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James King (Royal Navy Officer)
Captain James King (1750 – 16 November 1784) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served under James Cook on his last voyage around the world, specialising in taking important astronomical readings using a sextant. After Cook died he helped lead the ships on the remainder of their course, also completing Cook's account of the voyage. He continued his career in the Navy, reaching the rank of post-captain, commanding several ships and serving in the American War of Independence. Early life King was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, in 1750, the son of James King, who was at that time curate of St Mary Magdalene, Clitheroe. According to the parish registers young James King was baptised on 13 July 1750, presumably shortly after his birth. At an early age King entered Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, where he remained until he was 12 years old. The Navy King entered the navy on 19 November 1762 under the patronage of his kinsman William Norton, serving under him first in as an ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clitheroe
Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Clitheroe built-up area had an estimated population of 16,279. The town was listed in the 2017 ''The Sunday Times'' report on the best places to live in Northern England, while the wider Ribble Valley, of which Clitheroe is the most populous settlement, was listed in the 2018 and 2024 ''Sunday Times'' report on the best places to live. Clitheroe and the wider Ribble Valley have also been listed as healthiest and happiest place to live in the United Kingdom. The town's most notable building is Clitheroe Castle, which is said to be one of the smallest Norman architecture, Norman keeps in Great Britain. Several manufacturing companies have sites here, including Dugdale Nutrition, Hanson Cement, Johnson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Jervis, 1st Earl Of St Vincent
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent ( ; 9 January 1735 – 13 March 1823) was a British Royal Navy admiral and politician. He served throughout the latter half of the 18th century and into the 19th, and was an active commander during the Seven Years' War, American Revolutionary War, American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is best known for his victory at the 1797 Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797), Battle of Cape St. Vincent, from which he earned his titles, and as a patron of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, Horatio Nelson. Jervis was also recognised by both political and military contemporaries as a fine administrator and naval reformer. As Commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean, between 1795 and 1799 he introduced a series of severe General order, standing orders to avert mutiny. He applied those orders to both seamen and officers alike, a policy that made him a controversial figure. He took his Discipline, disciplinarian system o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Channel
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busiest Sea lane, shipping area in the world. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to at its narrowest in the Strait of Dover."English Channel". ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', 2004. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some . The Channel aided the United Kingdom in becoming a naval superpower, serving as a natural defence against invasions, such as in the Napoleonic Wars and in the World War II, Second World War. The northern, English coast of the Channel is more populous than the southern, French coast. The major languages spoken in this region are English language, English and French language, French. Names Roman historiography, Roman sources as (or , ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post-captain
Post-captain or post captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term "post-captain" was descriptive only; it was never used as a title in the form "Post-Captain John Smith". The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain regardless of rank; * Commanders, who received the title of captain as a courtesy, whether they currently had a command or not (e.g. the fictional Captain Jack Aubrey in '' Master and Commander'' or the fictional Captain Horatio Hornblower in '' Hornblower and the Hotspur''). This custom is now defunct. In the Royal Navy of the 18th and 19th centuries, an officer might be promoted from commander to captain, but not have a command. Until the officer obtained a command, he was "on the beach" and on half-pay. An officer "took post" or was "made post" when he was first commissioned to command a vessel. Usually ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodstock, Oxfordshire
Woodstock is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish, north-west of Oxford in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. The United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census recorded a parish population of 3,521, up from the previous 3,100 in 2011. Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is next to Woodstock, in the parish of Blenheim, Oxfordshire, Blenheim. Winston Churchill was born in the palace in 1874 and buried in the nearby village of Bladon. Edward, the Black Prince, Edward, elder son of Edward III of England, King Edward III and heir apparent, was born in Woodstock Manor on 15 June 1330. In his lifetime he was commonly called Edward of Woodstock, but is known today as the Black Prince. In the reign of Mary I of England, Queen Mary I, her half-sister Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth was imprisoned in the gatehouse of Woodstock Manor. The River Glyme, in a steep valley, divides the town into New and Old Woodstock. The town has two main subur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Voyage Of James Cook
James Cook's third and final voyage (12 July 1776 – 4 October 1780) was a British attempt to discover the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic ocean and the Pacific coast of North America. The attempt failed and Death of James Cook, Cook was killed at Hawaii in a violent dispute with the local inhabitants. The ostensible purpose of the voyage was to return Omai, a young man from Raiatea, to his homeland, but the British Admiralty used this as a cover for their plan to send Cook on a voyage to find the Northwest Passage, should it exist. HMS Resolution (1771), HMS ''Resolution'', to be commanded by Cook, and HMS Discovery (1774), HMS ''Discovery'', commanded by Charles Clerke, were prepared for the voyage which started from Plymouth in 1776. After Omai was returned to his homeland, the ships sailed into the central Pacific where they encountered the hitherto unknown (to Europeans) Hawaiian Archipelago, before reaching the Pacific coast of North America. After exploring a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Clerke
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Charles Clerke (22 August 1741 – 22 August 1779) was an officer in the Royal Navy who sailed on four voyages of exploration (including three circumnavigations), three with Captain James Cook. When Cook was killed during his Third voyage of James Cook, 3rd expedition to the Pacific, Clerke took command but died later in the voyage from tuberculosis. Biography Clerke started studying at the Royal Naval Academy in Portsmouth when he was 13. During the Seven Years' War he served aboard HMS Dorsetshire (1757), HMS ''Dorsetshire '' and HMS Bellona (1760), HMS ''Bellona''. He was in the mizzen-top of HMS ''Bellona'' when the mast was shot away in 1761 and he became the only survivor of those who consequently fell overboard. In June 1764 he joined Post Captain, Captain John Byron, aboard HMS Dolphin (1751), HMS ''Dolphin'', on Byron's expedition to explore the Pacific. The ''Dolphin'' returned in May 1766. Its circumnavigation of 22 months was the quic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larcum Kendall
Larcum Kendall (21 September 1719 in Charlbury, Oxfordshire – 22 November 1790 in London) was a watchmaker from Oxfordshire, who was active in London. Early life Kendall was born on 21 September 1719 in Charlbury. His father was a Mercery, mercer and linen draper named Moses Kendall, and his mother was Ann Larcum from Chepping Wycombe in Buckinghamshire; they married on 18 June 1718. The family were Quakers. The cottage where they lived is thought to be on the site of Charlbury's Amarelo bistro on Market Street. He had a brother, Moses. In 1735 Kendall was apprenticed to the London watchmaker John Jefferys (clockmaker), John Jeffreys. He was living with his parents in St Clement Danes at the time. Jeffreys created a pocket watch for John Harrison, who later used ideas from pocket watches in his John Harrison#H4, H4 marine chronometer, chronometer. Kendall set up his own business in 1742, working with Thomas Mudge (horologist), Thomas Mudge to make watches, working for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galaxies – in either observational astronomy, observational (by analyzing the data) or theoretical astronomy. Examples of topics or fields astronomers study include planetary science, Sun, solar astronomy, the Star formation, origin or stellar evolution, evolution of stars, or the galaxy formation and evolution, formation of galaxies. A related but distinct subject is physical cosmology, which studies the Universe as a whole. Types Astronomers typically fall under either of two main types: observational astronomy, observational and theoretical astronomy, theoretical. Observational astronomers make direct observations of Astronomical object, celestial objects and analyze the data. In contrast, theoretical astronomers create and investigate Con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley
Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, PC (23 June 1716 – 1 January 1789) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1756 to 1782 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Grantley. Life and career Norton was the eldest son of Thomas Norton of Grantley, Yorkshire. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge and the Middle Temple, being called to the bar in 1739. After a period of inactivity, he built up a profitable practice, becoming a King's Counsel in 1754, and later attorney-general for the county palatine of Lancaster. With his father he ordered the building in the mid-1700s of Grantley Hall, near Ripon in North Yorkshire. In 1756, Norton was elected Member of Parliament for Appleby; he represented Wigan from 1761 to 1768, and was appointed solicitor-general for England and knighted in 1762. He took part in the proceedings against John Wilkes, and, having become Attorney General for England and Wales in 1763, prosecuted William B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Savilian Professor Of Astronomy
The position of Savilian Professor of Astronomy was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded (at the same time as the Savilian Professorship of Geometry) by Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and Provost of Eton College. He appointed John Bainbridge as the first professor, who took up his duties in 1620 or 1621. There have been 21 astronomy professors in all; Steven Balbus, the current professor, was appointed in 2012. Past professors include Christopher Wren (1661–73), architect of St Paul's Cathedral in London and the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford; he held the professorship at the time of his commission to rebuild the cathedral after it was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Three professors have been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society: Charles Pritchard (1870–93), Harry Plaskett (1932–60) and Joseph Silk (1999–2012). The two Savilian chairs ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Hornsby
Thomas Hornsby (1733 in Durham – 11 April 1810 in Oxford) was a British astronomer and mathematician. Life Hornsby became a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1760. He occupied the Savilian Chair of Astronomy at Oxford University from 1763. In 1782, he became Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy. Hornsby was especially concerned with the observation of the transit of Venus. In 1761, he observed the transit of Venus from Shirburn Castle, in Oxfordshire, the seat of the Earl of Macclesfield. George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield (ca. 1695–1764), celebrated as an astronomer, had spent most of his time conducting astronomical observations at Shirburn Castle; here he had built an observatory and a chemical laboratory. On the 1st April 1764 Hornsby observed the partial phases of an annular solar eclipse. Despite the international efforts made to observe the 1761 transit, poor weather conditions hampered observations. In 1766 Hornsby informed the Royal Socie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
