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Men of Kent and Kentishmen

Men of Kent and Kentishmen (1892)
by John Hutchinson
3398968Men of Kent and Kentishmen1892John Hutchinson


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MEN OF KENT

AND

KENTISHMEN.



A MANUAL

OF

KENTISH BIOGRAPHY.



By JOHN HUTCHINSON

Author of "Herefordshire Biographies," &c.



"Of Briton's race—if one surpass,
A 'Man of Kent' is He."

⁠—Kentish Ballad.



Canterbury:
Cross & Jackman,
1892.

(SUBSCRIPTION EDITION.)



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PREFACE.


In the following pages will be found, it is believed, the names of all such Kentishmen (natives of the County) who have attained by distinction in Art, Science, Literature, and the like, or by personal merit of any kind, apart from social or territorial position, to anything like general celebrity beyond the bounds of their own county. The catalogue, whilst excluding living names, ranges over every period from the earliest down to the present time. The writer wishes it to be particularly understood that the contents are not a selection made on his own judgment; but an impartial sifting out of the names of all Kentishmen that have been deemed worthy of inclusion in the best and most comprehensive Biographical Collections. Should any name, therefore, be absent that in the opinion, of any one ought to appear, the responsilibity must lie with the Editors of those compilations not with the writer of this. In the Biographies in question, amongst about 20,000 names, some 4000 are those of Englishmen, and of these the "Men of Kent," as shown by our Catalogue, muster to the extent of 227. This is not absolutely a large number; but relatively it amounts to more than a ​twentieth of the whole; and as the county may be taken, in reference to its population, as about one twenty-fifth part of the kingdom, it gives a percentage of eminent names considerably beyond the average—a result which, though one to be expected in the case of the "premier county," is none the less on that account satisfactory.

The names in the Catalogue are given, for the convenience of reference, in alphabetical order. They are subsequently given chronologically, taking the year of death as the determining figure, the date of birth not being in every case ascertainable. A very cursory examination of the List, with the description attached to the names, will show that it contains examples of men eminent in almost every department of human thought and activity—Antiquaries, Artists, Divines, Historians, Lawyers, Mathematicians and Men of Science, Poets and Dramatists, Statesmen, Politicians, Men of Letters, and Men of Business—of which it will be easy for the reader to compile the several Lists. The chief object has been to render such an analysis easy to the reader, by supplying the catalogue—which, and not the notices attached, should be regarded as the chief feature, as it has been the chief labour, of the work. The Biographies, indeed, have been added only for convenience, and to save the trouble of reference elsewhere, as they do not of course pretend to contain anything original. For this reason they have purposely been made brief, but bibliographical references have in every case been attached, for the sake of those ​desirous either of verifying the accounts, or of seeking further particulars.

With a view of obtaining suggestions as to additions and further information, the Notices were originally published in the columns of a local journal. They are now reprinted in the hope that many Kentishmen, even of those to whom the matter is not new, would like to possess, in a collected form, a memorial of what their celebrated county has produced in the way of "Men of mark" amongst their fellow county-men.

J. H.


Biographies (alphabetical) (not listed in original)

The following were omitted from their proper order in the Catalogue


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CHRONOLOGICAL LIST.



This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

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