| AdminHistory | Harriet Martineau: born in Norwich of a Unitarian Huguenot family, 1802; educated at home and at a school in Norwich, 1813-1815; lived in Bristol; the doctrine of "philosophical necessity" modified her religious beliefs; sent an article to the Unitarian 'Monthly Repository', 1821; wrote on religious subjects; her family suffered financial difficulties; a supposed engagement proved abortive; published short works; began a literary connection with William Johnson Fox, editor of the 'Monthly Repository', for which she wrote reviews; wrote for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; family difficulties forced her to make a living partly by needlework; awarded prizes for essays by the Central Unitarian Association; visited Dublin, and conceived a series illustrating political economy, 1831; bringing out a story a month she produced 25 numbers, 1832-1834; it proved successful; wrote four "poor-law tales" for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; added five supplementary tales, 'Illustrations of Taxation', 1834; visited America, 1834; already opposed to slavery, she returned a determined abolitionist, 1836; travelled abroad, 1839; ill health caused her to return; her belief in mesmerism brought charges of credulity; built a house in Westmoreland, 1845-1846; visited Egypt and Palestine, 1846-1847; her anti-theological views were controversial; diagnosed with fatal heart disease, she produced her autobiography, 1855; she lived on, but her health declined; keenly interested in the American war and in the agitation against the Contagious Diseases Acts; died, 1876. Publications: numerous books and articles in periodicals on religious and philosophical subjects, travel, political economy, and other contemporary issues. Her 'Autobiography', which included memorials by Maria Weston Chapman (vol iii), was published in 1877.
William Tait: born in Edinburgh, 1793; attended Edinburgh University briefly; articled to a writer to the signet, but abandoned law and with his brother opened a bookseller's shop in Edinburgh; soon began publishing, including works by Carlyle and Bentham; produced the monthly 'Tait's Edinburgh Magazine', on literary and political subjects, of a radical tone, 1832-1864; the magazine was a success; his contributors included Harriet Martineau and other prominent literary and political figures sympathetic to the opinions of the magazine; personally interested in literature and politics and a prominent figure in Edinburgh life; elected to the city's first reformed town council, 1833; gaoled for four days for refusing to pay church rates, 1833; his shop was a meeting place for many Edinburgh notables; retired from business, 1848; bought the estate of Prior Bank, near Melrose; died there, 1864. |
| CustodialHistory | Part of the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), linguistic psychologist, founder of the Orthological Institute and originator of the language system Basic English, whose interests in language systems are reflected in the subject matter of his collection, which comprised individual manuscripts and manuscript collections dating from the 14th to the 20th century. |