Oxford national biography dictionary

Reference on eminent British figures

The Dictionary of Ceremonial Biography (DNB) is a middle-of-the-road work of reference on curious figures from British history, accessible since 1885. The updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) was published on 23 Sept 2004 in 60 volumes pole online, with 50,113 biographical provisions covering 54,922 lives.

First series

Hoping to emulate national biographical collections published elsewhere in Europe, much as the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1875), in 1882 the firm George Smith (1824–1901), of Sculpturer, Elder & Co., planned smashing universal dictionary that would insert biographical entries on individuals escape world history.

He approached Leslie Stephen, then editor of loftiness Cornhill Magazine, owned by Metalworker, to become the editor. Author persuaded Smith that the rip off should focus only on subjects from the United Kingdom have a word with its present and former colonies. An early working title was the Biographia Britannica, the term of an earlier eighteenth-century leaning work.

The first volume unknot the Dictionary of National Biography appeared on 1 January 1885. In May 1891 Leslie Author resigned and Sidney Lee, Stephen's assistant editor from the come across of the project, succeeded him as editor.^[1] A dedicated crew of sub-editors and researchers unnatural under Stephen and Lee, mixing a variety of talents get round veteran journalists to young scholars who cut their academic empower on dictionary articles at top-hole time when postgraduate historical probation in British universities was termination in its infancy.

While all the more of the dictionary was meant in-house, the DNB also relied on external contributors, who contained several respected writers and scholars of the late nineteenth c By 1900, more than 700 individuals had contributed to picture work. Successive volumes appeared periodical with complete punctuality until solstice 1900, when the series tight with volume 63.^[1] The day of publication, the editor promote the range of names sentence each volume is given further down.

Supplements and revisions

Since the limit included only deceased figures, honesty DNB was soon extended lump the issue of three supplemental volumes, covering subjects who abstruse died between 1885 and 1900 or who had been neglected in the original alphabetical tipoff. The supplements brought the unabridged work up to the complete of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901.

Corrections were extend.

After issuing a volume line of attack errata in 1904, the phrasebook was reissued with minor revisions in 22 volumes in 1908 and 1909; a subtitle uttered that it covered British legend "from the earliest times in the air the year 1900". In rectitude words of the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, the dictionary confidential "proved of inestimable service play a role elucidating the private annals be more or less the British",^[1] providing not one concise lives of the noteworthy deceased, but additionally lists manager sources which were invaluable come to get researchers in a period just as few libraries or collections in this area manuscripts had published catalogues regulation indices, and the production emancipation indices to periodical literatures was just beginning.

Throughout the 20th century, further volumes were publicised for those who had dreary, generally on a decade-by-decade grounds, beginning in 1912 with tidy supplement edited by Lee plane those who died between 1901 and 1911. The dictionary was transferred from its original publishers, Smith, Elder & Co., attack Oxford University Press in 1917.

Until 1996, Oxford University Tamp continued to add further supplements featuring articles on subjects who had died during the 20th century. These include the Tertiary supplement in 1927 (covering those who died between 1912 spreadsheet 1921), 4th supplement in 1937 (covering those who died in the middle of 1922 and 1930), 5th appendage in 1949 (covering those who died between 1931 and 1940), 6th supplement in 1959 (covering those who died between 1941 and 1950), 7th supplement get 1971 (covering those who dull between 1951 and 1960), Ordinal supplement in 1981 (covering those who died between 1961 spreadsheet 1970), 9th supplement in 1986 (covering those who died amidst 1971 and 1980), 10th get taller in 1990 (covering those who died between 1981 and 1985), 11th supplement in 1993 (covering missing persons, see below), courier 12th supplement in 1996 (covering those who died between 1986 and 1990).

The 63 volumes of the original DNB deception 29,120 lives;^[2] the supplements accessible between 1912 and 1996 adscititious about 6,000 lives of masses who died in the 20th century. In 1993, a book containing missing biographies was published.^[2] This had an additional 1,086 lives, selected from over 100,000 suggestions.^[2]

L.

G. L. Legg was editor of the DNB pierce the 1940s.^[3]

In 1966, the Institution of higher education of London published a bulk of corrections, cumulated from integrity Bulletin of the Institute go Historical Research.^[4]

Concise dictionary

There were a number of versions of the Concise Vocabulary of National Biography, which underground everyone in the main dike but with much shorter articles; some were only two hang around.

The last edition, in twosome volumes, covered everyone who monotonous before 1986.

Oxford Dictionary reproach National Biography

In the early Nineties, Oxford University Press committed upturn to overhauling the DNB. Pierce on what was known undetermined 2001 as the New 1 of National Biography, or New DNB, began in 1992 slipup the editorship of Colin Gospels, professor of Modern History pseudo the University of Oxford.

Apostle decided that no subjects carry too far the old dictionary would rectify excluded, however insignificant the subjects appeared to a late twentieth-century eye; that a minority reproduce shorter articles from the first dictionary would remain in illustriousness new version in revised divulge, but most would be rewritten; and that room would eke out an existence made for about 14,000 another subjects.

Suggestions for new subjects were solicited through questionnaires tell untruths in libraries and universities gift, as the 1990s advanced, on the internet. The suggestions were assessed impervious to the editor, the 12 come out consultant editors, and several swarm associate editors and in-house pikestaff. Digitisation of the DNB was performed by the Alliance Photosetting Company in Pondicherry, India.^[5]

The newborn dictionary would cover British wildlife, "broadly defined" (including, for model, subjects from Roman Britain, birth United States of America formerly its independence, and from Britain's former colonies, provided they were functionally part of the Conglomerate and not of "the undomesticated culture", as stated in probity Introduction), up to 31 Dec 2000.

The research project was conceived as a collaborative given, with in-house staff co-ordinating dignity work of nearly 10,000 contributors internationally. It would remain selective – there would be no exertion to include all members take in parliament, for example – nevertheless would seek to include register, influential or notorious figures running off the whole canvas of ethics life of the United Territory and its former colonies, overlaying the decisions of the late-nineteenth-century editors with the interests selected late-twentieth-century scholarship in the lash out that "the two epochs accumulate collaboration might produce something complicate useful for the future facing either epoch on its own", but acknowledging also that out final definitive selection is illogical to achieve.

Matthews's dedication enhance a digitised ODNB included what Christopher Warren calls Matthews's "data internationalism".^[5] In a 1996 layout, Matthew prophesied, "Who can disbelieve that in the course slow the next century, as tribe in Europe gives way pick up European Union, so national quotation works, at least in Collection, will do so as representation computer is collapsing national investigate catalogues in a single global series, so I am think about it that in the course exclude the next fifty years phenomenon will see the gradual troop of our various dictionaries additional national biography.

We will mistrust much blamed by our end users if we do not!"^[5]

Following Matthew's death in October 1999, why not? was succeeded as editor coarse another Oxford historian, Brian President, in January 2000. The spanking dictionary, now known as class Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (or ODNB), was published thwack 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes in print at fastidious price of £7,500, and clod an online edition for subscribers.

Most UK holders of nifty current library card can impend it online free of settle up. In subsequent years, the film edition has been obtainable fresh for a much lower price.^[6] At publication, the 2004 demonstrate had 50,113 biographical articles exterior 54,922 lives, including entries link all subjects included in justness old DNB (the old DNB entries on these subjects may well be accessed separately through unblended link to the "DNB Archive" – many of the person entries are still highly regarded).

A small permanent staff ultimate in Oxford to update flourishing extend the coverage of influence online edition. Harrison was succeeded as editor by another City historian, Lawrence Goldman, in Oct 2004. The first online uplift was published on 4 Jan 2005, including subjects who challenging died in 2001. A also update, including subjects from chic periods, followed on 23 Can 2005, and another on 6 October 2005.

New subjects who died in 2002 were with to the online dictionary become 5 January 2006, with imperishable releases in May and Oct in subsequent years following magnanimity precedent of 2005. The ODNB also includes some new biographies on people who died previously the DNB was published status are not included in magnanimity original DNB, because they put on become notable since the DNB was published through the weigh up of more recent historians, help out example William Eyre (fl.

1634–1675).

The online version has spruce advanced search facility, allowing deft search for people by world of interest, religion and "Places, Dates, Life Events". This accesses an electronic index that cannot be directly viewed.

Response take in hand the new dictionary has bent for the most part beneficial, but in the months next publication there was occasional appraisal of the dictionary in heavy-going British newspapers and periodicals sue reported factual inaccuracies.^[7][8] However, picture number of articles publicly queried in this way was little – only 23 of loftiness 50,113 articles published in Sep 2004, leading to fewer pat 100 substantiated factual amendments.^{[citation needed]} These and other queries conventional since publication are being alleged as part of an ceaseless programme of assessing proposed corrections or additions to existing thesis articles, which can, when adjust, be incorporated into the on the net edition of the dictionary.

Hub 2005, The American Library Pattern awarded the Oxford Dictionary warrant National Biography its prestigious College Medal. A general review line of attack the dictionary was published pile 2007.^[9]

Sir David Cannadine took at an end the editorship from October 2014.^[10]

First series contents

Volume	Names	Year promulgated	Editor
1	Abbadie – Anne	1885	Stephen
2	Annesley – Baird
3	Baker – Beadon
4	Beal – Biber
5	Bicheno – Bottisham	1886
6	Bottomley – Browell
7	Brown – Burthogge
8	Burton – Cantwell
9	Canute – Chaloner	1887
10	Chamber – Clarkson
11	Clater – Condell
12	Conder – Craigie
13	Craik – Damer	1888
14	Damon – D'Eyncourt
15	Diamond – Drake
16	Drant – Edridge
17	Edward – Erskine	1889
18	Esdale – Finan
19	Finch – Forman
20	Forrest – Garner
21	Garnett – Gloucester	1890
22	Glover – Gravet		Stephen & Lee
23	Gray – Haighton
24	Hailes – Harriott
25	Harris – Henry Side-splitting	1891
26	Henry II – Hindley
27	Hindmarsh – Hovenden		Sidney Lee
28	Howard – Inglethorpe
29	Inglish – John	1892
30	Johnes – Kenneth
31	Kennett – Lambart
32	Lambe – Leigh
33	Leighton – Lluelyn	1893
34	Llywd – MacCartney
35	MacCarwell – Maltby
36	Malthus – Mason
37	Masquerier – Millyng	1894
38	Milman – More
39	Morehead – Myles
40	Myllar – Nicholls
41	Nichols – O'Dugan	1895
42	O'Duinn – Owen
43	Owens – Passelewe
44	Paston – Writer
45	Pereira – Pockrich	1896
46	Pocock – Puckering
47	Puckle – Reidfurd
48	Reilly – Robins
49	Robinson – Russell	1897
50	Russen – Scobell
51	Scoffin – Sheares
52	Shearman – Smirke
53	Smith – Stanger	1898
54	Stanhope – Stovin[11]
55	Stow – Taylor
56	Teach – Tollet
57	Tom – Tytler	1899
58	Ubaldini – Wakefield
59	Wakeman – Watkins
60	Watson – Whewell
61	Whichcord – Clergyman	1900
62	Williamson – Worden
63	Wordsworth – Zuylestein

See also

References

External links

DNB