Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Stephenson, George, 1781–1848, British engineer, noted as a locomotive builder. He learned to read and write in night school at the age of 18, while working in a colliery. He constructed (1814) a tr...

(Encyclopedia) Saint George, town (1991 pop. 1,648), on St. George's Island, Bermuda. It was the capital of Bermuda until 1815, when it was replaced by Hamilton. During the American Civil War it harbored Confederate...

(Encyclopedia) Bruce, Edward, d. 1318, Scottish king of Ireland, brother of Robert I of Scotland. He aided his brother in the war for independence from England and in 1315 was declared heir to Robert's throne. With ...

(Encyclopedia) Edwards, Edward, 1812–86, English library pioneer. As assistant from 1839 in the British Museum, he helped Sir Anthony Panizzi draw up the rules for the catalog. Edwards collected library statistics...

(Encyclopedia) Hancock, Winfield Scott, 1824–86, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Montgomery Square, near Norristown, Pa. He served with distinction in the Mexican War and was chief quartermaster on the...

(Encyclopedia) Cruikshank, George kro͝okˈshăngk [key], 1792–1878, English caricaturist, illustrator, and etcher; younger son of Isaac Cruikshank (1756–1810), caricaturist. Self-taught, George early gained a r...

(Encyclopedia) Westcott, Edward Noyes, 1846–98, American novelist and banker, b. Syracuse, N.Y. He is known for his popular novel, David Harum (pub. posthumously, 1898), which concerns a shrewd, humorous country b...

(Encyclopedia) Dyer, Sir Edward, 1543?–1607, Elizabethan poet. A friend of Sidney and Spenser, he was celebrated in his day as an elegist. His best-known poem is “My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is.” ...

(Encyclopedia) Engleheart, George, 1752–1829, English miniature painter. He studied with Sir Joshua Reynolds and made copies in miniature of Reynolds's paintings. Court miniaturist under George III, he competed su...

(Encyclopedia) Stassen, Harold Edward stăsˈən [key], 1907–2001, American public official and university president, b. West St. Paul, Minn. A Republican lawyer, he held his first public office at the age of 23. ...