John Peter Bernard () (died 1750) was an Anglo-French biographer, elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

for his work on the ''

General Dictionary, Historical and Critical The ''General Dictionary, Historical and Critical'' was a biographical dictionary published from 1734 to 1741 in London in 10 volumes. Contributors The dictionary derived from the ''Dictionnaire historique et critique'' of Pierre Bayle, already ...

''.

Life

He was the son of James (Jacques) Bernard, a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

minister known as a man of letters. He received his education at the

University of Leyden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

, where he took degrees in arts and philosophy. In 1733 he was settled in London, and earning a livelihood by preaching, giving lessons in literature and mathematics, and compiling for the booksellers. Bernard was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society in January 1738. He died in the parish of St. Marylebone, on 6 April 1760.

Works

Bernard is remembered for having made major contributions to the ''General Dictionary, Historical and Critical'', 10 vols. London, 1734–41. His article contributions were marked with "P." at the end, comprising 63 articles on subjects not in

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. He is best known for his '' Historical and Critical Dictionary'', whose publication began in 1697. Many of the more controversial ideas ...

's ''

Dictionnaire Historique et Critique The ''Dictionnaire Historique et Critique'' (; ) was a French biographical dictionary written by Pierre Bayle (1647–1706), a Huguenot philosopher who lived and published in Rotterdam, in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, after flee ...

'', on which the ''Dictionary'' was based. These names are listed by Osborn, and include Bayle himself, and

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

. The other contributors with assigned signatures were

Thomas Birch Thomas Birch (23 November 17059 January 1766) was an English historian. Life He was the son of Joseph Birch, a coffee-mill maker, and was born at Clerkenwell. He preferred study to business but, as his parents were Quakers, he did not go to ...

and John Lockman.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, John Peter Year of birth missing 1750 deaths English people of French descent English biographers Fellows of the Royal Society English male non-fiction writers