MANN, NICHOLAS (d. 1753), master of the Charterhouse, a native of Tewkesbury, proceeded in 1699 from Eton to King's College, Cambridge, of which he was elected fellow, and graduated B.A. in 1703, M.A. in 1707. At college he was tutor to the Marquis of Blandford, but afterwards became an assistant-master at Eton, and then one of the clerks in the secretary's office under Lord Townshend. He travelled in France and Italy, and on his return was appointed king's waiter at the custom house, and keeper of the standing wardrobe at Windsor. Through the interest of the Marlborough family he was elected master of the Charterhouse on 19 Aug. 1737. At his institution he is said to have shocked the Archbishop of Canterbury by professing himself an Arian (Bishop Newton, Life, pp. 20–1). He died at Bath on 24 Nov. 1753, and was buried in the piazza at the Charterhouse, having some years before affixed his own epitaph over the chapel door. By will he bequeathed his library and collection of manuscripts (excepting those of his own composition) to Eton College.
Mann, who was an excellent scholar and antiquary, wrote: 1. ‘Of the True Years of the Birth and of the Death of Christ; two Chronological Dissertations,’ 8vo, London, 1733 (Latin version, with additions, 1742 and 1752). 2. ‘Critical Notes on some passages of Scripture’ (anon.), 8vo, London, 1747. Richard Gough had in his possession a copy of Gale's ‘Antonini Iter’ profusely annotated by Mann (Nichols, Bibliotheca, No. 2, p. vii of Preface).
[Harwood's Alumni Eton. p. 283; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ii. 165, 194; Addit. MS. 5876, f. 180 b; Jones's Journey to Paris in 1776, ii. 31; will in P. C. C. 322, Searle.]
MANN, ROBERT JAMES (1817–1886), scientific writer, son of James Mann of Norwich, was born at Norwich in 1817, and educated for the medical profession at University College, London. At the hospital connected with the college he acted as dresser to the celebrated Liston. He practised for some years in Norfolk, first in Norwich, and afterwards at Buxton. In 1853 considerations of health led to the partial abandonment of the practice of his profession, and he devoted himself more exclusively to literary pursuits. His first work, published in 1845, ‘The Planetary and Stellar Universe,’ was based on a course of lectures delivered to a country audience, and this was followed by a long series of popular text-books on astronomy, chemistry, physiology, and health. Many of these ran through a large number of editions, and entitled him to a notable place among those who first attempted to make science popular, and its teaching generally intelligible. He was also a frequent contributor of scientific articles to many periodicals, chief among which were the ‘Edinburgh Review’ and ‘Chambers's Journal.’ In the ‘Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers’ he appears as the author of no fewer than twenty-three memoirs in transactions of societies and scientific periodicals. In 1854 he graduated M.D. in the university of St. Andrews, and in 1857, on the invitation of Bishop Colenso, he left England for Natal, where he resided for nine years. Two years after his arrival he was appointed to the newly established office of superintendent of education for the colony, and this gave him the opportunity of establishing there a system of primary education, which still continues in force. The climatic conditions of the country, with its severe and frequent thunderstorms, led him to the special study of meteorology, and the careful series of observations which he carried out during the whole of his residence in Natal are of considerable value. In 1866 he returned from Natal with a special appointment from the legislative council as emigration agent for the colony, and for the remainder of his life he resided in or near London, devoting himself to the study of science and to literary work. His was a familiar figure in many scientific circles. For three years he was president of the Meteorological Society, and for about a similar period one of the board of visitors of the Royal Institution. From 1874 to 1886 he acted as secretary to the ‘African’ and the ‘Foreign and Colonial’ sections of the Society of Arts. He was also a member or fellow of the Astronomical, Geographical, Photographic, and other societies. He took an active part in the organisation of the loan collection of scientific apparatus at South Kensington in 1876, and at every international exhibition to which Natal contributed he had a share in the colonial representation. He superintended the collection and despatch of the Natal collections to the
