VOLUME I.
A-H.
TRURO:
NETHERTON AND WORTH,
FOR THE AUTHOR.
250 COPIES ONLY PRINTED. PRICE 42/- NET.
1892.
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_Preface._
Biography like other subjects seems to have its fashion; at one time it
is much attended to, at another time neglected. The Historical Register
from 1717 to 1739, The European Magazine from 1782 to 1826, and The
Gentleman’s Magazine from 1731 to 1868 furnished most useful and
excellent notices of deceased worthies; then there appeared for one year
only, The Register and Magazine of Biography, the first volume by Mr.
Thompson Cooper, F.S.A., the second by Mr. Edward Walford, M.A. After
this period there was a lull and biography was for some time at a
discount; gradually however _The Times_, which hitherto had paid little
attention to the subject, commenced inserting numerous obituary notices,
and this fashion gradually increased, until at the present day there are
few numbers of that paper which do not contain interesting memoirs.
Other periodicals followed suit, and now the majority of the daily and
weekly journals not only give lives but many of them well engraved
portraits.
In the meantime there also came out various books on biography, such as
Men of the Time, Men of Mark, Eminent Women Series, English Men of
Action, English Men of Letters, English Worthies, Great Artists, Great
Writers, Memorable Men of the Nineteenth Century, Men worth Remembering,
The Biograph and others, while various improved biographical
dictionaries, more especially the Dictionary of National Biography,
still in progress, were produced.
General Biography has now become so large a subject, that no one work
can comprehend it, and it will, it is imagined, in future, be necessary
to attack it in small sections, if anything like justice is to be done
to the matter.
Impressed with these ideas, the author of this work, who had during a
period of twenty years made a collection of notes relating to English
persons deceased since 1850, thought it not improbable that by printing
his materials, he might be able to make a useful contribution to
biographical literature. The first volume of “Modern English Biography”
is the result; in it will be found memoirs referring to the period
mentioned, of all privy councillors, knights, judges, recorders, queen’s
counsel, serjeants, stipendiary magistrates, benchers of the inns of
court, bishops, deans, archdeacons, chancellors, admirals, generals and
members of parliament; other persons too, frequently omitted in
biographical works, such as architects, engineers, inventors, ship
builders, electricians, railway managers, publishers, actors,
dramatists, musicians, music hall artistes, painters, sculptors,
engravers, physicians, surgeons, sporting celebrities, eccentric
characters and notorious criminals have also been inserted, in fact any
one who has been well known and about whom a question might arise in
general conversation. In addition, many foreigners who have spent
portions of their lives in England and some few natives of the British
colonies have been included.
The plan in these memoirs, of which there are nearly 8,000 in this
volume, has been first to give the main facts in each life, then, in the
case of authors, short though exact titles of their chief works,
concluding with references to books where longer accounts are to be
found. The subject of portraits has been made a speciality, and
thousands of notices of likenesses in books, periodicals and newspapers
have been inserted. The Transactions of the most important scientific
and literary societies as well as the best known magazines and
newspapers have been examined and the biographical notices extracted.
The memoirs, though short, will be found to contain many exact facts not
given in larger works. Great trouble has been taken about births and
deaths, the dates of births frequently cannot be obtained and the places
and dates of deaths of even very well known individuals are sometimes
not easily settled. Information has been sought from all printed
sources, from private individuals, and from church registers; reference
has been also continually made to the books of the registrar general at
Somerset House.
Froude in one of his Essays says “We want the biographies of common
people;” this adage has been acted on in Modern English Biography, and
many hundred notices of the less known authors, artists, newspaper
proprietors and journalists, merchants, country gentlemen and others,
which can be found in no other book, are here recorded.
Some reference must be made to the Knights Bachelor, an increasing and
important body of men of much repute, about whom the annual knightages
do not furnish exact information. For the elucidation of their history,
the columns of the London Gazette have been carefully searched and the
dates and places of their knighthood extracted, information which it is
believed, cannot be found concentrated in any other single volume.
The memoirs are arranged lexicographically according to the surnames,
the peers however have all been inserted under their titles, for the
reason that their family names are not generally known to ordinary
readers.
To my father Mr. John Josias Arthur Boase and to my eldest brother the
Rev. Charles William Boase, I am much indebted for their great kindness
in conjointly defraying the cost of printing this work, which I claim,
to be an important contribution to the English biography of the
nineteenth century.
My thanks are due to Mr. William Prideaux Courtney and to my brother Mr.
George Clement Boase, joint authors of the Bibliotheca Cornubiensis, as
well as to my before mentioned brother the Rev. C. W. Boase, for kindly
reading proofs and supplying additional facts, while to Mr. Richard
Bissell Prosser late of the Patent Office and to Mr. Ralph Thomas author
of The Handbook of Fictitious Names, I am under an obligation for
information about inventors and other persons.
The Second Volume is in active preparation and will appear as soon as is
possible, consistently with careful research.
In a biographical work arranged alphabetically an Index is not a
necessity, but it was thought that one might add value to the book. A
general index was not practicable, as it would have been as extensive as
the work itself, but an elaborate and carefully considered compilation
of the more remarkable, curious and interesting matter in the volume,
has been made for me by my brother Mr. G. C. Boase. Clergy lists, Law
lists and Army and Navy lists being common, the names of persons
belonging to those professions have not been included. The first
important heading in the index is that of Actors followed by Actors’
Stage Names, a list probably unique, while Dancers, Singers and others
have not been neglected. To Initialisms, Fancy Names, Changes of Names
and Pseudonyms much attention has been given and the entries are very
extensive. Fellows of the Royal Society, astronomers, explorers,
physicians, surgeons, civil engineers, painters and sculptors are duly
recorded, while sport is represented by masters of hounds, betting men,
racing men, cricketers, pedestrians and pugilists.
The names of the Knights Bachelor occupy considerable space, and the
article London will be found very interesting. Some amount of additional
information has been inserted in the Index, to which the reader is
recommended to refer when using “Modern English Biography.”