- George Washington
George Washington was a central and critical figure in the founding of the United States, and is commonly referred to as father of the nation. He led America's Continental Army to victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and in 1789 was elected the first President of the United States of America. He served two four-year terms from 1789 to 1797, winning reelection in 1792. - Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17 1790) was one of the most critical Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a leading author, political theorist, politician, printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, environmentalist, and diplomat. As a scientist he was a major figure in the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As a political writer and activist he, more than anyone, invented the idea of an American nation, … - Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (Thetford, England, 29 January 1737 - 8 June 1809, New York City, USA) was a pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, and intellectual. Born in Great Britain, he lived in America, having migrated to the American colonies just in time to take part in the American Revolution, mainly as the author of the powerful, widely read pamphlet, "Common Sense" (1776), advocating independence for the American Colonies from the Kingdom of Great Britain. - James Cook
Captain James Cook FRS RN (27 October 1728 (O.S.) – 14 February 1779) was an English explorer, navigator and cartographer. Ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy, Cook was the first to map Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia, the European discovery of the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. - Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC (26 August 1676 - 18 March 1745) was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. This position had no official recognition in law, but Walpole is nevertheless acknowledged as having held the "de facto" office due to the extent of his influence in the Cabinet. However, the term "Prime Minister" was never used officially at this time. - William Pitt The Younger
William Pitt the Younger (28 May 1759 - 23 January 1806) was a British politician of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He served as Prime Minister from 1783 to 1801, and again from 1804 until his death. He is known as "William Pitt the Younger" to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt the Elder, who also served as Prime Minister of Great Britain. The younger Pitt's prime ministerial tenure, which came during the reign of George III, … - Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe was an English writer, journalist and spy, who gained enduring fame for his novel "Robinson Crusoe". Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest practitioners of the novel and helped popularize the genre in Britain. In some texts he is even referred to as one of the founders, if not the founder, of the English novel. A prolific and versatile writer, he wrote over five hundred books, pamphlets, and journals on various topics (including politics, crime, … - John Williams
John Williams (1582-1650) was a British clergyman and political advisor to King James I. He served as Bishop of Lincoln 1621-1641, Keeper of the Great Seal also known as Lord Keeper or Lord Chancellor 1621-1625, and Archbishop of York 1641-1650. He was the last archbishop to serve as lord chancellor. - George III of the United Kingdom
George III (New Style dates) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. He was concurrently Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and thus Elector (and later King) of Hanover. The Electorate became the Kingdom of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, … - John Jay
John Jay was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, and jurist. Considered one of the "founding fathers" of the United States, Jay served in the Continental Congress, and was elected President of that body in 1778. During and after the American Revolution, he was a minister (ambassador) to Spain and France, helping to fashion American foreign policy and to secure favorable peace terms from the British and French. - Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold V was a successful Connecticut merchant who fought for American independence from the British Empire as a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. In the United States, Arnold is best known for his betrayal of the rebel cause by plotting to surrender the American fort at West Point, New York to the British during the American Revolution. - Charles James Fox
Hon. Charles James Fox (24 January, 1749 - 13 September, 1806) was a prominent British Whig politician. He is noted as an anti-slavery campaigner, a supporter of American independence from Britain, and as a supporter of the French Revolution. He held several senior government offices, including being Britain's first Foreign Secretary. Fox was the third son of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, one of the older generation of self-aggrandizing Whigs. - Paul Revere
Paul Revere (bap. December 22, 1734 (OS) / January 1 1735 (NS) - May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. Because he was immortalized after his death for his role as a messenger in the battles of Lexington and Concord, Revere's name and his "midnight ride" are well-known in the United States as a patriotic symbol. In his lifetime, Revere was a prosperous and prominent Boston craftsman, … - Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams was an American statesman, politician, writer and political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Adams was instrumental in garnering the support of the colonies for rebellion against Great Britain, eventually resulting in the American Revolution, and was also one of the key architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped American political culture. - George Grenville
George Grenville (14 October 1712 - 13 November 1770) was a British Whig statesman who served in government for the relatively short period of seven years, reaching the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was one of the few prime ministers (others include William Pitt the Younger, Sir Winston Churchill and William Gladstone) who never acceded to the peerage. Grenville was the second son of Richard Grenville and Hester Temple (later the 1st Countess Temple). - Anne Of Great Britain
Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702, succeeding King William III. Her Roman Catholic father, James II, was forcibly deposed in 1688; her brother-in-law and her sister then became joint monarchs as William III and Mary II, the only such case in British history. After Mary's death in 1694, William continued as sole monarch until his own death in 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union 1707, … - Henry Pelham
Henry Pelham (25 September 1694 - 6 March1754) was a British Whig statesman, who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 27 August 1743 until his death in 1754 - Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough (christened 14 May 1727 - 2 August 1788) was one of the most famous portrait and landscape painters of 18th century Britain. - John Burgoyne
General John Burgoyne (February 241722 - August 4 1792) was a British army officer, politician and dramatist. During the American Revolutionary War, on October 17, 1777, at Saratoga he surrendered his army of 6,000 men. - Charles Grey
Sir Charles Grey (March 15 1804 - March 31 1870) was a British army officer, member of the British House of Commons and political figure in Lower Canada. In later life, he served as private secretary to Prince Albert and later Queen Victoria. He was born in Northumberland, England in 1804, the son of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey. Grey joined the British Army as a sub-lieutenant in 1820 and commanded the 73rd Regiment from 1833 to 1842. - John Dalrymple
John Dalrymple (1734-1779), Scottish writer, wrote numerous political tracts, among which "Answers for the Right Honourable John Dalrymple, Lord Provost of the city of Edinburgh, and others; to the petition of James Stoddart, Esq; late old Provost, and James Stirling, Esq; late one of the bailies of said city, and others" is the most widely preserved. - James Murray
James Murray (Ballencrieff, East Lothian, Scotland, 21 January 1721- 18 June 1794 Battle) was a British military officer, whose lengthy career included service as colonial administrator and governor of Quebec. He was a younger son of Alexander Murray, 4th Lord Elibank, and his wife Elizabeth (Betty) Stirling. Educated in Haddington and Selkirk, he began his military career in 1736 in the 3rd Scots Regiment in the Dutch service. - John Spencer
John Spencer (13 May 1708 - 20 June 1746) was a British politician and an ancestor of the Earls Spencer. Born Hon. John Spencer, he was the youngest son of the 3rd Earl of Sunderland and his wife, Anne. In 1732, he succeeded his cousin, William Godolphin, Marquess of Blandford as Member of Parliament (MP) for Woodstock, a seat he held until 1746. He was involved in the foundation of the Foundling Hospital, famously championed by Thomas Coram, William Hogarth and others. - William Pitt 1st Earl of Chatham
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham PC (15 November, 1708 - 11 May, 1778) was a British Whig statesman who achieved his greatest fame as Secretary of State during the Seven Years' War (aka French and Indian War) and who was later Prime Minister of Great Britain. He is often known as William Pitt the Elder to distinguish him from his son, William Pitt the Younger, who served as Prime Minister from 1783-1801 and from 1804 to his death in 1806. - Henry Colburn
Henry Colburn (d. August 16, 1855), British publisher, obtained his earliest experience of book-selling in London at the establishment of W. Earle, Albemarle Street, and afterwards as an assistant at Morgan's Library, Conduit Street, of which in 1816 he became proprietor. He afterwards removed to New Burlington Street, where he established himself as a publisher, resigning the Conduit Street Library to Messrs Saunders & Otley. - Joseph Brant
Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (c. 1742 - 24 November 1807) was a Mohawk leader and British military officer during the American Revolutionary War. Brant was perhaps the most well-known North American Indian of his generation. He met many of the most significant people of the age, including George Washington and King George III. The American folk image emphasized the atrocities his forces committed against settlers on the western frontier. - Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (October 22, 1734 - September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and hunter whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the U.S. state of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of the Thirteen Colonies. Despite resistance from American Indians, for whom Kentucky was a traditional hunting ground, … - Prince William William Duke of Cumberland
The Prince William, Duke of Cumberland (William Augustus; 15 April 1721 - 31 October 1765) was a younger son of George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach, and a military leader. - William Grant
Sir William Grant was an British lawyer, Member of Parliament from 1790–1812 and Master of the Rolls from 1801–1817. He was born at Elchies, Moray, Scotland. His father was a tenant farmer, later collector of the customs in the Isle of Man; after the death of his parents, Grant was raised by his uncle Robert Grant, a London merchant with fur-trading interests in Canada. - William Grant
William Grant was a Scottish-born fur trader and businessman in Lower Canada. He was born in Kirkmichael, Scotland in 1743 and came to Quebec shortly after 1759, and became involved in the fur trade in the regions near Michilimackinac, Lake Superior and Lake Nipigon. Grant became partners with Gabriel Cotté and Alexander Shaw. - John Montagu
John Montagu (1719-1795) naval officer and colonial governor of Newfoundland. He was born in Lackham, England and died in Fareham, Hampshire, England. Montagu began his naval career in the Royal Naval Academy. He was appointed Governor and commander-in-chief of Newfoundland in 1776. Montagu captured St. Pierre and Miquelon for the British and defended Newfoundland from both French and American privateers. - Charles Watson-Wentworth 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, KG, PC (13 May 1730 - 1 July 1782), styled The Hon. Charles Watson-Wentworth before 1733, Viscount Higham between 1733 and 1746, Earl of Malton between 1746 and 1750 and The Earl Malton in 1750, was a British Whig statesman, most notable for his two terms as Whig Prime Minister of Great Britain. - Nathan Hale
Nathan Hale (1743-1780) was born on Sept. 23 1743 in Hampstead, New Hampshire. As a young man, he and his brother Enoch Hale moved to Rindge, New Hampshire. During the American Revolutionary War, Nathan Hale served as an officer in the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment, rising to the rank of Colonel. Colonel Nathan Hale was captured by the British at the Battle of Hubbardton on July 7, 1777 during the Saratoga Campaign. Nathan Hale would die as a prisoner of war on September 23, … - George Stubbs
George Stubbs (born in Liverpool on August 25, 1724 - died in London July 10, 1806) was a British painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Stubbs was the son of a currier. Information on his life up to age thirty-five is sparse, relying almost entirely on notes made by fellow artist Ozias Humphry towards the end of Stubbs's life. Stubbs was briefly apprenticed to a Lancashire painter and engraver named Hamlet Winstanley, … - Chief Pontiac
Pontiac or Obwandiyag, was an Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–1766), an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War. Historians disagree about Pontiac's importance in the war that bears his name. Nineteenth century accounts portrayed him as the mastermind and leader of the revolt, … - William Cavendish-Bentinck 3rd Duke of Portland
William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, (April 14, 1738 - October 30, 1809) was a British Whig and Tory statesman, Chancellor of Oxford University and Prime Minister. He was known before 1762 by the courtesy title Marquess of Titchfield. He held a title of every degree of British nobility - that of Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. Lord Titchfield, was the eldest son of William Bentinck, … - John Narborough
Rear Admiral Sir John Narborough, RN (d. 1688) was an English naval commander of the 17th century, who served with distinction during the Anglo-Dutch Wars and against the Barbary Coast pirates. He was descended from an old Norfolk family. He received his commission in 1664, and in 1666 was promoted lieutenant for gallantry in the action with the Dutch fleet off the Downs in June of that year. - Oliver Ellsworth
Oliver Ellsworth (April 29 1745 - November 26 1807), an American lawyer and politician, was a revolutionary against British rule, a drafter of the United States Constitution, and third Chief Justice of the United States. He is also widely recognized for having first coined the phrase 'United States.' - William Cavendish 4th Duke of Devonshire
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, KG, PC (c. 1720 - 2 October 1764), styled Lord Cavendish of Hardwick before 1729 and Marquess of Hartington between 1729 and 1755, was a British Whig statesman who was briefly titular Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was elected MP for Derbyshire in 1741 and 1747, … - Charles Cornwallis 1st Marquess Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (31 December 1738 - 5 October 1805, in Ghazipur, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh) was a British military commander and colonial governor, In the United States, he is best remembered as a British general in the American War of Independence. His 1781 defeat by a combined American-French force at the Siege of Yorktown is generally considered the end of the War, as the bulk of British troops had surrendered with Cornwallis, …
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