The dictionary of national biography : from the earliest times to 1900

Author(s)

• Smith, George
• Stephen, Leslie, Sir
• Lee, Sidney, Sir
• Davis, H. W. Carless (Henry William Carless)
• Weaver, J. R. H. (John Reginald Homer)
• Legg, Leopold George Wickham
• Williams, E. T. (Edgar Trevor), Sir
• Palmer, Helen Maud
• Blake, Lord
• Thomas, Keith

Bibliographic Information

The dictionary of national biography : from the earliest times to 1900

founded in 1882 by George Smith ; edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee

Oxford University Press : Humphrey Milford, 1917-

• : main set
• v. 1
• v. 2
• v. 3
• v. 4
• v. 5
• v. 6
• v. 7
• v. 8
• v. 9
• v. 10
• v. 11
• v. 12
• v. 13
• v. 14
• v. 15
• v. 16
• v. 17
• v. 18
• v. 19
• v. 20
• v. 21
• v. 22
• suppl. 1901-1911
• 1912-1921
• 1922-1930
• 1931-1940
• 1941-1950
• 1951-1960
• 1961-1970
• 1971-1980
• 1981-1985
• 1986-1990

Other Title

DNB

Concise dictionary of national biography

Twentieth century

Note

v.1 - v.22 have statement "from the earliest times to 1900" on T.p

Vol. 1. Abbadie-Beadon -- v. 2. Beal-Browell -- v. 3. Brown-Chaloner -- v. 4. Chamber-Craigie -- v. 5. Craik-Drake -- v. 6. Drant-Finan -- v. 7. Finch-Gloucester -- v. 8. Glover-Harriott -- v. 9. Harris-Hovenden -- v. 10. Howard-Kenneth -- v. 11. Kennett-Lluelyn -- v. 12. Llwyd-Mason -- v. 13. Masquerier-Myles -- v. 14. Myllar-Owen -- v. 15. Owens-Pockrich -- v. 16. Pocock-Robins -- v. 17. Robinson-Sheares -- v. 18. Shearman-Stovin -- v. 19. Stow-Tytler -- v. 20. Ubaldini-Whewell -- v. 21. Whichcord-Zuylestein -- v. 22. Supplement

Includes indexes

Suppl. 1901-1911 has spine title: Twentieth century

Suppl. 1912-1921-<>: includes cumulative indexes to the biographies contained in the supplements of 1901-<>

Suppl. 1901-1940 published by Oxford University Press and Geoffrey Cumberlege, London

Suppl. 1941-<> published by Oxford University Press, only

Suppl. 1901-1911 edited by Sir Sidney Lee, 3 vols. in one. "Published 1912 by Smith, Elder & Co., and reprinted at the Oxford University Press, 1920"--T.p. verso

1912-1921 edited by H.W.C. Davis and J.R.H. Weaver

1922-1930 edited by J.R.H. Weaver

1931-1940 edited by L.G. Wickham Legg

1941-1950 edited by L.G. Wickham Legg and E.T. Williams

1951-1960 edited by E.T. Williams and Helen M. Palmer

1961-1970 edited by E.T. Williams and C.S. Nicholls

1971-1980, 1981-1985 edited by Lord Blake and C.S. Nicholls

1986-1990 edited by C.S. Nicholls, consultant editor: Sir Keith Thomas

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

suppl. 1901-1911 ISBN 9780198652014

Description

Provides brief profiles for significant individuals in British government, society, and culture

Volume

1912-1921 ISBN 9780198652021

Description

With an Index covering the years 1901-1921 in one alphabetical series.

Volume

1922-1930 ISBN 9780198652038

Description

With an Index covering the years 1901-1930 in one alphabetical series.

Volume

1931-1940 ISBN 9780198652045

Description

With an Index covering the years 1901-1940 in one alphabetical series.

Volume

1941-1950 ISBN 9780198652052

Description

With an Index covering the years 1901-1950 in one alphabetical series.

Volume

1951-1960 ISBN 9780198652069

Description

With an Index covering the years 1901-1960 in one alphabetical series.

Volume

1971-1980 ISBN 9780198652083

Description

This supplement to the classic reference work, The Dictionary of National Biography records the lives of 748 men and women who died between 1971 and 1980. Though most are British subjects, there are entries on figures like Alfred Hitchcock who subsequently became an American, and on men who were never citizens but who spent formative years in Britain--people like Jomo Kenyatta, Robert Menzies and Archbishop Makarios. From politicians, lawyers, educators, royalty, and philosophers to artists, musicians, writers, entertainers and athletes, the entrants span the entire range of occupations and interests. In fact, the contributors to the volume are often as eminent as their subjects: the supplement features Harold Macmillan writing on Lord Egremont, Malcolm Muggeridge on E.B. Knox, and Philip Larkin on Barbara Pym. The supplement also includes a cumulative index to the DNB 1901-80.

Volume

1981-1985 ISBN 9780198652106

Description

This volume includes biographies of 380 distinguished men and women who died between 1 January 1981 and 31 December 1985. For the most part the entrants are British, though a few subsequently took other nationality (e.g. the soldier and author John Masters), and some, though spending much of their life in Britain, never became British subjects (e.g. Anna Freud). The lives of some eminent Commonwealth citizens, such as Indira Gandhi, are also recorded. This is the first "DNB" 20th century supplement to span only five years, and is thus more topical and less unwieldy than the decennial volumes. The shorter time span has made it possible to commission the most appropriate contributors more readily, and to draw on accurate information about a person's career from colleagues and contemporaries more easily. As in other volumes, the entrants form a distinguished roll-call of persons prominent in many fields. Politics and the law are represented among others by politicians George Brown and R.A. Butler, union leader Terence Duffy, and Baron Diplock, the judge who established trial by judge alone in Northern Ireland. The exploits of spies Anthony Blunt and Donald Maclean are recorded, as are those of the Russian defector Igor Gouzenko, balancing the more conventional military service of field-marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck and the legless flying ace Douglas Bader. People from the stage include actors Richard Burton, Diana Dors, Sir Ralph Richardson, and Dame Flora Robson; ballet dancer Sir Anton Dolin and ballet director Dame Marie Rambert, both of whom worked for Diaghilev; and comedians and entertainers Arthur Askey and Eric Morecambe. From the world of letters comes writer Robert Graves, novelist A.J. Cronin, poets Philip Larkin and John Betjeman, historian Michael Wallace-Hadrill, and journalist James Cameron. Musicians are dominated by the distinguished triumvirate of composers Sir William Walton and Herbert Howells, and conductor Sir Adrian Boult, all of whom died within a fortnight of each other early in 1983. The careers are also recorded of Dame Bridget D'Oyly Carte, proprietor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and singers Matt Monro and Billy Fury. Science is represented by Nobel prize-winners Paul Dirac, the theoretical physicist, and Sir Martin Ryle, the radio astronomer; sport by Michael Hailwood, world champion motor-cycle rider, and the cricketer Percy Fender. The entries are usually written by people who knew their subjects personally, and who thus can flesh the bare bones of biographical fact with private knowledge and personal anecdote of interest to historian and general reader alike.

Table of Contents

• Selected contents: Kingsley Amis on John Betjeman
• Michael Foot on James Cameron
• Ian Gilmour on R.A. Butler
• Bernard Levin on Rebecca West
• Sheridan Morley on David Niven and Ralph Richardson
• Derek Nimmo on John Le Mesurier
• Barry Took on Dick Emery
• Mark Tully on Indira Gandhi
• Ursula Vaughan Williams on Imogen Holst
• Richard Baker on Roy Plomley
• David Piper on Kenneth Clark
• Roy Jenkins on Lord Harlech
• Margot Fonteyn on Lydia Lopokova
• David Jacobs on Billy Fury and Matt Monro
• John Wain on Robert Graves and Philip Larkin
• Auberon Waugh on Alec Waugh
• Woodrow Wyatt on Arthur Koestler
• Julian Amery on Alan Lennox-Boyd
• Robert Armstrong on Lord Redcliffe-Maud
• Marius Goring on Dame Flora Robson
• Paul Johnson on J.B Priestley
• Bernard Lovell on Martin Ryle
• Nigel Nicolson on Enid Bagnold
• Peter Rawlinson on Lord Diplock
• Michael Stewart on George Brown
• Sir John Summerson on Nikolaus Pevsner

Volume

1986-1990 ISBN 9780198652120

Description

Prominent individuals from all walks of national life who died between 1986 and 1990, can be found in this volume of "The Dictionary of National Biography". The roll-call of distinguished persons range from gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe who delivered the first "test-tube" baby in 1978, to publisher Hamish Hamilton, football wing-half Joe Mercer, sculpter Henry Moore, and gardener Percy Thrower. Other entries include: public figures - Harold Macmillan, Robert Boothby and Michael Ramsay; comedians and entertainers - Max Wall, "Tommy" Trinder and Terry Thomas; actors - Rex Harrison, Margaret Lockwood and Trevor Howard; musicians - Jacqueline du Pr'e, John Ogdon and Peter Pears; and writers - Bruce Chatwin, Noel Streatfield, Daphne du Maurier and Christopher Isherwood.

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BA01469445
• ISBN:
  • 0198651015
  • 0198652011
  • 019865202X
  • 0198652038
  • 0198652046
  • 0198652054
  • 0198652062
  • 0198652070
  • 0198652089
  • 0198652100
  • 0198652127
• Country Code: uk
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: London
• Pages/Volumes: v.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • NDC8 : 283.303
  • LCC : DA28
  • DC : 920.042
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Great Britain -- Biography
  • LCSH : Great Britain -- Bio-bibliography