E.html

EADIE, Dennis (1875-1928). British actor. He made his first appearance in London under George Alexander at the St. Jame's theatre in 1900. He gained a high reputation as an actor in various Galsworthy plays and under the Vedrenne-Barker management, entering into management of the Royalty Theatre with J.E. Vedrenne in 1911.
EADIE, John (1810-76). Scottish theologian. He entered the United Presbyterian Church in 1835, and was for many years a minister in Glasgow. His fame rests on his abridged edition of Cruden's concordance, 1839, and he was one of the revisers of the New Testament.
EADMER (D. 1124). English Historian. A monk who was the close friend of Archbishop Anselm. When he was elected to the archbishopric of St. Andrews, Scotland, 1120, the Scottish king denied the jurisdiction of Canterbury and Eadmer eventually renounced his see. He wrote a life of S. Anselm and Historia Novorum, an English history.
EARLE, jOHN (C.1601-65). English divine. Tutor to Charles Prince of Wales, and became dean of Westminister in 1643. After the Restoration he was made bishop of Worcester in 1662 and bishop of Salisbury in 1663. He wrote Microcosmography. For Charles II he made the Latin translation of the Eikon Basilike.
EARLE, John (1824-1903). English philologist. In 1849 became professor of Anglo-Saxon at the university of Oxford. Ordained in 1857 he was for many years a clergyman at Bath. Best known work is his Philology of the English tongue, 1871 and his most important the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1865.
EARLOM, Richard (1743-1822). English mezzotint engraver. He produced the Liber Veritatis, a series of 200 plates after Claude Lorrain as well as many subjects after the old masters. He was responsible for several improvements in mezzotint technique and was one of the finest mezzotint engravers of the English school.
EAST, Sir Alfred (1849-1913). English artist. A landscape artist of pronounced individuality, he was elected A.R.A. in 1899 and R.A. in 1913. It is as an etcher that he is best remembered. He was knighted in 1910.
EASTLAKE, Sir Charles Lock (1793-1865) English artist. Elected A.R.A. 1827, and R.A. in 1829. Librarian to the Academy in 1842, and keeper of the National Gallery, London, 1843-47. Returned as its first director in 1855. In 1850 president of the R.A., and was knighted. He was responsible for many of the fine pictures obtained by the gallery.
EASTMAN, George (1854-1932). American inventor. He turned his attention to the making of sensitive dry plates, and began manufacturing them in 1880. 4 years later he produced the first efficient roll-film, and perfected his first Kodak camera in 1888. He patented the first machine for making rolls of transparent film in 1890, and as head of various Kodak companies amassed great wealth. As a philanthropist, he endowed the university at Rochester, New York, founded the Mechanics' Institute, and a school of music, and set up a symphony orchestra. In 1930, he gave 300,000 pounds to the royal Free Hospital, London.
EATON, Theophilus (c.1590-1658). English administrator. Interested in American colonization, he emigrated in 1637 and founded the colony of New Haven. Governor of the colony from 1639-58. A prominent member of the New England Federation, and drew up the code known as the Connecticut Blue Laws in1655.
EBERHARD, (1445-96) Duke of Wurtemberg. Became count of one part of the country in 1457, securing the rest of it in 1482. In 1495 raised to the rank of duke. He is regarded as the founder or the country as he was the first to unite it into a single principality. He also established the university of Tubingen.
EBERLEIN, Gustav (1847-1926). German sculptor. Influenced by the Baroque schook, he became well known for fine public monuments, which included Bismarck, Wagner and Goethe. Also a painter and author.
EBERLIN, Johann Ernst (1702-1926) German sculptor. He was influenced by the Baroque school and became well know for fine public monuments. some of these were of bismarck, Wagner and Goethe. He was also known as a painter and author.
EBERS, Georg Moritz (1837-98). German Egyptologist and novelist. To popularise Egyptology he wrote An Egyptian Princess in 1864. After travelling in Egypt he wrote Egypt and the Book of Moses, 1868. Professor of Egyptology at Leipzig, 1870-89. When again visiting Egypt in 1872-73 he discovered at Thebes a fine example of ancient papyri - Papyrus Ebers. As well as novels based on Egyptian history he wrote historical novels placed in South Germany and the Netherlands in the 16th century.
EBERT, Adolf (1820-90) German philologist. He became professor at Leipzig . His book on medieval literature became a standard work on the subject.
EBERT, Friedeich (1871-1925) German statesman. He was a socialist, and became editor of the socialist organ, Bremer Burgerzeitung in 1892. He married Louise Kamp 2 years later who became his best counsellor throughout his life. In 1916 he was the leader of the socialist party and in the revolution of 1918 he succeeded Prince Max of Baden as chancellor, and then became provisional president of Germany. In 1919 he protested over the armistice terms and urged the union of German-Austria with Germany. He was elected first president of the German republic and remained in office until his death.
EBERTH, Karl Joseph (1835-1926) German bacteriologis. He was professor at Halle 1881-1911 and in 1880 discovered the typhus bacillus which bears his name.
EBNER-ESCHENBACH, Baroness Marie Von (1830-1916). Austrian author. She published a drama in 1860 Maria Stuart in Schottland, and then turned to fiction. Die Prinzessin von Banalien 1872 and Zwei Komtessen 1885. Parabeln, Marchen and Gedichte, 1892.
EBROIN (d.681). Frankish ruler. A Neustrian by birth, he spent his life in efforts to unite Neustria with Burgundy and Austrasia. After a long struggle with Leger, bishop of Autun, whom he was to torture to death in 678, Ebroin became ruler of all the Franks. In 681 he was assassinated.
ECA DE QUEIROZ, Jose Maria (1843-1900). Portuguese author. He was a journalist. His novel O Crime du Padre Amaro, 1874, founded his reputation. He was Portuguese consul at Havana, Newcastle, Bristol and Paris.
ECCELINO DA ROMANO (1194-1259). Italian leader. he became a leading supporter of the emperor Frederick II. For him Eccelino held Verona and Padua; he fought against Popes Gregory IX and Alexander IV with varying fortunes, finally dying a prisoner. His brutality won him a place in Dante's Inferno.
ECHEGARAY Y EIZAGUIRRE, Jose (1832-1916). Spanish drmatist. He was a teacher of mathematics. He was minister of education 1872-73, and in 1874 and 1905-06 was minister of finance. He was a successful business man as well as a philosopher and poet, and in 1904 won a Nobel Prize for literature. The author of over 80 dramas he is regarded as the founder of the new school of Spanish dramatists. Mariana, 1893, and El Gran Galeoto were produced in London and his plays were extensively translated.
ECK, Johann Maier Von [1486-1543]. German theologian. He was ordained priest in 1508. The ablest opponent of the reformation in Germany, in 1519 he debated publicly at Leipzig with Luther and Carlstadt, and in the following year went to Rome. He returned with the papal bull excommunicating Luther. Eck organized the Catholic Federation and took a prominent part in its successive conferences and diets, 1524-40. His German version of the Bible was published in 1537, and he died at Ingolstadt where he had been professor of theology since 1510.
ECKARDSTEIN, Hermann Von, Baron [1864-1933]. He entered the diplomatic corps in 1888, serving in London 1891-1901. Though never ambassador, as first secretary he performed most of the functions of one. He resigned from the diplomatic service in 1907. At the beginning of World War 1 he was on the staff of the Crown Prince but was soon removed. As a diplomat and a soldier he was more eager to increase his own prestige and fortune than those of his country. His writings included Personal Memories of King Edward, 1927, and Die Entlassung des Fursten Bulow, 1931. He married the daughter and heiress of Sir John Blundell Maple, but they later divorced.
ECKERMANN Johann Peter (1792-1854). German writer. He sent Goethe the MS of his Beitrage zur Poesie. This resulted in his going to Weimar, where he acted as secretary to the poet. The editor of the final edition of his writings, he is best remembered by his Gesprache mi Goethe (1836-48) translated as Conversations with Goethe.
ECKERSBERG Christoffer Vilhelm (1783-1853). Danish painter. Influenced considerably by Thorwaldsen, he was the most fashionable painter of his day in Denmark. Equally good at landscape and portraiture, he was the founder of the Danish national school of landscape painting.
ECKHART, Johannes (c.1260-1327). German mystic, He became a Dominican friar, and in 1298 was prior of Erfurt and provinical of Thuringia. He was from 1320 until his death professor at Cologne. Certain expressions used by him were condemned as heretical and he was suspected of pantheism, but he made complete repudiation of error and submission to Rome. Eckhart was the founder of German mysticism. His teaching was mainly concerned with the Divine essence in all things, the relation of the human soul to God and the attainment of God by casting off all that hinders knowledge of God.
EDDIUS, Anglo-Saxon writer. As author of a life of Wilfrid, bishop of York, for whom he worked in Northumbria, Eddius can claim to be the writer of the earliest Anglo-Saxon chronicle. His book, in date about 710, was extensively used by Bede.
EDDY, Mary Baker (1821-1910). The American founder of Christian Science and leader of the Christian Science movement. She married in 1843 Major George W. Glover who died in 1844. She married Dr. Daniel S. Patterson in 1853, and in 1873 obtained a divorce. Her third husband Asa Gilbert Eddy, whom she married in 1877, died in 1882. Her discovery of Christian Science in 1866 was the result of her recovery, which she attributed to reading Matt. 9, 2-7, from the effects of an accident. Thereafter she devoted three years to the study of the bible, and then wrote the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. In 1879 she founded the church of Christ, Scientist, reorganised in 1892 under the name of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts. she also founded amongst other papers, the Christian Science Monitor.
EDELFELT, Albert Gustaf Aristide (1854-1905). Finnish painter. He painted landscapes, portraits, and compositions and was invited by Tsar Alexander III to paint the portraits of his children.
EDELINCK, Gerard (1640-1707) Flemish engraver. He settled in Paris in 1665. He obtained ample patronage from Louis XIV, was received in the Academy in 1677, and died in Paris. He was one of the most brilliant line engravers of the 17th century, Edelinck was especially accomplished in portraiture.
EDGAR (944-75). King of the English. the younger son of King Edmund, he ruled the land north of the Thames after 957, and in 959, on the death of his brother Edwy, became king of the whole country. Edgar's authority extended to Ireland and he called himself imperator. He fought against the Welsh, and formed a fleet for service against the pirates, but his reign was in general peaceful; the most noteworthy event was his strict reorganization of the monastic system in conjunction with S. Dunstan.
EDGAR ATHELING (d. c. 1130). English prince. the son of Edward the Exile and grandson of Edmund Ironside, he was born in Hungary, but was brought to England in infancy. After Harold's death in 1066 he was proclaimed king by the northern earls, and was involved in unsuccessful rebellions 1068-69. Reconciled to William the Conqueror in 1074, he lived at his court in Normandy for twelve years. He succeeded in 1097 in securing the throne of Scotland for his nephew Edgar, and in 1099 went on crusade. Taken prisoner at the battle of Tinchebrai, 1106, while fighting for Robert of Normandy against Henry I, he was released, but the rest of his life was spent in obscurity.
EDGEWORTH, Maria (1767-1849). British novelist. Daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, she spent most of her life on her father's Irish estate at Edgeworthstown. She obtained her knowledge of the Irish peasantry from dealing with his tenants and her familiarity with fashionable life from association with his aristocratic neighbours. Practical Education, 1798, was written in collaboration with her father. Visits to London and the Continent between 1803 and 1844 brought her into touch with the best literary and fashionable society of her time. In addition to the three novels of Irish life on which her fame is based - Castle Rackrent, 1800; The Absentee, 1812; and Ormond, 1817 - she wrote The Parent's Assistant, 1796; Moral Tales for Young People, 1801, and several similar books. She had considerable influence on Scott, whom she visited in 1823, as well as on Jane Austen. Scott credits her with being the first to break from the traditional type of heroine.
EDGEWORTH, Richard Lovell (1744-1817). British author. He belonged to an English family that made their home in Ireland. Of independent means, Edgeworth was able to devote his time to study, travel, and experiment. The close friend of Thomas Day, he was responsible for several inventions, including a very practicable system of telegraphy. He helped to found the Royal Irish Academy. His theories on education were published in Practical Education, 1798. This work was written in collaboration with his daughter Maria, who after his death, completed his memoirs.
EDINBURGH, Alfred Ernest Albert, duke of (1844-1900). The fourth child, and second son of Queen Victoria, at the age of 21, he was created Duke of Edinburgh and Earl of Ulster. Having entered the navy, in 1893 he became admiral of the fleet. He married the grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna, daughter of the Tsar Alexander II, in 1874, and in 1893, succeeded his uncle, Ernest II, as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the right of succession, having been renounced by his brother the Prince of Wales, afterwards, Edward VII. Earlier in his life he had been offered the throne of Greece, which for political reasons was refused for him. He was a successful ruler of his duchy, and in private life a man of culture, a musician and a collector.
EDISON, Thomas Alva (1847-1931). inventor. Edison only went to school for three months and was sent home by his teachers as he was considered unintelligent, so was educated by his mother. At age 12, he began life as a news boy on the railway, and distinguished himself by setting up and printing a little new sheet,, the Grand Trunk Herald. He then became a telegraph operator, moving from place to place eventually arriving in Boston, 1866. He set up a small work shop and made his first invention, of vote recording machine, which he patented. He moved to New York in 1869 and began to invent a remarkable series of improvements on the then crude methods all electrical transmission, which revolutionized telegraphy throughout the world.The automatic repeater, the quadruplex and printing telegraph, and the sextuplex method of transmission followed in rapid succession. These machines were all purchased by the Weston Union Telegraph Company, for whom Edison had worked as an operator. He established works in Newark, New Jersey, where he carried on experiments in every type of electrical research; these were all patented, and he soon had a reputation in every state. In 1875 Bell had invented and patented an electrical telephone. Edison saw how to perfect it, and sold his patent to Bell. In 1878 he set to work on the problem of electric light. In 1879, he discovered the carbon filament, and set up his first generating Station in New York. This invention was actually evolved at Menlo Park, his secondlaboratory; they also he invented the phonograph. Shortly after this he moved to Orange, New Jersey, where he built the laboratories in which he worked for the last period of his life. He invented the kinetoscope, the direct forerunner of the cinematograph, in 1887, and from 1891 to 1900 he worked out his scheme for a magnetic ore separator. The adoption of electrocution in the U.S.A. was directly due to his researches. He also produced 1900-1910, a new form of storage battery, the Edison nickel iron cell, and as early as 1883 foreshadowed the radio valve. He also invented a method of transmitting messages from moving trains or ships. During World War I, he was employed on Naval research, but for his last few years he turned his attention chiefly to chemical problems. His plants for large production of benzol and carbonic acid were of especial value during the war. In over 50 years as an inventor he took out well over 1,000 patents.
EDISS, Connie (1871-1934). English actress. She made her stage debut in 1883, and after a music-hall apprenticeship appeared on the legitimate stage at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in The Shop Girl in 1896. She subsequently achieved a great reputation as an actress of broad comedy, later plays in which she appeared included A Warm Corner, 1929; It's a Boy, 1931; Night of the Garter, 1932; and Fresh Fields, 1933.
EDMUND (841-70). King of East Anglia. He succeeded Offa as king of East Anglia in 855. Captured by the Danes on their invasion in 870, he refused to give up Christianity and was beheaded. His body was removed in the ninth century to Bury, now known as Bury St. Edmunds, where the famous shrine was erected, and he was venerated as a saint.
EDMUND (c. 922-46). King of the English. The son of Edward the Elder, he succeeded his half-brother Athelstan in 940. The early part of his reign was spent in subduing Anlaf, who had invaded Northumbria from Ireland. He conquered Cumbria in 945 and bestowed it on Malcolm, King of Scotland, on condition that he should be his "fellow worker by sea and land. He was murdered at Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, May 26, 946 and was buried at Glastonsbury. His two sons, Edwy and Edgar became kings after him.
EDMUND (1245-96) English prince. A son of Henry III of England, he was made king of Sicily at the age of 10, by Pope Alexander IV, but he never secured the throne and the grant was canceled in 1258. As earl of Lancaster from 1265, he supported his brother when the latter became king as Edward I, 1274, and served for him on diplomatic missions in France. Known as Crouchback, he was appointed lieutenant of Gascony in 1296.
EDMUND IRONSIDE. (c.981-1016) King of the English. A younger son of Etheldred the Unready, as ruler of Mercia, he opposed Canute, who forced him back into Northumbria. The death of Ethelred put an end to the war, but when Edmund was chosen king in London and Canute at Southampton, it was continued more fiercely than before. In Somerset the English king was victorious, and after a battle at Sherston, in Wiltshire he was left master of Wessex. He then relieved London, but was badly defeated at Assandun. After this a division of the kingdom was agreed upon but Edmon died in London before it was carried out. He won his name by his personal bravery and his fighting record of a single year.
EDRED (d.955). King of the English. The youngest son of Edward the Elder, he succeeded his brother Edmund in 946, being King in name of Northumbria and part of Scotland. When his northern vassals revolted he ravaged Northumbria and forced them to submit, imprisoning Wulfstan, Archbishop of York, for his encouragement of the rebels. He defeated his father's old enemy, Anlaf, about 950. For many years Edred was guided by S. Dunstan.
EDRISI MOHAMMED (1100). Arabian geographer. A descendent of Mohammed, known strictly as Ibn Mohammed El Edrisi, he was born at Ceuta, Morocco. After extensive travels he settled in Sicily, where, at the desire of the King Roger II, he mapped the world on a silver globe and wrote in explanation A Description of the World, sometimes known as The Book of Roger, completed in 1154, the chief geographical work of the middle ages.