Edinburgh, as well as the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He was one of the founders and for many years hon. sec. of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He died at Cintra April 13 1920, but the management of the Edinburgh Geographical Institute remained in his family.
BARTHOU, LOUIS (1862–), French statesman, advocate,
author, journalist, and lecturer, was born at Oleron Aug.
25 1862. He was elected to Parliament in 1889, and five years
later he became Minister of Public Works. He was successively
Minister of the Interior (Aug. 1896 to June 1898) ; Minister
of Public Works (March-Oct. 1906 and in the subsequent
Clemenceau Cabinet until July 1909); Minister of Justice
from July 1909 until March 1913; prime minister from May
22 to Dec. 2 1913; Minister of State in the Painleve Ministry
during the World War, subsequently succeeding Ribot as Minister
for Foreign Affairs; Minister of War Jan. 16 1921. His
most notable political achievement was the manner in which
he pushed through the Three Years’ Service Bill, which was a
response to German military preparations before the war of 1914.
He was elected a member of the French Academy in 1918.
BARTON, CLARA (1821–1912), American philanthropist (see 3.452), died at Glen Echo, Md., April 12 1912. She is the only woman whose name has been taken by a post of the G.A.R.
See Mrs. Corra Bacon-Foster, Clara Barton, Humanitarian (1918), which outlines her career with extracts from records, letters, and contemporary papers.
BARTON, SIR EDMUND (1840–1920), Australian statesman and judge, was born at Sydney, N.S.W., Jan. 18 1849. He was educated at the Sydney grammar school and the university of Sydney, where he won many distinctions, and was called to the N.S.W bar in 1871, becoming Q.C. in 1889. At the age of 30 he entered the N.S.W. Legislature as representative for Sydney University, and remained a member of either the Assembly or the Legislative Council for many years. During 1883-7 he was Speaker of the Assembly and in 1889 and again in 1891 he was for a time Attorney General. In 1897, after the death of Sir Henry Parkes, he became senior representative for N.S.W. to the Federal Convention. He was a keen supporter of Federation and in 1900 led the delegation sent to London with the Australian Commonwealth bill. In 1901 he became the first Prime Minister of federated Australia, holding also the portfolio of External Affairs. His two years of office were much troubled by party strife. He had been a life-long supporter of Preference, but his majority over Sir George Reid and the Free Traders was small and the Labour party held the balance. In 1903 he was glad to resign office and accept the appointment of Senior Puisne Judge of the High Court of Australia. In 1901 he was sworn of the Privy Council and in 1902 he was created G.C.M.G. He died suddenly at Medlow Bath, near Sydney, Jan. 6 1920. Known affectionately as the “Father of Australia,” Edmund Barton inspired through his long career as a politician a deep personal devotion. His magnificent talents were used more for the advancement of his ideals and the help of his friends than in the service of his personal ambitions. Like a genial Dr. Johnson in conversation, he made easy captives of British statesmen on his visits to London. One of his sons was the first Rhodes scholar from N.S.W. to Oxford.
BARUCH, BERNARD MANNES (1870–), American financier,
was born in Camden, S.C., Aug. 19 1870. He graduated
from the College of the City of New York in 1889. For many
years he was a member of the New York Stock Exchange
but sold his seat in 1917. He first came into national prominence
when appointed by President Wilson as a member of
the advisory committee of the Council of National Defense
in 1916, and after America's entrance into the World War
he held many important positions. He was chairman of
the Committee on Raw Materials, Minerals and Metals, and
was in charge of purchases by the War Industries Board. He
was also appointed a member of the commission in charge of
all purchases made for the Allies. He became chairman of the
War Industries Board in 1918 but resigned at the close of the
year. In 1919 he was a member of the Supreme Economic
Council of the Peace Conference in Paris and in the same year
was appointed by President Wilson as a member of the Industrial
Conference in Washington. He wrote The Making of the
Reparation and Economic Sections of the Treaty (1920).
BASCOM, JOHN (1827–1911), American educationist and philosophical writer (see 3.458), died Oct. 3 1911 at Williamstown, Mass.
BASEBALL: see sports and games.
BASHFORTH, FRANCIS (1819–1912), English mathematician, was born at Thurnscoe, Yorks., Jan. 8 1819. Second wrangler in 1843, he was elected a fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge; and having taken orders, he was rector of Minting, Lines., from 1857 to 1908. His interest in ballistics led him to make a series of experiments between 1864 and 1880, upon which our present knowledge of air-resistance is founded (see 3.271). The Bashforth chronograph for recording the velocity of shot (see 6.303) was his invention, and he received a pension from the Government and a grant of 2,000 for his work. For some time he was professor of applied mathematics to the advanced class of artillery officers at Woolwich. He died at Woodhall Spa, Lincs., Feb. 12 1912.
BASSERMANN, ERNST (1854–1917), German politician and
leader of the National Liberal party, was born June 26 1854
at Wolsag in the Black Forest. He began his career in 1880
as a lawyer at Mannheim. From 1885 to 1892 he was a deputy
in the Baden Diet, and from 1893, with brief interruptions,
a member of the Reichstag. In 1905 the National Liberal
party elected him as president of the party. In the Reichstag
he enjoyed a high reputation as a speaker, and he exercised an
eminent influence on the course of politics. He died July 17
1917 at Mannheim.
BASTIAN, ADOLF (1826–1905), German ethnologist (see 3.500), died in 1905.
BATAILLE, FÉLIX HENRY (1872–), French poet and
playwright, was born at Nimes April 4 1872, and was educated
at the lycée Henri IV. at Paris and the lycée Janson
de Sailly. He brought out his first play, La Belle au bois
dormant, in 1894 and his first volume of poetry, La Chambre
blanche, in 1895. His dramatic work includes La Lépreuse
(1896); Ton Sang and L’Enchantement (1900); Le Masque and
Resurrection (1902); Maman Colibri (1904); La Marche Nupliale
(1905); Poliche (1906) ; Les Flambeaux (1912); Le Phalène (1913).
Among his later poems may be mentioned La Divine Tragédie
(1916) and La Quadrature de l’Amour (1920). Notre Image, in
which Réjane made one of her last appearances, Les Sœurs
d’Amour (1919), L’Homme à la Rose (1920) and La Tendresse
(1921), are among his recent successful plays.
BATEMAN, KATE [Mrs. Crowe] (1842–1917), American actress (see 3.508), died in London April 8 1917. She had since
1892 conducted a school of acting, appearing only rarely on
the stage; but she played Lady Kew in Colonel Newcome at
His Majesty’s theatre, London, in 1906, the nurse in Medea
at the Savoy theatre in 1907 and Kirjipa in False Gods at His
Majesty’s in 1909.
BATESON, WILLIAM (1861–), British biologist, was born at Whitby Aug. 8 1861, the son of the Rev. W. A. Bateson, some time master of St. John’s College, Cambridge. He was educated at Rugby and St. John’s College, Cambridge, and became famous for his biological investigations, which included important researches on Mendelism and the determination of sex. In 1894 he published Materials for the Study of Variation. In 1907 he gave the Silliman lecture at Yale University, from 1908 to 1909 was professor of biology at Cambridge, and in 1910 was appointed director of the John Innes Horticultural Institution at Merton Park, Surrey. From 1912 to 1914 he was Fullerian professor of physiology at the Royal Institution, and in 1914 was president of the British Association. He received the Darwin medal of the Royal Society, of which he was a fellow, in 1904. His other works include Mendel’s Principles of Heredity (1902) and Problems of Genetics (1913), besides many short studies on biological subjects.
