many important articles. In 1864 he published an elaborate report On the Coal Resources of India. He retired in 1876, and died at Rugby on the 17th of July 1878.
OLDHAM, a municipal county and parliamentary borough of Lancashire, England, 7 m. N.E. of Manchester, on the London & North-Western, Great Central and Lancashire & Yorkshire railways and the Oldham canal. Pop. (1891) 131,463; (1901) 137,246. The principal railway station is called Mumps, but there are several others. The town lies high, near the source of the small river Medlock. Its growth as a manufacturing centre gives it a wholly modern appearance. Among several handsome churches the oldest dates only from the later 18th century. The principal buildings and institutions include the town-hall, with tetrastyle portico copied from the Ionic temple of Ceres near Athens, the reference library, art gallery and museum, the Union Street baths, commemorating Sir Robert Peel the statesman, and the county court. Of educational establishments the chief are the Lyceum, a building in Italian style, containing schools of art and science, and including an observatory; the largely-endowed blue-coat school founded in 1808 by Thomas Henshaw, a wealthy manufacturer of hats; the Hulme grammar school (1895), and municipal technical schools. The Alexandra Park, opened in 1865, was laid out by operatives who were thrown out of employment owing to the cotton famine in the years previous to that date. The site is picturesquely undulating and terraced. Oldham is one of the most important centres of the cotton manufactures, the consumption of cotton being about one-fifth of the total importation into the United Kingdom, the factories numbering some 230, and the spindles over 13 millions, while some 35,000 operatives are employed. The principal manufactures are fustians, velvets, cords, shirtings, sheetings and nankeens. There are also large foundries and mUl and cotton machinery works; and works for the construction of gas-meters and sewing-machines; while all these industries are assisted by the immediate presence of collieries. There are extensive markets and numerous fairs are held. Oldham was incorporated in 1849, and became a county borough in 1888. The corporation consists of a mayor, 12 aldermen and 36 councillors. The parliamentary borough has returned two members since 1832. Area of municipal borough, 4736 acres.
A Roman road, of which some traces are still left, passes through the site of the township, but it does not appear to have been a Roman station. It is not mentioned in Domesday; but in the reign of Henry III. Alwardus de Aldholme is referred to as holding land in Vernet (Werneth). A daughter and co-heiress of this Alwardus conveyed Werneth Hall and its manor to the Cudworths, a branch of the Yorkshire family, with whom it remained till the early part of the 18th century. From the Oldhams was descended Hugh Oldham, who died bishop of Exeter in 1519. From entries in the church registers it would appear that linens were manufactured in Oldham as early as 1630. Watermills were introduced in 1770, and with the adoption of Arkwright’s inventions the cotton industry grew with great rapidity.
OLD MAID, a game of cards. Any number may play, and the full pack is used, the Queen of Hearts being removed. The cards are dealt out one by one until exhausted, and each player then sorts his hand and discards the pairs. The dealer then offers his hand, spread out face downwards to the next player, who draws a card, which, if it completes a pair, is discarded, but otherwise remains in the hand. The process continues from player to player, until all the cards have been paired and discarded excepting the odd queen, the holder of which is the “Old Maid.”
OLDMIXON, JOHN (1673–1742), English historian, was a son of John Oldmixon of Oldmixon, near Bridgwater. His first writings were poems and dramas, among them being Amores Britannici; Epistles historical and gallant (1703); and a tragedy, The Governor of Cyprus. His earliest historical work was The British Empire in America (1708 and again 1741), which was followed by The Secret History of Europe (1712–1715); by Arcana Gallica, or the Secret History of France for the last Century (1714); and by other smaller writings. More important, however, although of a very partisan character, are Oldmixon’s works on English history. His Critical history of England (1724–1726) contains attacks on Clarendon and a defence of Bishop Burnet, and its publication led to a controversy between Dr Zachary Grey (1688–1766) and the author, who replied to Grey in his Clarendon and Whitlock compared (1727). On the same, lines he wrote his History of England during the Reigns of the Royal House of Stuart (1730). Herein he charged Bishop Atterbury and other of Clarendon’s editors with tampering with the text of the . History. From his exile Atterbury replied to this charge in a Vindication, and although Oldmixon continued the controversy it is practically certain that he was in the wrong. He completed a continuous history of England by writing the History of England during the Reigns of William and Mary, Anne and George I. (1735); and the History of England during the Reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth (1739). Among his other writings are, Memoirs of North Britain (1715), Essay on Criticism (1728) and Memoirs of the Press 1710–1740 (1742), which was only published after his death. Oldmixon had much to do with editing two periodicals. The Muses Mercury and The Medley, and he often complained that his services were overlooked by the government. He died on the 9th of July 1742.
OLD POINT COMFORT, a summer and winter resort, in
Elizabeth City county, Virginia, U.S.A., at the southern end
of a narrow, sandy peninsula projecting into Hampton Roads
(at the mouth of the James river), about 12 m. N. by W. of
Norfolk. It is served directly by the Chesapeake & Ohio railway,
and indirectly by the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk (Pennsylvania
System), passengers and freight being carried by
steamer from the terminus at Cape Charles; by steamboat lines
connecting with the principal cities along the Atlantic coast,
and with cities along the James river; by ferry, connecting with
Norfolk and Portsmouth; and by electric railway (3 m.) to
Hampton and (12 m.) to Newport News. There is a U.S. garrison
at Fort Monroe, one of the most important fortifications on the
Atlantic coast of the United States. Old Point Comfort is
included in the reservation of Fort Monroe. The fort lies within;
the tract of 252 acres ceded, for coast defence purposes, to the
Federal government by the state of Virginia in 1821, the surveys
for the original fortifications having been made in 1818, and the
building begun in 1819. It was named in honour of President
Monroe and was first regularly garrisoned in 1823; in 1824 the
Artillery School of Practice (now called the United States
Coast Artillery School) was established to provide commissioned o
officers of the Coast Artillery with instruction in professional
work and to give technical instruction to the non-commissioned
staff. During the Civil War the fort was the rendezvous for
several military expeditions, notably those of General Benjamin
F. Butler to Hatteras Inlet, in 1861; of General A. E. Burnside,
to North Carolina, in 1862; and of General A. H. Terry, against
Fort Fisher, in 1865; within sight of its parapets was fought the
famous duel between the “Monitor" and the “Merrimac"
(March 9, 1862). Jefferson Davis was a prisoner here for two
years, from the 22nd of May 1865, and Clement Claiborne Clay
(1819–1882), a prominent Confederate, from the same date until
April 1866. Between Fort Monroe and Sewell’s Point is Fort
Wool, almost covering a small island called Rip Raps. The
expedition which settled Jamestown rounded this peninsula
(April 26, 1607), opened its sealed instructions here, and named
the peninsula Poynt Comfort, in recognition of the sheltered
harbour. (The “Old” was added subsequently to distinguish
it from a Point Comfort settlement at the mouth of the York
river on Chesapeake Bay). On the site of the present fortification
a fort was erected by the whites as early as 1630.
OLD TOWN, a city of Penobscot county, Maine, U.S.A., on the Penobscot river, about 12 m. N.E. of Bangor. Pop. (1890) 5312; (1900) 5763, of whom 1247 were foreign born. It is served by the Maine Central and the Bangor & Aroostook railways, and by an electric line connecting with Bangor. The city proper is on an island (Marsh, or Old Town Island), but considerable territory on the W. bank of the river is included
