Oxford Dictionary of National Biography


Oxford University Press has just issued (2004) the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, both as a set of printed volumes and as an online database. This wonderful addition replaces and effectively makes redundant the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) as most existing pieces have been reworked in the light of new research and many new pieces have been added. Unfortunately, the printed work is expensive and the online version is accessible only through subscription so it is difficult to consult.

James Cook is included as are many of the people associated with him. For several of them, new and exciting information has been unearthed. I will try to incorporate this new material in supplementary pieces on the online Encyclopaedia pages. However, on the negative side, several pieces contain errors that could and should have been avoided.

The following is a list of people for whom I have located entries:

William Anderson.
Joseph Banks.
William Bayly.
William Bligh.
James Burney.
Charles Clerke.
James Colnett.
Alexander Colvill.
JAMES COOK.
George Dixon.
George Forster.
Tobias Furneaux.
Joseph Gilbert.
John Gore.
Thomas Graves.
Charles Green.
William Hodges.
George Jackson.
John Ledyard.
Mai.
John Montagu.
Hugh Palliser.
William Parker.
Sydney Parkinson.
Molesworth Phillips.
Richard Pickersgill.
Nathaniel Portlock.
Edward Riou.
David Samwell.
Charles Saunders.
Daniel Solander.
Philip Stephens.
James Trevenen.
George Vancouver.
William Wales.
John Webber.

The following are not included:

Love Constable, Robert Cooper, Thomas Edgar, William Webb Ellis, Peter Fannin, Johann Forster, William Harvey, Richard Hergest, Zachary Hicks, Alexander Home, Arthur Kempe, Michael Lane, William Lanyon, James Mag(t)ra, Isaac Manley, Alexander Mouat, William Munkhouse, James Patten, William Peckover, John Rickman, Henry Roberts, Isaac Smith, John Watts, John Williamson.

Others have not been looked for yet.

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