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

By Tim Lambert His early life Robert Boyle was one of the great 17th century scientists. He was an outstanding chemist. Robert Boyle was born on 25 January 1627. Robert was the 7th son of Richard Boyle the first Earl of Cork and his wife Catherine (who died in 1630). In 1635 when he was… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Robert Boyle

By Tim Lambert His Early Life Thomas More was an English statesman and writer of the early 16th century. Thomas More was born on 7 February 1478 in Milk Street in London. (At that time London was a bustling town of perhaps 60,000 or 70,000 people). His father, John More was a lawyer and the… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Thomas More

By Tim Lambert His Early Life Tycho Brahe was one of the great astronomers of the 16th century. He lived before the telescope was invented yet he made very accurate observations of the positions of stars. Tycho Brahe was born on Knudstrup on 14 December 1546. (It was then part of n but it is… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Tycho Brahe

By Tim Lambert His Early Life William Blake was a famous poet, painter, and engraver of the late 18th century and early 19th century. Blake was a radical, anti-authority figure. William Blake was born at 28 Broad Street in Soho, London on 28 November 1757. His father James Blake was a hosier. He and his… Continue reading A Brief Biography of William Blake

By Tim Lambert His Early Life William Herschel was one of the great astronomers of the 18th century. He was born Friedrich Wilhelm in Hanover, Germany on 15 November 1738. He was one of 10 children, of whom 6 survived. His father was a musician and Herschel followed in his footsteps. When he was 14… Continue reading A Brief Biography of William Herschel

By Tim Lambert His Early Life William Shakespeare was baptized on 26 April 1564. We don’t know the exact date of his birth but in the 16th century, it was normal for babies to be baptised within a few days of their birth (because so many died). Shakespeare was born the same year as Christopher… Continue reading A Brief Biography of William Shakespeare

By Tim Lambert The Early Life of Tyndale William Tyndale was a great man of the 16th century. Little is known about his childhood. Tyndale was born about 1494 in Gloucestershire. He came from a family of landowners and wool merchants. We also know that Tyndale had two brothers. The family was well off and… Continue reading A Brief Biography of William Tyndale

By Tim Lambert William Wilberforce campaigned against the slave trade. He was born on 24 August 1759 in Wilberforce House in High Street, Hull, Yorkshire. William had 3 sisters but only 1 lived to adulthood. His father, Robert was a merchant. His mother was called Elizabeth. As a child, William was educated at Hull Grammar… Continue reading A Brief Biography of William Wilberforce

By Tim Lambert His Early Life Winston Churchill was a 20th-century British prime minister. He was born on 30 November 1874 in Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England. His father was Lord Randolph Churchill and his mother, Jeanette was an American woman. Winston had a brother called John, born in 1880. When he was a child… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Winston Churchill

By Tim Lambert Alfred the Great was born in Wantage, Oxfordshire in 849. He was the youngest son of King Aethelwulf of Wessex. (In those days England was divided into four kingdoms, Northumbria in the north, East Anglia and Mercia in the Midlands, and Wessex in the south). In 868 Alfred married Ealhswith. King Alfred… Continue reading King Alfred and the Danes