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Kew Palace
Kew Palace is a British royal palace within the grounds of Kew Gardens on the banks of the River Thames. Originally a large complex, few elements of it survive. Dating to 1631 but built atop the undercroft of an earlier building, the main survivor is known as the Dutch House. Its royal occupation lasted from around 1728 until 1818, with a final short-lived occupation in 1844. The Dutch House is Grade I listed, and open to visitors. It is cared for by an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, which receives no funding from the government or the Crown. Alongside the Dutch House is a part of its 18th-century service wing, whilst nearby are a former housekeeper's cottage, brewhouse and kitchen block – most of these buildings are private, though the kitchens are open to the public. These kitchens and Queen Charlotte's Cottage are also run by Historic Royal Palaces. History Fortreys and Capels Beneath the Dutch House is the undercroft of a 16th-century building. This was ...
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Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which housed the Imperial residences. Most European languages have a version of the term (''palais'', ''palazzo'', ''palacio'', etc.), and many use it for a wider range of buildings than English. In many parts of Europe, the equivalent term is also applied to large private houses in cities, especially of the aristocracy; often the term for a large country house is different. Many historic palaces are now put to other uses such as parliaments, museums, hotels, or office buildings. The word is also sometimes used to describe a lavishly ornate building used for public entertainment or exhibitions such as a movie palace. A palace is distinguished from a castle while the latter clearly is fortified or has the style of a fortification, whereas a p ...
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Dutch Gables
A Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a roof, like a normal gable (the picture of Montacute House, right, shows both types). The preceding is the strict definition, but the term is sometimes used more loosely, though the stepped gable should be distinguished from it. The term "Dutch gable" is also used in America and Australasia to refer to a gablet roof. The Dutch gable was a notable feature of the Renaissance architecture, which spread to northern Europe from the Low Countries, arriving in Britain during the latter part of the 16th century. Later Dutch gables with flowing curves became absorbed into Baroque architecture. Examples of Dutch-gabled buildings can be found in historic cities across Europe. In Potsdam, Germany, 150 red brick houses featuring steep Dutch gab ...
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Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief minister of Henry VIII. In 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the cardinal gave the palace to the king to check his disgrace. The palace went on to become one of Henry's most favoured residences; soon after acquiring the property, he arranged for it to be enlarged so that it might more easily accommodate his sizeable retinue of courtiers. Along with St James' Palace, it is one of only two surviving palaces out of the many the king owned. The palace is currently in the possession of King Charles III and the Crown. In the following century, King William III's massive rebuilding and expansion work, which was intended to rival the Palace of Versailles, destroyed much of the Tudor palace.Dynes, p. 90. His work ceased in 1694, leaving the pa ...
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Thomas Tompion
Thomas Tompion, FRS (1639–1713) was an English clockmaker, watchmaker and mechanician who is still regarded to this day as the "Father of English Clockmaking". Tompion's work includes some of the most historic and important clocks and watches in the world, and can command very high prices whenever outstanding examples appear at auction. A plaque commemorates the house he shared on Fleet Street in London with his equally famous pupil and successor George Graham. Biography Thomas Tompion was born around 1639 and was baptized on 25 July 1639 in Northill, Bedfordshire, England. The family cottage in Ickwell, his home hamlet in the parish of Northill, bears a plaque erected in his honor by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in 1952. He was the eldest son of a blacksmith, also named Thomas Tompion, and probably worked as a blacksmith until 1664 when he became an apprentice of a London clockmaker. Very little of his earlier years is known. The first reference to Tompion in Lo ...
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William IV Of The United Kingdom
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of Britain's House of Hanover. William served in the Royal Navy in his youth, spending time in North America and the Caribbean, and was later nicknamed the "Sailor King". In 1789, he was created Duke of Clarence and St Andrews. In 1827, he was appointed Britain's first Lord High Admiral since 1709. As his two elder brothers died without leaving legitimate issue, he inherited the throne when he was 64 years old. His reign saw several reforms: the Poor Law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all of the British Empire, and the electoral system refashioned by the Reform Acts of 1832. Although William did not engage in politics as ...
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Aberration Of Light
In astronomy, aberration (also referred to as astronomical aberration, stellar aberration, or velocity aberration) is a phenomenon which produces an apparent motion of celestial objects about their true positions, dependent on the velocity of the observer. It causes objects to appear to be displaced towards the direction of motion of the observer compared to when the observer is stationary. The change in angle is of the order of ''v/c'' where ''c'' is the speed of light and ''v'' the velocity of the observer. In the case of "stellar" or "annual" aberration, the apparent position of a star to an observer on Earth varies periodically over the course of a year as the Earth's velocity changes as it revolves around the Sun, by a maximum angle of approximately 20 arcseconds in right ascension or declination. The term ''aberration'' has historically been used to refer to a number of related phenomena concerning the propagation of light in moving bodies. Aberration is distinct ...
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James Bradley
James Bradley (1692–1762) was an English astronomer and priest who served as the third Astronomer Royal from 1742. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light (1725–1728), and the nutation of the Earth's axis (1728–1748). These two discoveries were called "the most brilliant and useful of the century" by Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre, historian of astronomy, mathematical astronomer and director of the Paris Observatory. In his ''History of astronomy in the 18th century'' (1821), Delambre stated:"It is to these two discoveries by Bradley that we owe the exactness of modern astronomy. ... This double service assures to their discoverer the most distinguished place (after Hipparchus and Kepler) above the greatest astronomers of all ages and all countries." Biography Bradley was born at Sherborne, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, to William Bradley and Jane Pound in September 1692. His nephew John was also an astronomer. ...
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Nathaniel St André
Nathaniel St André (c.1680–March 1776) was a Swiss physician who practised in England. Life Born in Switzerland, St André moved to England in his youth, as a page to a Jewish family. On arrival, he made his living teaching French, German, dancing and fencing. However, his fencing was poor, and he was soon injured by a pupil, requiring medical attention. He was impressed by the surgeon's wealth, and decided to take up medicine, taking up an apprenticeship with a surgeon in London. This enabled him to set up his own practice, based at Northumberland Court, and was then appointed surgeon at the Westminster Infirmary. He also gave public lectures in anatomy and surgery, translated René-Jacques Garengeot's ''A Treatise of Chirurgical Operations'' into English and introduced some new approaches to using wax to prepare anatomical specimens. In May 1723, St André was appointed as surgeon and anatomist to the royal household by George I, his fluent German finding favour ...
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Samuel Molyneux
Samuel Molyneux FRS (16 July 1689 – 13 April 1728) was an amateur astronomer and politician who sat in the British House of Commons between 1715 and 1728 and in the Irish House of Commons from 1727 to 1728. His work with James Bradley attempting to measure stellar parallax led to the discovery of the aberration of light. The aberration was the first definite evidence that the earth moved and that Copernicus and Kepler were correct.Science and Its Times via In addition to his astronomical works, Molyneux wrote about the natural history and other features of Ireland. He died in suspicious circumstances. Early life Molyneux was born in Chester, England in 1689 and was the second son of William Molyneux, who was known for his work related to optics. His mother was Lucy Domville, daughter of Sir William Domville, the Attorney General for Ireland. Molyneux studied at Trinity College, Dublin, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1708 and a Master of Arts (MA) in 1710. He was ...
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George II Of Great Britain
George II (George Augustus; german: link=no, Georg August; 30 October / 9 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Electorate of Hanover, Hanover) and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) until his death in 1760. Born and brought up in northern Germany, George is the most recent British monarch born outside Great Britain. The Act of Settlement 1701 and the Acts of Union 1707 positioned his grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, and her Protestant descendants to inherit the British throne. After the deaths of Sophia and Anne, Queen of Great Britain, in 1714, his father, the Elector of Hanover, became George I of Great Britain. In the first years of his father's reign as king, George was associated with opposition politicians until they rejoined the governing party in 1720. As king from 1727, George exercised little control over British domestic p ...
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Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell Of Tewkesbury
Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Tewkesbury KB, PC (1638 – 30 May 1696) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1660 and 1692. He was then created Baron Capell. Early life Henry Capell was born in Hadham Parva, Hertfordshire. He was the son of Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham and Elizabeth Morrison. He was baptised on 6 March 1638. His father was raised to the peerage in 1641 and he died fighting for the King in the civil wars in 1649 as one of the commanders of the Colchester garrison. Henry's eldest brother was Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex. Career Capel founded the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Later Capel was elected Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury in the Convention Parliament. He was invested as a Knight of the Order of the Bath, on 23 April 1661. In 1661, he was re-elected MP for Tewkesbury in the Cavalier Parliament. He was a member of the Irish Privy Council, from April 1673 to March 1684/85. Capell was re-elected M ...
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John Evelyn
John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or memoir, spanned the period of his adult life from 1640, when he was a student, to 1706, the year he died. He did not write daily at all times. The many volumes provide insight into life and events at a time before regular magazines or newspapers were published, making diaries of greater interest to modern historians than such works might have been at later periods. Evelyn's work covers art, culture and politics, including the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell's rise and eventual natural death, the last Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London in 1666. ''John Evelyn's Diary'' was first published posthumously in 1818, but over the years was overshadowed by that of Samuel Pepys. Pepys wrote a different kind of diary, in t ...
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