Category: Brief histories of famous people across the world and ages

By Tim Lambert Henry Fawcett was a reformer of the 19th century. He campaigned for women’s suffrage (women’s right to vote). Henry was born in Salisbury on 26 August 1833. He was one of 4 children. Henry was educated at Cambridge University. Unfortunately, Henry was blinded in an accident in 1858. His father shot at… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Henry Fawcett

By Tim Lambert His Early Life Henry VIII was born at Greenwich Palace on 28 June 1491 the second son of Henry Tudor (Henry VII). However, Henry’s older brother Arthur died in 1502. So Henry came to the throne in 1509. (Henry also had an older sister called Margaret and a younger sister called Mary).… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Henry VIII

By Tim Lambert Hilda of Whitby was an influential woman in the Anglo-Saxon Church. Christianity was first brought to Britain during the Roman occupation. However, in 407 the last Roman soldiers left Britain. In the 5th and 6th centuries Pagan peoples, the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes from Germany and Denmark invaded what is now England… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Hilda of Whitby

By Tim Lambert The early life of Newton Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe near Grantham in Lincolnshire, England on 4 January 1643. His father died before he was born and in 1645 his mother married a clergyman from North Welham in Leicestershire. She went to live with him while Isaac Newton lived with his… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Isaac Newton

By Tim Lambert Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in Portsea, Portsmouth on 9 April 1806. His father Isambard Marc Brunel was also an engineer. He was born in France in 1769 but he fled abroad in 1793 during the French Revolution. In 1799 he married Sophia Kingdom and they had 3 children, Sophia, Isambard, and Emma. Isambard… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Isambard Kingdom Brunel

By Tim Lambert James Simpson was born on 7 June 1811 in the village of Bathgate in Linlithgowshire, Scotland. His parents were the village bakers and he was one of 7 children. However, his mother died when he was 9 years old. James Simpson attended the parish school then when he was 14 he went… Continue reading A Brief Biography of James Simpson

By Tim Lambert James Watt was a great Scottish engineer of the 18th century. He did not invent the steam engine. Instead, he greatly improved it. A man named Thomas Savery invented the first primitive steam engine in 1698. A man named Newcomen started making steam engines to pump water from mines in 1712. However,… Continue reading A Brief Biography of James Watt

By Tim Lambert Her early Life Joan of Arc was a woman who inspired the French army to win victories in the 15th century. Joan was born about 1412 in the village of Domremy. Her parents were fairly well-off peasants and as a girl, Joan helped her mother around the house. She would have learned… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Joan of Arc

By Tim Lambert The early life of Kepler Johannes Kepler was one of the great astronomers of the 17th century. Kepler was born in Weil der Stadt in southern Germany on 27 December 1571. His father Heinrich was a mercenary soldier. Johannes’s family was poor but in 1588 he won a scholarship to study theology… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Johannes Kepler