Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Zaharoff, Sir Basil

(Encyclopedia)Zaharoff, Sir Basil (Basileios Zacharias) zăˈhərŏfˌ [key], 1850–1936, international financier and munitions manufacturer, b. Anatolia, Turkey, probably of Greek-Russian parents, educated in Eng...

Brittan, Sir Leon

(Encyclopedia)Brittan, Sir Leon brĭtˈən [key], 1939–, British politician. Educated at Cambridge, he was elected to Parliament as a Conservative in 1974. Under Margaret Thatcher he served as home secretary (198...

Buller, Sir Redvers Henry

(Encyclopedia)Buller, Sir Redvers Henry bŭlˈər [key], 1839–1908, British general. His military career began in China, and he later took part in the suppression of the Red River Rebellion (1870) in Canada. In A...

Bowell, Sir Mackenzie

(Encyclopedia)Bowell, Sir Mackenzie bōˈəl [key], 1823–1917, Canadian prime minister, b. England. A leader of the Protestant and English interests in Canada, he served as a Conservative in the Canadian House of...

Sturdee, Sir Frederick Charles Doveton

(Encyclopedia)Sturdee, Sir Frederick Charles Doveton stûrˈdē [key], 1859–1925, British admiral. He entered the navy in 1871 and rose to become (1914) chief of war staff at the admiralty on the outbreak of Worl...

Bernard, Sir Francis

(Encyclopedia)Bernard, Sir Francis bûrˈnərd [key], 1712–79, British colonial governor. He was educated at Oxford and was called to the bar in 1737. As colonial governor of New Jersey (1758–60), he did much t...

Cavendish, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Cavendish, Thomas, 1560–92, English navigator. He commanded a ship in the flotilla under Sir Richard Grenville sent (1585) by Sir Walter Raleigh to establish the first colony in Virginia. In 1586, i...

Baffin, William

(Encyclopedia)Baffin, William, c.1584–1622, British arctic explorer. He was pilot on two expeditions (1615–16) sent out to search for the Northwest Passage under command of Robert Bylot, who was formerly with H...

Prevost, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Prevost, Sir George prĕˈvō [key], 1767–1816, British soldier and governor in chief of Canada (1811–15). He held several administrative posts in the West Indies before becoming (1808) lieutenant...

Pitman, Sir Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Pitman, Sir Isaac, 1813–97, English inventor of phonographic shorthand. In Stenographic Soundhand (1837) he set forth a shorthand system based on phonetic rather than orthographic principles; adapte...
 

Browse by Subject