Portal:British Empire/Selected biography

Selected biographies

These are selected biographies related to the British Empire which appear on Portal:British Empire.

Major General Roger Elliott (ca. 1665 - May 15, 1714) was one of the earliest British Governors of Gibraltar. His nephew George Augustus Eliott also became a noted Governor and defender of Gibraltar.

Roger Elliott was born, possibly in London but more probably in the Tangier Garrison in Morocco, to George Elliott (ca. 1636 - 1668, the Chirurgeon to the Garrison) and his wife Catherine Maxwell (ca. 1638 - 1709). George Elliott was the illegitimate son of Richard Eliot, the wayward second son of Sir John Eliot.

Roger's father, George Elliott, died at the Tangier Garrison in 1668 and his widowed mother remarried there on February 22, 1670 to Robert Spotswood (September 17, 1637 - 1680, the assistant and replacement Chirurgeon at the Garrison), and thirdly to Rev Dr George Mercer, the Garrison schoolmaster. Roger was therefore an older half-brother to Alexander Spotswood (ca. 1676 - June 6, 1740), who would become a noted Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia. (more...)

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Col. Richard Clement Moody (February 13, 1813 in Barbados- March 31, 1887 in Bournemouth, England), was a Lieutenant-Governor, and later Governor, of the Falkland Islands, and the first Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of British Columbia. While serving under this post, he selected the site of the new capital, New Westminster. Moody was also a Colonel in the Royal Engineers, and was the commander of the Columbia Detachment, the force that was brought to BC to establish British order during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. (more...)

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Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from 1 May 1876, until her death on 22 January 1901. Her reign lasted 63 years and seven months, which made her the second longest reigning British monarch (after Elizabeth II).British monarch. In general, the period centred on her reign is known as the Victorian era.

The Victorian era was at the height of the Industrial Revolution, a period of significant social, economic, and technological progress in the United Kingdom. Victoria's reign was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire; during this period it reached its zenith, becoming the foremost Global Power of the time. (more...)

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James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie, KT, PC (April 22, 1812 – December 19, 1860) was a British statesman, and a colonial administrator in India.

Born in Dalhousie Castle, Scotland, he crowded into his relatively short life conspicuous public service in the United Kingdom, and established an unrivalled position among the master-builders of the Indian empire. Denounced on the eve of his death and to this day by some as having failed to notice the signs of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and even having aggravated the crisis by his overbearing self-confidence, centralising activity, and reckless annexations. (more...)

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Sir Alexander John Ball (July 22, 1756—October 20, 1809), was a British admiral and governor of Malta. He was a member of a Gloucestershire family. He was born in Ebworth Park, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. He was the fourth son of Robert and Mary (Dickinson) Ball. Alexander Ball is considered to be a very important player in the diplomatic and military events which were to bring Malta under British rule. Universally loved by the Maltese, Ball visited the islands for the first time on October 12, 1798. Whenever Ball appeared in public, the passers-by in the streets stood uncovered until he had passed; the clamours of the market-place were hushed at his entrance and then exchanged for shouts of joy and welcome. His mission was to sustain and continue the siege and blockade of the French forces in Malta, aided by certain Portuguese naval forces. (more...)

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Edward VIII (23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India from the death of his father, George V (1910–36), on 20 January 1936, until his abdication on 11 December 1936. He was the second monarch of the House of Windsor, his father having changed the name of the royal house from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1917.

Only months into his reign, Edward forced a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Although legally Edward could have married Mrs. Simpson and remained king, his various prime ministers opposed the marriage, arguing that the people would never accept her as queen. Edward knew that the ministry of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead; this could have dragged the King into a general election thus ruining irreparably his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. Rather than give up Mrs. Simpson, Edward chose to abdicate. He is one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British history, and was never crowned. (more...)