politics for eight years.
In 1776 the first quarto volume of his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was published, and at once made a public reputation for its author. In 1778 he drew up on behalf of the English government a Memoire Justificatif in answer to the manifesto of the French court, and for this service he was made one of the lords of trade. On the retirement of North he lost his appointment, and soon after withdrew to Lausanne in 1783, where, in the course of four years, he completed the three remaining volumes of his history, which were published together in 1788.
In 1793 he returned to England, where he died on the 16th of January, 1794. His history, though not without its defects, has great merits. Its style, if at times somewhat stiff and pompous, has the energy and elevation required for so great a theme; his learning is vast and thorough, and his insight into human nature in every variety of circumstances in remote countries and epochs is that of a great and philosophical historian. In 1796 his friend LordSheffield published two quarto volumes of his miscellaneous works, of which the most valuable part is the Memoirs of his Life and Writings. Research Edward Gibbon
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Buckingham Palace
