Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Grenfell, Sir Wilfred Thomason, 1865–1940, English physician and missionary, famous for his work among Labrador fishermen. After serving as a missionary to fishermen of the North Sea, Dr. Grenfell w...

(Encyclopedia) Rayleigh, John William Strutt, 3d Baron rāˈlē [key], 1842–1919, English physicist. He was professor at Cambridge (1879–84) and at the Royal Institution (1887–1905), and chancellor of Cambridg...

(Encyclopedia) Fathers of the Church, collective name for the Christian writers of early times whose work is considered generally orthodox. A convenient definition includes all such writers up to and including St. G...

(Encyclopedia) Lawrence, Sir Henry Montgomery, 1806–57, British general and administrator in India; brother of John Laird Mair Lawrence. Commissioned (1822) in the Bengal artillery, he fought in Myanmar (1824–26...

(Encyclopedia) Galahad, Sir gălˈəhădˌ [key], hero of Arthurian legend. He was the son of Launcelot and Elaine, the daughter of King Pelles. Because he was the noblest and purest of the knights of Christendom, h...

(Encyclopedia) Douglas, Sir James, 1803–77, Canadian fur trader and colonial governor, b. British Guiana (now Guyana). As a young man, he went to Canada in the service of the North West Company; soon after its mer...

(Encyclopedia) Gawain, Sir gäˈwān, –wĭn [key], one of the most popular heroes of Arthurian legend; nephew of King Arthur. He was regarded, particularly in the early romances, as the model of chivalry—pure, b...

(Encyclopedia) Vane, Sir Henry, 1613–62, English statesman; son of Sir Henry Vane (1589–1655). Early converted to Puritanism, he went to New England in 1635 and became governor of Massachusetts in 1636. His reli...

(Encyclopedia) Somers, John Somers or Sommers, Baron sŭmˈərz [key], 1651–1716, English jurist and statesman. In the Glorious Revolution he secured Parliament's acceptance of the official statement that James II...

(Encyclopedia) Saint John's, city (2001 pop. 99,182), provincial capital, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, on the northeast coast of the Avalon Peninsula, SE Newfoundland island. Built on hills overlooking a fine ...