Robert Bolt is an English playwright and screenwriter born in 1924 in Sale, near Manchester, England where he was educated. His most well-known play, A Man for All Seasons, on the life of Sir Thomas More, opened in London in 1960.
Maurice Baring, poet, essayist, literary critic, and novelist, was born in London on 27 April 1874. He was educated at Eaton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He is credited with introducing Chekhov's work to the West. He died in Beauley, Inverness-shire, on 14 December 1845.
Michael Tippett, composer and conductor, was born in London on 2 January 1905. He was educated at the Royal College of Music. In 1933 Tippett was asked to conduct what became the South London (Morley College) Orchestra. He later became the director of music at Morley College. In 1951 he resigned from the college to do broadcasting for the British Broadcasting Corporation, a job which allowed him more time for composition. From 1969 to 1974 he was director of the Bath Festival. He was knighted in 1966. Tippett composed works for the stage, including operas, choral, orchestral, chamber and instrumental music. He died 8 January 1998.
Charlotte Turner, poet and novelist, was born in London on 4 May 1749. On 23 February 1765 she married Benjamin Smith. She turned to publishing her poetry after she and her husband were imprisoned for his debts. In 1788 he published her first novel, Emmeline, in four volumes. She was a mother of twelve; eight of her children were still alive when Charlotte Smith died on 28 October 1806 in Tilford, near Farnham, Surrey.
William Humphreys Dayas, pianist and composer, was born in New York of English parents in 1863 and orphaned at an early age. He studied organ and composition, and travelled to Germany in 1881 where he eventually became a pupil of Franz Liszt. Although he was a gifted pianist, he was not totally comfortable on the stage; he devoted himself to teaching. He taught at several conservatories throughout Europe and in 1896 was appointed principal professor of pianoforte at the Royal Manchester College of Music in England. He championed the music of Liszt, as well as publishing a number of his own compositions, primarily in Germany. He died in 1903 in Manchester.
Sir William Rough, lawyer and poet, was born on 21 August, probably in 1772, in St. James, Middlesex. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College Cambridge. In April 1816 he became president of the court of justice for the united colony of Demerara and Essequibo where he served for five years. In 1830 he was appointed puisne judge in Ceylon, later becoming chief justice. He was knighted on 7 August 1837. Rough published poetry in Gentleman's Magazine and Monthly Magazine. He died on 19 May 1838 at Nuwara Eliya, Ceylon.
Paul Nash, artist, was born in London on 11 May 1889. He studied art at the Chelsea Polytechnic and then at the Slade School of Fine Art. In 1930 he began his illustrations for Sir Thomas Browne's Urne Buriall and The Garden of Cyrus (London: Cassell's, 1932). Nash was a water-colourist of great individuality although remaining within the fold of the English tradition. He died in Boscombe on 11 July 1946.
John Horton MacIntyre also used the name "Mack". He was the author of a few poetry books published, in part, by subscribers such as Maple Leaves and Sprigs O'Heather (1925).
Peter Luke, playwright, director and producer, was born 12 August 1919 in St. Albans, Herfordshire. He was educated at Eaton College and Byam Shaw School of Art. He was editor of Bookman, 1962-1963, producer of the arts program Tempo, 1963-1964, and a BBC drama producer from 1963-1967. His play about Hadrian VII was produced in London in 1968 and in New York in 1969. It was published as The Play of Hadrian VII: Based on Hadrian the Seventh and Other Works by Frederick Rolfe in 1968. Luke died on 23 January 1995 in Cadiz.
Robert Hughes was a Toronto, Ontario businessman and poet. His works included Rhymes for the Times and Other Times (1950) and Some Verses for My Friends (1941).
Cosmo Gordon Lang, the son of Very Reverend John Marshall Lang, was born on 31 October 1864 and grew up in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, the seat of his father's country parish. He was educated at Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford and ordained in 1890. He served as Archbishop of York, 1908-1928, and Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England, 1928-1942. He played a prominent role in the abdication of Edward VIII. Also an author, Lang published H.R.L. Sheppard: Himself and His Work (1937). Lang died on 5 December 1945.
Harry Lyman Hooker was born in Buffalo, New York, on 16 November 1876 to Canadian parents on their way back to Canada. He grew up in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1904 he graduated from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and went on to practice internal medicine. In 1942 he became the physician of the Waldorf Astoria hotel and remained there until his retirement in 1959. It was at the Waldorf that he met several of the letter-writers represented in this fonds. An opportune investment in International Business Machines provided the basis of Hooker's wealth. He became an extremely generous benefactor to McMaster University. He died on 10 September 1979.
Robert Graves was born at Wimbledon on 25 July 1895 and educated at Charterhouse and St. John's College, Oxford. His powerful autobiography, Goodbye to All That was published in 1929. He is known for both his historical novels, beginning with I, Claudius and Claudius the God in 1934 and his poetry which was collected several times, including 1955 and again in 1975. He died at his home in Deyá, Marjorca on 7 December 1985.
Sarah Dixon, poet of Canterbury, was very born in 1671 at Rochester, Kent. Poems on Several Occasions is her only published book. For further information on Dixon, see Messenger, Pastoral Tradition and the Female Talent (2001)
Elsie J. Corrigan wrote an M.A. thesis, titled "Naomi Mitchison's Treatment of the Historical Novel", at the University of Toronto in 1951. She died in the late 1970s, probably 1979.
Boesner, Johann-Joseph, Baron de
Baron de Boesner was an Austrian banker and perhaps a diplomat. Around 1807 he was in the employ of le comte de la Fare, Bishop of Nancy, for the business affairs of King Louis XVIII in a relation to the court of Vienna.
Laura Beecroft, a missionary with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, began a period of work with the Christian and Missionary Alliance Girls' Training School in Jerusalem, Palestine during the year of 1912. Laura was a missionary and teacher of several subjects including history, Bible studies, and English grammar, composition, spelling and reading. Laura remained in this position until 1915, when in January of that year she relocated to Cairo, Egypt and studied Arabic. Later that year, Laura joined her mother and sister in New York until 1920 when she returned to the American Missionary School in Jerusalem for an unknown period of time.
Oliver Ridsdale Baldwin, 2nd Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, was born in 1899. An author and journalist, he was sometime Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for War and served as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Leeward Islands, 1948-1950. He was also a Member of Parliament representing Dudley in 1929-1931 and Paisley 1945-1947. He died in 1958 and was succeeded by his brother.
John (Jack) Mitchell of 42 Florence St., Hamilton joined the Canadian Army in 1916 at the age of 26, but had previously served three years with the 91st Hamilton Battalion. He was part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in France until he was discharged in May, 1919. Jack was believed to have worked in supply and it is unclear how he came to be in possession of the map. It may have been to be used as a road map, to help him perform his duties.
Herbert Stuart Finn, of Chesley, Ontario, served in the First World War. He was hospitalized due to a gas attack in France, eventually returning to Canada, but passed away in 1919 at a military hospital in the Ontario Reformatory School in Guelph.
