Файл: Great Britain_0816044740.pdf

Beaufort (ca. 1406–55), a grandson of Gaunt, was duke of SOMERSET, held high office under HENRY VI, and was responsible for English losses at the end of the HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR. His feud with Richard of YORK helped to precipitate the Wars of the ROSES, and Edmund was killed in the first Battle of ST. ALBANS (1455). Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509) was a descendant of the Somerset line, married to Edmund TUDOR at the age of 12. Her only son became king as HENRY VII; she outlived him and was involved in the succession of her grandson HENRY VIII.

Beaverbrook, William Maxell Aitken, first baron (1879–1964)

newspaper publisher, politician

Born in CANADA, Lord Beaverbrook had a successful business career before immigrating to ENGLAND in 1910. There he entered politics as a Conservative MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. He was soon working in the highest circles, and he had some part in the plot to remove Herbert ASQUITH and replace him with David LLOYD GEORGE as PRIME MINISTER in 1916. He purchased the Daily Express, one of the earliest mass-circulation newspapers, and built its daily circulation to about 2.25 million by 1936. He also purchased the Evening Standard, and he used both these papers to advance his own political views. In 1940 Winston CHURCHILL appointed Beaverbrook as minister of aircraft production; he is credited with a major role in accelerating output, critical to BRITAIN’s victory in the air war with Germany. He served in other government posts and helped to negotiate the LEND-LEASE program with the United States.

Bechuanaland

A southern African territory, the site of the Kalahari Desert, Bechuanaland was made a British PROTECTORATE in 1885. Little was done to develop the area, and it served mainly as a source of labor for SOUTH AFRICA and other states. It became independent as BOTSWANA in 1966, and the discovery of diamonds in 1967

ushered in rapid economic growth, tripling per capita gross national product (1984–91).

Beckford, William (1709–1770) merchant, politician

Born in JAMAICA, where his father was governor, Beckford was educated in ENGLAND and entered PARLIAMENT in 1747. He made a fortune as a merchant, and with an electoral base in LONDON, he was instrumental in rallying support behind William PITT the elder. Representing the commercial interest in 18th-century politics, Beckford was a critic of old political practices and an advocate of parliamentary reform. He supported John WILKES in his defiance of authority, and he served twice as lord mayor of London.

Bedlam

The slang reference to Bethlem Royal Hospital, the first insane asylum in ENGLAND. It was founded in the 13th century as part of the priory of St Mary Bethlehem, then converted into an asylum at the time of the REFORMATION. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was something of a tourist attraction, with visitors paying to view the inmates in their cells. The institution was moved to several different locations in London and finally to Beckenham in Kent in 1931.

Belfast

The principal city in NORTHERN IRELAND, Belfast’s growth dates from the English conquest of ULSTER in the early 17th century and the subsequent commercial and later industrial development of the area. From a population of 8,500 in 1750, it grew to 20,000 a half-century later and to 350,000 by the end of the 19th century. Its primary economic activity was in linen manufacture, engineering, and shipbuilding. Incorporated as a city in 1888, Belfast became the capital of the new Northern Ireland dominion in 1920. The city had a long tradition of urban violence well before the outbreak of unrest in 1969, which lasted for the next three decades.

Belize

Formerly British Honduras, a British crown colony on the eastern coast of Central America. English settlers arrived from JAMAICA in the 1640s, and conflicts with Spanish colonial officials arose through the 18th century. After Guatemala and Mexico gained independence in 1821, the British laid claim to the area, renamed British Honduras in 1871. Because of Guatemalan claims to the territory, the British military presence remained until 1981.

Bell, Andrew (1753–1832) educator

Educated at St. Andrew’s University, Bell went to INDIA in 1787 where he was the superintendant of the Madras Male Orphan Asylum, run by the EAST INDIA COMPANY. There he developed a system of tutelage in which older boys were used as instructors for the younger ones. He described his system in a pamphlet in 1797, and it was adopted in a number of English schools, competing with a similar system devised by Joseph LANCASTER. In 1811 Bell was made the superintendant of the CHURCH OF ENGLAND’s National Schools Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor.

Bengal

In 1633 the EAST INDIA COMPANY established a trading center in Bengal, the easternmost part of INDIA. The port city of CALCUTTA was at its center, and Fort William was the area’s security outpost from 1696. In 1740 the ruling Nawab (prince) proclaimed independence from the Mogul empire. In 1756 an attack on Fort William was followed by the imprisonment of 146 British captives in a room that was no bigger than 18’ by 15’ (called the “black hole of Calcutta”). Only 23 persons survived this torture, which prompted the offensive led by Robert CLIVE at Plassey (1757), after which the government of Bengal and other provinces was vested in the East India Company. By the late 19th century the province had grown to twice the population of the UNITED

KINGDOM. A plan to partition the province into Muslim and Hindu sections (1905) provoked sharp nationalist resistance and was dropped in 1912. However, after partition was imposed in 1947, and Bengal became East Pakistan, then

BANGLADESH in 1972.

Bentham, Jeremy (1748–1832) radical philosopher

Trained as a barrister, Bentham never practiced law. Instead, his career was devoted to a critique and reconstruction of English law on rational lines. In 1776 he published A Fragment on Government, an attack on the Commentaries of Sir William BLACKSTONE. His Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789) asserted that the aim of legislation should be “the greatest happiness of the greatest number.” This theme of UTILITARIANISM was highly influential in contemporary and political thought. Bentham was the author of numerous projects of codified law. He developed a new model for prisons, and he was an advocate of parliamentary reform.

Berkeley, George (1685–1753) philosopher, Bishop

Berkeley was born in IRELAND, studied at Kilkenny, and graduated from Trinity College, DUBLIN, where he became a fellow in 1707. He wrote A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710), one of several works he published before moving to England in 1713. He was an associate of Alexander POPE, Jonathan SWIFT, Richard STEELE and Joseph ADDISON. He went to America (1728–32) to found a college for missionaries in BERMUDA. A charter had been granted, but no funds were provided. An influential philosopher in his day, he served as BISHOP of Cloyne (1734–52).

Berlin, Congress of (1878)

In June 1878 German chancellor Otto von Bismarck presided over a meeting of European

heads of state and Turkey. At the end of the Russo-Turkish War the Treaty of San Stefano had threatened a major change in the BALANCE OF POWER in the Balkans and the Near East. Essentially the conference (and secret negotiations beforehand) rewrote the settlement and propped up Turkish power in the region. The British were concerned with security for the SUEZ CANAL, and to that end they obtained a lease for the island of CYPRUS in exchange for support of Turkish interests.

Bermuda

A group of 150 small islands lying about 600 miles off the east coast of the United States. A dependency of GREAT BRITAIN, settled in 1609, it became a crown COLONY in 1684. Internal selfgovernment was granted in 1968. An important naval base in the 19th century, today its economy depends on tourism and offshore business.

Besant, Annie (1847–1933) radical reformer

After divorcing her husband, Besant joined forces with Charles BRADLAUGH and became vice president of the National Secular Society as well as coeditor of The National Reformer. Put on trial for publishing a tract on birth control in 1875, she lost custody of her daughter. She turned to SOCIALISM and organized strikes and demonstrations in the 1880s. She joined the Theosophical Society in 1889, emigrated to India, and became a supporter of Indian nationalism.

Bessemer, Sir Henry (1813–1898) inventor

Bessemer was trained in his father’s metal-work- ing business. In the 1830s he invented a method of dating deeds and a type-composing machine. He experimented with combinations of cast iron and steel and in 1856 invented the steelmaking process that bears his name. Molten iron was injected with air to remove impurities, and when

the technique was perfected, it allowed largescale production of cheaper steel for railways, ships, and guns.

“Bess of Hardwick” (1518–1608)

(Shrewsbury, Elizabeth Talbot, countess of) noblewoman

Known as “Bess of Hardwick,” the daughter of John Hardwick of Derbyshire married four husbands, each wealthier than the last. With them she built or rebuilt great homes: Chatsworth, Worksop, and Hardwick Hall. But Bess gained the most notoriety from being custodian of MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (1569)—and accusing her husband George Talbot of adultery with the queen. Later Bess tried unsuccessfully to aid the claim of her daughter-in-law Arabella Stewart to be the successor to Queen ELIZABETH I.

Bevan, Aneurin (1897–1960) politician

From a family of Welsh miners, Bevan worked in the pits and became an active labor organizer. After some time at the Central Labour College in London (1919–21) he became a MEMBER OF PAR- LIAMENT in 1929. He was a founder and later editor of Tribune, the voice of the left-wing socialists. As minister of health in the LABOUR PARTY government of 1945, he was the architect of the

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE Act of 1946, which was

the basis for the founding of the health service in 1948. He was a turbulent colleague, leader of the more radical element in the party, and unsuccessful contender for party leadership in 1958.

Beveridge of Tuggal, William Beveridge, first baron (1879–1963)

economist, social reformer

Baron Beveridge was a graduate of Balliol College, OXFORD UNIVERSITY, where he took a degree in civil law (1903). He went to work in LONDON at the social settlement Toynbee Hall, and he wrote articles for the Morning Post. An early

advocate of social insurance plans, he helped to draft the Labour Exchanges Act (1909) and the national insurance Act (1911). He headed the London School of Economics from 1919 to 1937. In 1941 he was asked by the government of Winston CHURCHILL to prepare plans for postwar social services. The “Beveridge Report” of 1942 was not endorsed by the government, but it was a highly popular scheme that became the

basis for postwar NATIONAL INSURANCE.

Bevin, Ernest (1881–1951) unionist, politician

From very humble beginnings, Bevin began working at age 11, and by the turn of the century he was active in workers’ organizations. He became a full-time officer of the Dockers’ Union in 1911 and assistant general secretary in 1920. He helped to form the Transport and General Workers Union in 1922. By 1937 he had become the chairman of the TRADES UNION CONGRESS and one of the most influential members of the LABOUR PARTY. He served as minister of labor during WORLD WAR II (1940–45). He held the post of foreign secretary in the government of Clement ATTLEE. He also supported the Marshall Plan, NATO, and the building of a British ATOM BOMB. He used his stature to hold off those party members who strongly opposed these policies.

Bible

Although the books of the Old and New Testament were partially and occasionally translated in the Middle Ages, they were only available as a full text in Latin, and then only to a minority of the clergy. In the 14th century the first English versions were produced by the LOLLARDS. With the advent of printing in the 15th century, and with Greek translations of Erasmus (1516), a new era began. William TYNDALE made an English translation on the continent (1526), and for his trouble he was hunted down by agents of HENRY VIII. Within a decade, after the king’s break from Rome, the translation by Miles COVERDALE

was authorized for use in English churches (1539). A later “Geneva” Bible was used by ELIZ- ABETH I (1560). In 1604 JAMES VI AND I commissioned a group of churchmen who produced the King James Version (1611), a comprehensive revision which remained the authoritative text for many years. From the 19th century, translations of the Bible proliferated. In 1952 a Revised Standard Version was but one of a set of recent editions employing modern scholarship and some modern usage.

A Welsh New Testament was composed by William SALESBURY and Richard DAVIES in 1563–67. An Irish GAELIC New Testament was translated by Nicholas Walsh in 1573 (printed in 1602). A complete Bible in Welsh was prepared by William Morgan in 1588. In 1767 James Stuart produced a New Testament in Scots Gaelic, and a complete Irish Gaelic Bible was printed in 1810.

Bill of Rights

The constitutional product of the GLORIOUS REV- OLUTION, the bill was a list of injunctions that had been presented in the DECLARATION OF RIGHTS to the new sovereigns, WILLIAM III and MARY II, and agreed to by them when they accepted the crown in February 1689. The bill was later enacted into law by PARLIAMENT, and it contained a list of traditional rights, a set of recent practices to be amended, and provision for a Protestant succession. This action created what came to be called the “balanced constitution”—the sharing of political power by the king, the lords, and the

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Unlike the Bill of Rights in the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the document of 1689 did not contain a set of fundamental rights of individuals, but rather a set of rules for the functioning of the monarchical constitution. In the 1990s there was a movement for a British Bill of Rights on the American model, and in 2000 a Human Rights Act came into force. This act applied rights granted under the European Convention of Human Rights to British subjects.

Birkenhead, Frederick Edwin Smith, first earl of (1872–1930)

lord chancellor

An intellectual and a famous orator, Smith was a Conservative MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT and an outspoken supporter of ULSTER unionism who became attorney general in 1915. The following year he led the prosecution of Sir Roger

CASEMENT for TREASON. He became LORD CHAN-

CELLOR in 1919, at 47 one of the youngest ever. While in that office he played a part in the negotiation of the ANGLO-IRISH TREATY in 1921. He was also responsible for major changes in LAND law. He was later made

STATE for INDIA (1924–28).

bishop

The bishop’s office traces its ancestry to the early apostles, though in modern times its function is that of spiritual leader and clerical administrator of a diocese. These areas have been altered over time since the earliest bishops were chosen in Roman BRITAIN; and the authority of bishops has varied considerably over time among ENGLAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, and IRELAND. Often this variation was a byproduct of political power, often the corollary of the social and cultural role of the church.

See also CHURCH OF ENGLAND; CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

Bishops’ Wars (1639, 1640)

When CHARLES I imposed a new prayer book on SCOTLAND in 1637, there was widespread protest

in the form of the SCOTTISH NATIONAL COVENANT

(1638), a document subscribed to by thousands of Scots. This was a petition to restore the true kirk (church) on a PRESBYTERIAN rather than an Episcopal model. The GENERAL ASSEMBLY abolished the office of BISHOP, and the king assembled an army to send to Scotland, but it was ineffective and Charles had to accept a truce in 1639. The next year the Scots invaded ENGLAND and demanded an indemnity. The king’s forces were

weakened because he had disbanded PARLIAMENT in 1629. This conflict in fact forced the king to recall Parliament in 1640, which began the series of events leading to the CIVIL WAR (1642–48).

Black and Tans

A nickname for the auxiliary police sent to IRE- LAND during the crisis of 1920–21. They were noted for their lack of discipline and for reprisals and atrocities against their republican adversaries. These reinforcements for the ROYAL IRISH CONSTABULARY wore a khaki uniform with black caps, and thus were given the name of a pack of hunting dogs from County Limerick.

Black Death

In the summer of 1348 England was struck with the first appearance of a disastrous epidemic of the bubonic plague, commonly called the Black Death. This was part of a pandemic that spread from Asia across North Africa and Europe. By 1349 many parts of the British Isles had been affected. The occurrence of plague was not new, but apparently in this instance the disease was the more infectious pneumonic form, in addition to the typical variety carried by rats and fleas. There are no reliable statistics on the death toll, but the likelihood is that there were several million deaths in the British Isles. There is no doubt that this was the single most devastating demographic event of British history. Moreover, the plague was to return, in slightly less virulent form, several times in the later 14th century and over the next three centuries. The last episode was in 1665.

Blackstone, Sir William (1723–1780) judge, jurist

Blackstone was a practicing barrister who held the first appointment as professor of English law at OXFORD UNIVERSITY. His lectures on that subject were published as Commentaries on the Laws of England (four volumes, 1765–69). This work