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Robert Taylor Pritchett
Robert Taylor Pritchett (24 February 1828 – 16 June 1907) was a gun manufacturer, artist and illustrator. As artist he painted royal ceremonies for Queen Victoria, and he illustrated Darwin's ''The Voyage of the Beagle''. Early life and career He was the son of Richard Ellis Pritchet and his wife Ann Dumbleton; his father was head of the firm of gunmakers at Enfield which supplied arms to the East India Company and to the Board of Ordnance. After leaving King's College School, Robert entered his father's firm. By 1852 he knew the rifle designer William Ellis Metford; the "Pritchett bullet", with a hollow, unplugged base, which he and Metford invented in 1853, brought him fame and an award of £1000 from the government on its adoption by the small-arms committee. As early as 1854 Pritchett was using his three-grooved rifle of his own invention. The abolition of the East India Company in 1858 deprived Pritchett's firm of its principal customer, and he sought other interests; but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Voyage Of The Beagle
''The Voyage of the Beagle'' is the title most commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his ''Journal and Remarks'', bringing him considerable fame and respect. This was the third volume of ''The Narrative of the Voyages of H.M. Ships Adventure and Beagle'', the other volumes of which were written or edited by the commanders of the ships. ''Journal and Remarks'' covers Darwin's part in the second survey expedition of the ship HMS ''Beagle''. Due to the popularity of Darwin's account, the publisher reissued it later in 1839 as Darwin's ''Journal of Researches'', and the revised second edition published in 1845 used this title. A republication of the book in 1905 introduced the title ''The Voyage of the "Beagle"'', by which it is now best known. ''Beagle'' sailed from Plymouth Sound on 27 December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy. While the expedition was originally planned to last two years, it lasted almost five—''Beagle' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baptism Princess Victoria Eugenie Of Battenberg
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three times, once for each person of the Trinity. The synoptic gospels recount that John the Baptist baptised Jesus. Baptism is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. Baptism according to the Trinitarian formula, which is done in most mainstream Christian denominations, is seen as being a basis for Christian ecumenism, the concept of unity amongst Christians. Baptism is also called christening, although some reserve the word "christening" for the baptism of infants. In certain Christian denominations, such as the Lutheran Churches, baptism ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burghfield
Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas and Sheffield (or Soefeld). Since the 1980s the population of Burghfield has nearly doubled with the construction of many new housing estates, making it a dormitory for Reading, Newbury, Basingstoke and the M4 corridor which crosses the north of the parish. Most of the former sparsely inhabited fields of the hamlet of Pingewood, in the north of the parish, are divided by the M4 motorway and have been converted, after gravel extraction in the mid to late 20th century, into lakes and are used for water sports, fishing, and other leisure activities. They are also a habitat for migrating geese, water fowl and other wildlife. A few higher gravel pits in this area have been drained, clay-lined and are used as landfill sites. Burghfield has ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swindon
Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon unitary authority area had a population of 233,410 as of 2021. Located in South West England, the town lies between Bristol, 35 miles (56 kilometres) to its west, and Reading, equidistant to its east. Recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Suindune'', it was a small market town until the mid-19th century, when it was selected as the principal site for the Great Western Railway's repair and maintenance works, leading to a marked increase in its population. The new town constructed for the railway workers produced forward-looking amenities such as the UK’s first lending library and a ‘cradle-to-grave' health care centre that was later used as a blueprint for the NHS. After the Second World War, the town expanded dramatically again, as industry and people moved out f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Badminton Library
The ''Badminton Library'', called in full ''The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes'', was a sporting and publishing project conceived by Longmans Green & Co. and edited by Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort (1824–1899). Between 1885 and 1902 it developed into a series of sporting books which aimed to cover comprehensively all major sports and pastimes. The books were published in London by Longmans, Green & Co.Badminton Library at wychwoodbooks.com (accessed 3 April 2008) and in by Little, Brown & Co. The series was dedicated to [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a Common descent, common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this Phylogenetics, branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by Burials and memorials in Westminster Abbey, burial in Westminster Abbey. Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunbeam RYS (1874)
''Sunbeam'', a British luxury yacht launched in 1874, became famous when Annie Brassey, the wife of its owner Thomas Brassey, published a book describing their adventures during a world cruise. The book, titled ''A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months'', became a best seller and was translated into many languages. Yacht Details ''Sunbeam'' was built for Thomas Brassey by Bowdler & Chaffer of Seacombe, from a design by St Clare Byrne. She was a three-masted topsail-yard schooner, iron framed and with teak skin. Length 159 ft, beam 27.5 ft, weight 532 tons. The sail area was 9,000 square yards. The yacht had an auxiliary compound steam engine of 70 hp that developed a top speed of just over 10 knots. The bunkers could hold eighty tons of coal and although primarily a sailing vessel, she could steam for approximately 20 days without refuelling. When not in steam, the funnel would be lowered and the propeller feathered to reduce dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anna Brassey
Anna Brassey, Baroness Brassey ( Allnutt; 7 October 1839 – 14 September 1887) was an English traveller and writer. Her bestselling book ''A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months'' (1878) describes a voyage around the world. Life Annie Brassey was born Anna Allnutt in London in 1839 to John Allnutt. As a child, she faced serious health problems. In ''The Last Voyage'', her husband recalled that Allnutt suffered from an inherited "weakness of the chest", apparently a form of chronic bronchitis. As a young woman, she also suffered severe burns when she stood too close to a fireplace and her skirt caught fire. It took six months for her to recover from them. In 1860, she married the English Member of Parliament Thomas Brassey (knighted in 1881 and became Earl Brassey in 1886), with whom she lived near his Hastings constituency. The couple had five children together before they travelled aboard their luxury yacht ''Sunbeam''. The yacht was said to have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey (11 February 1836 – 23 February 1918), was a British Liberal Party politician, Governor of Victoria and founder of ''The Naval Annual''. Background and education Brassey was the eldest son of the railway magnate Thomas Brassey (1805-1870), by his wife Maria Harrison, a daughter of Joseph Harrison, a forwarding and shipping agent. He was the elder brother of Henry Brassey and Albert Brassey. He was educated at Rugby and University College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1864. Political career Brassey was briefly Member of Parliament (MP) for Devonport in 1865, winning the seat at a by-election in June and then losing it again the general election in July. He returned to Parliament three years later as the representative for Hastings at the 1868 general election, holding that seat until he was defeated at the 1886 general election. He was President of the first day of the 1874 Co-operative Congress. He served ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended Paris, and working-class radicalism grew among its soldiers. Following the establishment of the Third Republic in September 1870 (under French chief executive Adolphe Thiers from February 1871) and the complete defeat of the French Army by the Germans by March 1871, soldiers of the National Guard seized control of the city on March 18. They killed two French army generals and refused to accept the authority of the Third Republic, instead attempting to establish an independent government. The Commune governed Paris for two months, establishing policies that tended toward a progressive, anti-religious system of social democracy, including the separation of church and state, self-policing, the remission of rent, the abolition of child ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jozef Israëls
Jozef Israëls (27 January 1824 – 12 August 1911) was a Dutch painter. He was a leading member of the group of landscape painters referred to as the Hague School and, during his lifetime, "the most respected Dutch artist of the second half of the nineteenth century." Youth He was born in Groningen, of Jewish parents. His father, Hartog Abraham Israëls, intended for him to be a businessman, and it was only after a determined struggle that he was allowed to embark on an artistic career. He studied initially from 1835 to 1842 at the Minerva Academy in his home town Groningen. Jozef Israëls at the He continued his studies subsequently i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
