An iceboat is a boat-like structure on runners, propelled over ice usually by sails. Modern iceboats have a central tube-like hull, a runner plank extending at right angles to the hull and affixed with a runner at either end, and a third runner, placed either forward or aft, serving as a rudder. In ancient times primitive iceboats were used in the Scandinavian region for haulage and transport.
Iceboating remains a mode of travel in some parts of Europe today. The sport of iceboating began on the Shrewsbury River in Red Bank, New Jersey, around 1840. Subsequent innovations made iceboats the fastest vehicles of the early 1900s, with speeds up to 225 kmh. Modern iceboats are about 6 m long and have sail areas of from 7 to 32.5 sq. m. These boats average about 65 to 95 kmh over the usual 32-km course. Recent innovations include the use of air motors and outboard motors that employ a spiked wheel to drive the boat across the ice, and the use of jet propulsion. Research Iceboat
Charles Egbertt Darwin was an English naturalist. He was born in Shrewsbury in 1809 and died in 1882. The son of Dr.Robert Darwin and grandson of Dr. Erasmus Darwin, he was
educated at Shrewsbury School, and at the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge. He early devoted himself to the study of natural history, and in 1831 he was appointed naturalist to the surveying voyage of HMS Beagle, commanded by Captain (afterwards Admiral) Fitzroy. The vessel sailed in December 1831, and did not return until October 1836, after having circumnavigated the globe.
Charles Darwin returned home with rich stores of knowledge, part of which he soon gave to the public in various works. In 1839 he married his cousin Emma Wedgwood, and henceforth spent the life of a quiet country gentleman, engrossed in scientific pursuits - experimenting, observing, recording, reflecting, and generalizing. In 1839 he published his Journal of Researches during a Voyage round the World; in 1842 Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs; in 1844 Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands, etc; in 1846 Geological Observations in South America; in 1851 and 1854 his Monograph of the Cirrhipedia, and soon after the Fossil Lepadridae and Balsenidae of Great Britain. In 1859 his name attained its great celebrity by the publication of The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. This work, scouted and derided though it was at first in certain quarters, maybe said to have worked nothing less than a revolution in biological science. In it for the first time was given a full exposition of the theory of evolution as applied to plants and animals, the origin of species being explained on the hypothesis of natural selection.
The rest of his works are largely based on the material he had accumulated for the elaboration of this great theory. The principal are a treatise on the Fertilization of Orchids published in 1862; Domesticated Animals and Cultivated Plants; or The Principle of Variation, etc, under Domestication published in 1867; Descent of Man and Variation in Relation to Sex published in 1871; The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals published in 1872; Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants; Insectivorous Plants published in 1875; Cross and Self Fertilisation published in 1876; The Power of Movement in Plants published in 1880; The Formation of Vegetable Mould published in 1881; the last containing a vast amount of information in regard to the common earth-worm. Research Charles Darwin
Douglas is a family distinguished in the annals of Scotland. Their origin is unknown. They were already territorial magnates at the time when Bruce and Baliol were competitors for the crown. As their estates lay on the borders they early became guardians of the kingdom against the encroachments of the English, and acquired in this way power, habits, and experience which frequently made them formidable to the crown.
We notice in chronological succession the most distinguished members of the family. James Douglas son of the William Douglas who had been a companion of Wallace, and is commonly known as the Good Sir James, early joined Bruce, and was one of his chief supporters throughout his career, and one of the most distinguished leaders at the battle of Bannockburn. He fell in battle with the Moors while on his way to the Holy Land with the heart of his master, in 1331.
Archibald Douglas, youngest brother of Sir James Douglas, succeeded to the regency of Scotland in the infancy of David. He was defeated and killed at Halidon Hill by Edward III. in 1333.
William Douglas, son of Archibald Douglas, was created first earl in 1357. He recovered Douglasdale from the English, and was frequently engaged in wars with them. He fought at the battle of Poitiers. He died in 1384.
James Douglas, the second earl, who, like his ancestors, was constantly engaged in border warfare, was killed at the battle of Otterburn in 1388. After his death the earldom passed to an illegitimate son of the Good Sir James Douglas, Archibald the GrimLord of Galloway.
Archibald Douglas, son of Archibald the Grim and fourth earl, was the Douglas who was defeated and taken prisoner by Percy (Hotspur) at Homildon the 14th of September, 1402. He was also taken prisoner at Shrewsbury on the 23rd of July 1403, and did not recover his liberty until 1407. He was killed at the battle of Verneuil, in Normandy, in 1427. Charles VII. created him Duke of Touraine, which title descended to his successors.
William Douglas, sixth earl, was born in 1422, together with his only brother David was assassinated by Crichton and Livingstone at a banquet to which he had been invited in the name of the king, in EdinburghCastle, on the 24th of November, 1440. Jealousy of the great power which the Douglases had acquired from their possessions in Scotland and France was the cause of this deed.
William Douglas, the eighth earl, a descendant of the third earl, restored the power of the Douglases by a marriage with his cousin, heiress of another branch of the family; was appointed lord-lieutenant of the kingdom, and defeated the English at Sark. Latterly having entered into a treasonous league, he was invited by James II to Stirling and there murdered by the king's own hand, on the 22nd of February 1452.
James Douglas, the ninth and last earl, brother of William Douglas, took up arms with his allies to avenge the death of his brother, but was finally driven to England, where he continued an exile for nearly thirty years. Having entered Scotland on a raid in 1484 he was taken prisoner and confined in the abbey of Lindores, where he died in 1488. His estates, which had been forfeited in 1455, were bestowed on the fourth Earl of Angus, the 'Red Douglas,' the representative of a younger branch of the Douglas family, which continued long after to flourish.
The fifth Earl of Angus, Archibald Douglas, was the celebrated ' Bell-the-Cat,' one of whose sons was Gawin Douglas the poet. He died in a monastery in 1514.
Archibald, the sixth earl, married Queen Margaret, widow of James IV, attained the dignity of regent of the kingdom, and after various vicissitudes of fortune, having at one time been attainted and forced to flee from the kingdom, died about 1560. He left no son, and the title of Earl of Angus passed to his nephew David.
James Douglas, brother of David Douglas, married the heiress of the Earl of Morton, which title he received on the death of his father-in-law.
His nephew, Archibald, eighth Earl of Angus and Earl of Morton, died childless, and the earldom of Angus then passed to Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, his cousin, whose son William was raised to the rank of Marquis of Douglas.
Archibald, the great-grandson of William, was raised in 1703 to the dignity of Duke of Douglas, but died unmarried in 1761, when the ducal title became extinct, and the marquisate passed to the Duke of Hamilton, the descendant of a younger son of the first marquis. The line of Angus or the Red Douglas is now represented by the houses of Hamilton and Home, who both claim the title of Earl of Angus. Research Douglas
Sir Douglas Straight was an English judge and journalist. He was born in 1844 at London and died in 1914. Educated at East Sheen and Harrow, he was employed for a while in newspaper and magazine work before being called to the bar in 1865 and subsequently acquiring a large practice. He was member of parliament for Shrewsbury from 1870 until 1874, a judge of the high court at Allahabad from 1879 until 1892 and editor of The Pall Mall Gazette from 1896 until 1909. Research Douglas Straight
Earl is now the third order in the nobility, but originally the first. The rank was introduced into Britain by the Danes, and the earl became a district administrator appointed by the king. For several centuries it was customary for earls to take their titles from the counties they administered, and for the king to make grants of land in the counties. The premier earldom is really that of Arundel, but as this is now united with the dukedom of Norfolk the senior earldom is that of Shrewsbury, which was created in 1442. The earl's mantle has three rows of ermine on the cape. His coronet is a circle of silver gilt, with eight silver balls on points and golden strawberry leaves between the points. The cap is the same as for the senior ranks.
When William the Conqueror invaded Britain he tried to replace the rank of Earl with that of Count, but was unsuccessful though the wife of an earl does bear the title of countess.
Henry IV was King of England from 1399 to 1413. He was born in 1367 and died in 1413. Henry IV was the eldest son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, third son of Henry III. by the heiress of Edmund, earl of Lancaster, second son of Henry III and the first king of the house of Lancaster.
He was made Earl of Derby and Duke of Hereford, but having in 1398 preferred a charge of treason against Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, he was banished with his adversary. On the death of John of Gaunt in 1399 Richard withheld Henry's inheritance, and Henry, landing in England, gained possession of Richard's person. The deposition of Richard by parliament, and the election of Henry, was followed by the murder of the late king. A plot against the king in 1400 was discovered in time to prevent its success, and many executions of men of rank followed; but an insurrection in Wales under Owen Glendower proved more formidable.
The Scots were decisively defeated by the Percies at Homildon, and their leader, the Earl of Douglas, was captured in 1402. An order from Henry not to permit the ransom of that nobleman and other Scottish prisoners was regarded as an indignity by the Percies, who set Douglas free, made an alliance with him, and joined Glendower. The king met the insurgents at Shrewsbury in 1403, the battle ending in the defeat and death of Percy. The Earl of Northumberland was pardoned, and but few victims were executed.
A new insurrection, headed by the Earl of Nottingham and Scrope or Scroop, archbishop of York, broke out in 1405, but was suppressed by the king's third son, Prince John. The rest of this king's reign was comparatively untroubled. In 1405 James, son and heir to King Robert of Scotland, was captured at sea on his way to France, and was detained a prisoner in England. Henry died in 1413, and was succeeded by Henry V. Research Henry IV
John Benbow was an Englishsailor. He was born in 1653 at Shrewsbury and died in 1702. The son of a tanner, he is said to have run away to sea, when apprentice to a butcher. In 1678 he became master's mate on board a man-of-war, and so distinguished himself that he was promoted to be master on board another, both vessels being actively engaged against the Barbary pirates. He appears to have again served on board merchant vessels in 1681 to 1686, and he is said to have shown the utmost skill and gallantry in beating off a pirate vessel when in command of a ship of his own in the Levanttrade.
He re-entered the navy in 1689, received rapid promotion, and was engaged in various affairs of importance. He took part in the unfortunate action off Beachy Head and in the glorious battle of La Hogue. He was for some time employed in protecting the English trade in the Channel, which he did with great effect, and in making attacks on St Malo and other places on the French coast; and in 1695 he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral.
In 1701 he sailed to the West Indies with a small fleet, and in August of the following year he fell in with the French fleet under Du Casse, and attempted to close with it and bring on a general action, but was not well supported by some of his captains. While in chase of the French a chain-shot carried away one of his legs. At this critical instant, being most disgracefully abandoned by several of the captains under his command, who urged him to give up the pursuit, the French fleet effected its escape. John Benbow, on his return to Jamaica, brought the delinquents to a court-martial, by which two of them were condemned to be shot; and they were shot, some time after John Benbow himself had died of his wounds. He seems to have been a brave and able seaman, but rough and overbearing to those under him. Research John Benbow
Owen Glendower was a Welsh patriot. He was born about 1350 and died in 1415. At an early age he was sent to London, and studied for the bar, but relinquished the profession on being appointed an esquire to Richard II whom he supported to the last. He carried on a contest with Lord Grey de Ruthyn respecting an estate, and the latter being charged with the delivery of a summons to Owen from Henry, to attend him on his Scottish expedition, purposely neglected to deliver it. Owen Glendower was outlawed for disaffection, and his enemy seized upon his lands.
Owen Glendower dispossessed Grey of his lands, and, having raised a considerable force, caused himself to be proclaimed Prince of Wales, on September the 20th, 1400. He defeated the king's troops, and retiring to the mountains foiled all subsequent attempts to bring him to action. He afterwards joined the coalition of the Percys, against Henry, and was crowned 'sovereign of Wales.' Owen Glendower arrived with his force too late for the battle of Shrewsbury; and, seeing all was lost, retreated, and continued his marauding warfare. This he kept up with various success, occasionally assisted by Charles VI of France. Finding it impossible to subdue him, Henry V, in 1415, condescended to negotiayte a peace treaty with him; but Owen Glendower died during the negotiation. Research Owen Glendower
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet and philosopher. He was born in 1772 at Ottery St Mary in Devon and died in 1834. Sent to school at Christ's Church Hospital, to which he had obtained a representation, the young Samuel Coleridge took little interest in the ordinary sports of childhood, and was noted for a dreamy abstracted manner, though he made considerable progress in classical studies, and was known even at that early age as a devourer of metaphysical and theological works.
From Christ's Church he went with a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge, where he remained for two years, but without achieving much distinction. At this time, too, his ultra-radical and rationalistic opinions made the idea of academic preferment hopeless, and perhaps it was partly to escape the difficulties and perplexities gathering about his future that Samuel Coleridge suddenly quit Cambridge and enlisted in the 15th Dragoons. Rescued by his friends from this position, he took up his residence at Bristol with two congenial spirits, Robert Southey, who had just been obliged to quit Oxford for his Unitarian opinions, and Lovell, a young Quaker. The three conceived the project of emigrating to America, and establishing a pantisocracy as they termed it, or community in which all should be equal, on the banks of the Susquehanna. This scheme, however, never became anything more than a theory, and was finally disposed of when, in 1795, the three friends married three sisters, the Misses Pricket of Bristol.
Samuel Coleridge about this time started a periodical, the Watchman, which did not survived beyond the ninth number. In 1796 he took a cottage at Nether Stowey, in Somersetshire, where, soothed and supported by the companionship of Wordsworth, who came to reside at Allfoxden, he wrote much of his best poetry, in particular the Ancient Mariner and the first part of Christabel. While residing at Nether Stowey he used to officiate in a Unitarian chapel at Taunton, and in 1798 received an invitation to take the charge of a congregation of this denomination at Shrewsbury, where, however, he did nothing further than preach the probation sermon.
An annuity bestowed on him by some friends (the Wedgewoods) furnished him with the means of making a tour to Germany, where he studied at the University of Gottingen. In 1800 he returned to England and took up his residence beside Southey at Keswick, while Wordsworth lived at Grasmere in the same neighbourhood. From this fact, and a certain common vein in their poetry, arose the epithet of 'Lake School' applied to their works. About 1804 Coleridge went to Malta to re-establish his health, seriously impaired by opium-eating. In 1806 he returned to England, and after ten years of somewhat desultory literary work as lecturer, contributor to periodicals, etc, Samuel Coleridge in a sort took refuge from the world in the house of his friend Mr. Gillman at Highgate, London. Here he passed the rest of his days, holding weekly conversaziones in which he poured himself forth in eloquent monologues, being by general consent one of the most wonderful talkers of the time.
His views on religious and political subjects had now become mainly orthodox and conservative, and a great work on the Logos, which should reconcile reason and faith, was one of the dreams of his later years. But Samuel Coleridge had long been incapable of concentrating his energies on anything, and of the many years he spent in the leisure and quietness of Highgate nothing remains but the Table Talk and the fragmentary notes and criticism gathered together, and edited by his nephew, valuable enough of their kind, but less than might have been expected of Samuel Coleridge.
The dreamy and transcendental character of Samuel Coleridge's poetry eminently exhibits the man. In his best moments he has a fine sublimity of thought and expression not surpassed by Milton; but he is often turgid and verbose. As a critic, especially of William Shakespeare, Samuel Coleridge's work is of the highest rank, combining a comprehensive grasp of large critical principles and a singularly subtle insight into details.
Samuel Coleridge's poetical works include The Ancient Mariner, Christabel (incomplete), Remorse, a tragedy, Kubia Khan, a translation of Schiller's Wallenstein, etc; his prose works, Biographia Literaria, The Friend, The Statesman's Manual, Aids to Reflection, On the Constitution of Church and State, etc. Posthumously were published specimens of his Table Talk, Literary Remains, etc. Research Samuel Coleridge
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