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James De Ville
James De Ville (12 March 1777 – 6 May 1846) was a British lamp maker, sculptor and plaster-caster, known also as a phrenologist. He acquired moulds and busts for business purposes, manufacturing reproductions, and also built up a renowned phrenological collection. Early life From a Swiss Protestant background on his father's side, he was born in Hammersmith, the son of James Louis De Ville and his wife Mary Bryant. His family fell on hard times, and as a boy De Ville was fostered by an uncle who had a brickmaking business there. De Ville learned plaster casting from Charles Harris (died 1796), to whom he was apprenticed at age 12. Businessman De Ville set up a plaster works in Soho in 1803, moving on after two years to Great Newport Street in the Covent Garden–Leicester Square area. In the 1810s he was in business as a lampmaker and plaster caster, dealing also in lighthouse fittings. From 1814, he had business premises at 367 Strand, London, opposite Fountain Court. In ot ...
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Phrenologist
Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. California: Skeptics Society.Hines, T. (2002). ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. New York: Prometheus Books. p. 200 It is based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules. It was said that the brain was composed of different muscles, so those that were used more often were bigger, resulting in the different skull shapes. This led to the reasoning behind why everyone had bumps on the skull in different locations. The brain "muscles" not being used as frequently remained small and were therefore not present on the exterior of the skull. Although both of those ideas have a basis in reality, phrenology generalized beyond empirical knowledge in a way that ...
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Joseph Boehm
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, (6 July 1834 – 12 December 1890) was an Austrian-born British medallist and sculptor, best known for the " Jubilee head" of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner. During his career Boehm maintained a large studio in London and produced a significant volume of public works and private commissions. A speciality of Boehm's was the portrait bust; there are many examples of these in the National Portrait Gallery. He was often commissioned by the Royal Family and members of the aristocracy to make sculptures for their parks and gardens. His works were many, and he exhibited 123 of them at the Royal Academy from 1862 to his death in 1890. Biography Boehm (originally "Böhm") was born in Vienna of Hungarian parentage. His father, Josef Daniel Böhm, was a court medal maker and the director of the imperial mint in Vienna. From 1848 to 1851 Boehm studied in London at Leigh's academy of art, the ...
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James Wardrop
Dr James Wardrop or Wardrope FRSE FRCSEd FRCS (1782–1869) was a Scottish surgeon and ophthalmologist. Life Wardrop was born on 14 August 1782, the youngest son of James Wardrop (1738-1830) and his wife, Marjory Marjoribanks, at Torbane Hill, near Linlithgow, West Lothian, but at four years of age moved with the family to live in Edinburgh where he attended the High School, and then St Andrews University. In 1800 he was apprenticed to a firm of surgeon apothecaries which included his great uncle Andrew Wardrop, former president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and in 1801 was appointed House Surgeon at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He trained in London (1801), Paris and Vienna (1803). He was admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1804. He worked as an ophthalmic surgeon in Edinburgh 1804–08 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1808, upon the proposal of Andrew Wardrop, Alexander Keith of Dunnottar and James ...
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Penal Transportation
Penal transportation or transportation was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies became their destination. While the prisoners may have been released once the sentences were served, they generally did not have the resources to return home. Origin and implementation Banishment or forced exile from a polity or society has been used as a punishment since at least the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece. The practice of penal transportation reached its height in the British Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Transportation removed the offender from society, mostly permanently, but was seen as more merciful than capital punishment. This method was used for criminals, debtors, military prisoners, and political prisoners. Penal transportation was also used as a method of colonization. For example, from the earliest days of Engli ...
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Jonathan Mason Warren
Jonathan Mason Warren (February 5, 1811August 19, 1867) was a prominent Boston physician, believed to have been the first to administer anesthesia to a child during surgery. He was the son of John Collins Warren. Warren received a medical degree from Harvard College in 1832. After studying surgery in Europe for three years, hereturned to Boston in 1835 where he worked in general practice. He specialized in reconstructive surgery; he was one of the first surgeons to perform rhinoplasty operations in the United States, and developed ways to close cleft palate A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate (the roof of the mouth) contains an opening into the nose. The t ... through surgery. Sources *https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/exhibits/show/family-practice/j--mason-warren--1811-1867- *https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/o ...
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Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and Southeast Asia. Bengal proper covered the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal (present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). Calcutta, the city which grew around Fort William, was the capital of the Bengal Presidency. For many years, the Governor of Bengal was concurrently the Viceroy of India and Calcutta was the de facto capital of India until 1911. The Bengal Presidency emerged from trading posts established in Mughal Bengal during the reign of Emperor Jahangir in 1612. The East India Company (HEIC), a British monopoly with a Royal Charter, competed with other European companies to gain influence in Bengal. After the decisive overthrow of the Nawab of Bengal in 1757 and the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the HEIC expanded ...
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Robert Espie
Robert Espie (1791 – October 1870) was an Irish convict ship surgeon-superintendent born in 1791. He served for the Royal Navy and was appointed surgeon on 21 May 1811. He was a surgeon on eight convict ships throughout the early 1800s. Out of all of the voyages, only eight patients died under his care. Many of his medical journals did not survive but the ones that did provide insight to his life and experiences as a surgeon on the ships. He died on 2 October 1870. Personal life Robert Espie was born in Derry, Ireland in 1791. He grew up with five siblings, George Espie, John Espie, and three other siblings. His brother, George Espie, accompanied him on the convict ships to Australia. He acquired land in Van Diemen's land and entered a partnership with his brother. He married Janet Jerman Simons, the youngest daughter of William Simons of Sydenham in England on January 17, 1828, at St. Martin's in the Fields Church, Middlesex.Ancestry Library Edition They had three kids. In ...
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Joshua Brookes
Joshua Brookes (24 November 1761 – 10 January 1833) was a British anatomist and naturalist. Early life Brookes studied under William Hunter, William Hewson, Andrew Marshall, and John Sheldon, in London. He then attended the practice of Antoine Portal and other eminent surgeons at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris. Brookesian Museum Brookes became a teacher of anatomy in London, and the founder of the Brookesian Museum of Comparative Anatomy. This private museum is described in the 1830 catalogue ''Museum Brookesianum''. Later life Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1819, Brookes gave up teaching in 1826, in bad health. After vainly endeavouring to dispose of his museum collection entire, he sold it off piecemeal. The final sale took place on 1 March 1830, and on 22 following days. He died on 10 January 1833 in Great Portland Street, London. Works Brookes was the first to place the Cheetah in its own genus, which he established in 1828 as ''Acinonyx''. His published ...
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Franz Joseph Gall
Franz Josef Gall (; 9 March 175822 August 1828) was a German neuroanatomist, physiologist, and pioneer in the study of the localization of mental functions in the brain. Claimed as the founder of the pseudoscience of phrenology, Gall was an early and important researcher in his fields. His contributions to the field of neuropsychology were controversial at the time and are now widely referred to as pseudoscience. However, Gall's study of phrenology helped establish psychology, contributed to the emergence of the naturalistic approach to the study of man, and played an important part in the development of evolutionist theories, anthropology, and sociology. Early life Gall was born in the village of Tiefenbronn to a wealthy Roman Catholic wool merchant. The Galls, originally a noble family from Lombardy, had been the leading family in the area for over a century. His father was the mayor of Tiefenbronn and he was one of 12 children, only 7 of whom lived to adulthood. Gall' ...
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Johann Spurzheim
Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (31 December 1776 – 10 November 1832) was a German physician who became one of the chief proponents of phrenology, which was developed c. 1800 by Franz Joseph Gall (1758–1828). Biography Spurzheim was born near Trier, Germany, on 31 December 1776 and studied medicine at the University of Vienna. He became acquainted with Gall in 1800 and was soon hired by him as an assistant. Gall intended to have Spurzheim as his successor and added his name as a co-author to books and publications. In 1812, however, Gall and Spurzheim had a falling out, and Spurzheim started a separate career, lecturing and writing extensively on what he termed 'The Physiognomical System of Drs Gall and Spurzheim'. He greatly popularised phrenology, and travelled extensively throughout Europe, achieving considerable success in England and France. In 1816 he travelled to Edinburgh to refute an article by Dr John Gordon who had famously debunked Spurzheim, Gall and phrenology in ...
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Harford Jones-Brydges
Sir Harford Jones-Brydges, 1st Baronet, DL (12 January 1764 – 17 March 1847), born Harford Jones, was a British diplomat and author. Life Born on 12 January 1764, Sir Harford Jones-Brydges was the son of Harford Jones of Presteign, Radnorshire by Winifred, daughter of Richard Hooper of the Whittern, Herefordshire. Early in life he entered the service of the East India Company, and, acquiring great proficiency in the oriental languages, he was appointed the Company's first Resident and Consul in Baghdad. In 1798, fearing that Napoleon's expedition to Egypt might present a threat to British interests in India, the Company's Directors accepted a suggestion to establish a Residency in Baghdad. The Residency in Baghdad was intended to provide direct access to the Ottoman Vali (provincial governor) there, rather than through an agent of the Company Resident in Basra. Harford Jones had been the Company's Assistant Resident in Basra since 1784, and seems to have lobbied fo ...
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