Biographies

Fact file Born London, 30 May, 1757, died Richmond (Surrey, England) 15 February, 1844 MP for Devizes 1784-1805 Created Viscount Sidmouth in 1805 Speaker in the House of Commons 1789-1801 Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1801-04 Lord President of the Council 1805 Lord Privy Seal 1806 Lord President of the Council 1806-7 and […]

(1777-1825), Russian Tsar 1801-1825 Alexander I was born in St. Petersburg on 23 December, 1777 and died at Taganrog on 1 December, 1825. He was the son of Paul I and Sophie of Württemberg (Maria Feodorovna), and the grandson of Catherine II. He was handsome – he had the classic profile of his grandmother – […]

French soldier, a fruiterer's son, who earned a reputation as a reliable and doughty divisional commander on the Pyrenean front, on the Rhine and during the Italian campaigns of 1796-97, receiving Napoleon's public praise for his performance at Castiglione in 1796. One of the original Marshalate created in 1804, he commanded the camp at Brest […]

Don José Nicolás de Azara, Marquis of Nibbiano, doctor of law, politician and diplomat, was born on 5 December 1730 at Barbuñales (Aragón). He was a brilliant student of law and letters at Huesca and later at Salamanca. Civil servant at the Secretariat of State (Secretaría de Estado), he received the Croix de Chevalier of the […]

Karl Friedrich was the son of Hereditary Prince Friedrich of Baden and Anna of Nassau-Dietz-Orange (October 13, 1710 – September 17, 1777), the daughter of William Friso of Nassau-Dietz-Orange.

Born into a noble Georgian family, he began his military career in 1782. He fought in the campaigns of 1792 and 1794 against the Poles. He found favour with Suvarov and was chosen as one of the latter's lieutenants for the Swiss and Italian campaigns of 1799. Here again he showed great bravery and intelligence, […]

Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers was born in Paris on 6 September, 1795. He entered the 9e dragoon regiment in 1806 before going on to attend military academy a year later. He completed his studies and left on 3 September 1812 with the grade of second lieutenant. He served with the 2e regiment de chasseurs à cheval […]

Barbé-Marbois had an extremely long (sixty-six years) and chequered (he was sacked by Napoleon twice) career. Born in Metz the son of grocer he soon became director of the Metz mint. After serving briefly as a diplomat in Europe (Ratisbon, Dresden, Munich) he accompanied his boss to America where he became freindly with George Washington […]

1765-1825 Principal publications:– Catalogue de la bibliothèque du conseil d'Etat (Paris, 1803)– Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes, (Paris, 1806-1808), and still in use today (a second edition of this work was in progress when he died in 1825).– Nouvelle bibliothèque d'un homme de goût (Paris, 1808-1810) Prior to the Revolution, Barbier was a maths and physics […]

Barclay de Tolly was born on 24 December 1757, in Pamuskis, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Zeimiai, Lithuania) and raised in Livonia, which then belonged to Russia and is now part of Estonia and Latvia. He was a German-speaking descendant of a Scottish family which had settled in Livonia in the 17th century. His grandfather served as the mayor […]