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The History Channel - Encyclopedia Category: History and Culture > History Date & country: 02/12/2007, UK Words: 25833

Hogarth, William
(1697-1764) English painter and engraver. He produced portraits and moralizing genre scenes, such as the story series of prints A Rake's Progress (1735; Soane Museum, London). His portraits are remarkably...

Hogg, Douglas Martin
(1945) British Conservative politician. His ministerial appointments include trade and industry 1989-90 and the foreign and Commonwealth office 1990-95. As minister for agriculture, fisheries, and food...

Hogg, James
(1770-1835) Scottish novelist and poet. He was known as the `Ettrick Shepherd`, being born in Ettrick Forest, Selkirkshire. He worked as a shepherd at Yarrow 1790-99. He excelled in recounting local or...

Hogg, Quintin
British politician; see Lord Hailsham. ...

Hogg, Sarah Elizabeth Mary
(1946) English economist and journalist. She earned a reputation for top-ranking journalism with The Economist, Sunday Times, Independent, Telegraph, and Sunday Telegraph, and as a presenter on Channel 4...

Hogg, Thomas Jefferson
(1792-1862) English biographer. He was the lifelong friend and biographer of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Associated with Shelley in the pamphlet `The Necessity of Atheism` 1811, he was expelled from...

Hogmanay
Scottish name for New Year's Eve. A traditional feature is first-footing, visiting the homes of friends and neighbours after midnight to welcome in the new year with salt, bread, whisky, and other...

Hohenfriedburg, Battle of
During the War of the Austrian Succession, Prussian victory over the allied Austrians and Saxons 3 June 1745 56 km/35 mi southwest of Breslau in Prussian Silesia (now Wroc&lsla;aw, Poland). The...

Hohenlinden, Battle of
In the French Revolutionary Wars, a defeat of the Austrians by the French December 1800. Coming after the defeat at Marengo, it led the Austrians to make peace at the Treaty of...

Hohenstaufen
German family of princes, several members of which were Holy Roman Emperors 1138-1208 and 1214-54. They were the first German emperors to make use of associations with Roman law and tradition to...

Hohenzollern
German family, originating in Württemberg, the main branch of which held the titles of elector of Brandenburg from 1415, king of Prussia from 1701, and German emperor from 1871. The last emperor,...

Hohernzollern redoubt
In World War I, name given by the British to an intricate trench system extending out 450 m/500 yds from the German front line at the battle of Loos September 1915. It was taken by the British...

Hohfeld, Wesley N(ewcomb)
(1879-1918) US jurist. In his posthumously published Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied to Judicial Reasoning 1919, he criticized the imprecision of much legal terminology and formulated a...

Hohokam
Member of a prehistoric American Indian people who lived in Arizona from about 300 BC to AD 1400. Their lifestyle was similar to the neighbouring Anasazi; they practised irrigated farming and lived...

Hojo family
Family that were regents (shikken) and effective rulers of Japan 1203-1333, during most of the Kamakura (Minamoto) shogunate. Among its members were Hojo Yasutoki (regent 1224-42), Hojo...

Hokan
Major American Indian language family of the southwest USA and northwest Mexico, in particular the Baja California region. Branches include Tequistlatecan and Seri...

Hokusai, Katsushika
(1760-1849) Japanese artist. He was the leading printmaker of his time and a major exponent of ukiyo-e. He published Fugaku sanj?-rokkei/36 Views of Mount Fuji (c. 1823-29), and produced outstanding...

Holbein, Hans, the Elder
(c. 1464-1524) German painter. Painting mainly religious works, he belonged to the school of Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling in his early paintings but showed Italianate influence in such a work as the...

Holborn, Hajo
(1902-1969) German-born US historian who was an authority on the Reformation and the Weimar Republic. He served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Washington 1943-45 and in the State Department...

Holbrooke, Richard
(1941) US diplomat. He was appointed head of the US negotiating team in the Balkans in July 1994 and within seven months had persuaded Bosnian Muslim and Croat leaders to sign an accord, leading to the...

Holcroft, Thomas
(1745-1809) English dramatist and novelist. In his first novel, Alwyn, or the Gentleman Comedian 1780, he describes his experience as a strolling actor. He went on to publish numerous comedies and comic oper ...

Holda
In Germanic folklore, a spirit associated with spinning and rural life generally, who rewards hard-working people and punishes the lazy. She is depicted in fairy tales as making her bed when it...

Holden, Edith
(1871-1920) English artist and naturalist. Daughter of a Birmingham manufacturer, she made most of her observations near her native city, and her journal, illustrated with her own watercolours, was published...

Holdenby House
Ruined mansion 10 km/6 mi northwest of Northampton, England. It was originally built as a palace for Christopher Hatton by the architect John Thorpe (1565-1655) in 1583, and sold by Hatton's...

holding company
Company with a controlling shareholding in one or more subsidiaries. In the UK, there are many large holding companies with varying degrees of control over their subsidiaries. They frequently...

Holdsworth, William
(1871-1943) English jurist. Holdsworth was a fellow of St John's College, Oxford University from 1897, and was made Vinerian professor of English law at Oxford University in 1922. His principal works include...

holey dollar
Coin, legal tender in Australia 1814-24. Spanish silver dollars were introduced to New South Wales to relieve a shortage of coins. The centres were punched out and...

Holi
In Hindu tradition, a spring festival and one of the most joyful for Hindus. Held February/March, it lasts for up to five days from the full moon. Holi celebrates the death of the evil princess...

holiday
Period of allowed absence from work. The word derives from medieval holy days, which were saints' days when no work was done. Holidays became a legal requirement in Britain under the Bank Holidays...

holiday camp
Site that provides an all-inclusive holiday, usually with entertainment, at an inclusive price. The first holiday camp on a permanent site was opened 1894 near Douglas, Isle of Man, by Joseph...

holiness
In religion, the separation of a person or thing from the common or profane to a divine use; when used of God, those qualities that set him apart from humanity and the world. The concept is...

holism
In philosophy, the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. ...

Holkeri, Harri Hermanni
(1937) Finnish politician, prime minister 1987-91. Joining the centrist National Coalition Party (KOK) at an early age, he eventually became its national secretary. ...

Holkham Hall
House in Norfolk, England, 13 km/8 mi north of Fakenham. One of the masterpieces of the Palladian style, it was designed by William Kent, advised by Richard Burlington, and built between 1734 and...

Holl, Elias
(1573-1646) German architect. One of the most important German architects of the the Renaissance, he was city architect (master Builder) of Augsburg (1602-35), at a time when Augsburg was the largest city in...

Holl, Frank
(1845-1888) English painter and illustrator. He turned from sombre subjects - for example, Newgate Committed for Trial 1878 (Royal Holloway College, London) - to portraiture, his sitters including the...

Holladay, Ben
(1819-1887) US stagecoach operator and financier. He furnished supplies for the US Army during the Mexican War. He entered into trade with Salt Lake City and then with...

Holland, Henry
(1745-1806) English architect who undertook speculative building as well as designing, especially in Sloane Street and the adjoining parts ofChelsea, from 1771 onwards. His works including the original Pavilion...

Holland, John Philip
(1840-1914) Irish engineer who developed some of the first military submarines used by the US navy. He began work in Ireland in the late 1860s and emigrated to the USA in 1873. Holland's first successful...

Holland, Philemon
(1552-1637) English translator. Working both as a doctor and a school teacher, he made his reputation with his translations from classical writers, including Pliny, Suetonius, Plutarch, and Xenophon. His...

Holland, Sidney George
(1893-1961) New Zealand National Party right-of-centre politician, prime minister 1949-57. He removed wartime controls, abolished the Legislative Council (the upper house of parliament), pursued a...

Holle, Frau
In Germanic folklore, another name for Holda. ...

Hollick, Clive Richard
(1945) English business executive and Labour Party peer (from 1991). In 1996 Hollick merged his financial services and television company Mills & Allen (MAI), for £3 billion, with United Newspapers...

Hollinghurst, Alan
(1954) English writer. His novels explore contemporary homosexual culture and relationships using a high literary style. His novel The Line of Beauty (2004; 2004 Man Booker Prize for Fiction) depicts a...

Hollis, Roger Henry
(1905-1973) British civil servant, head of the secret intelligence service MI5 1956-65. He was alleged to have been a double agent together with Kim Philby, but this was denied by the KGB...

Holloway, Stanley
(1890-1982) English entertainer. An original member of The Co-Optimists revue group 1921-30, his hearty, down-to-earth manner and booming tones made him a genial comedy actor in Ealing film classics...

Holm, Ian
(1931) English stage and screen actor, and one of the UK's foremost character performers. Hugely versatile, he has played a robot in Alien (1979), a demanding athletics trainer in Chariots of Fire (1981),...

Holm, Saxe
US writer; see Helen Hunt Jackson. ...

Holme, Constance
(1881-1955) English novelist. In 1919 her novel The Splendid Faring won the Femina Vie Heureuse prize. Most of her books are set in her native county of Westmorland; they include The Lonely Plough 1914, The...

Holmes, John Clellon
(1926-1988) US writer whose works include novels and essays describing the Beat Generation, as seen in Nothing More to Declare 1967. He also published poetry, was a lecturer at writing workshops, and taught at...

Holmes, John Haynes
(1879-1964) US religious leader and social reformer. He helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909, serving as national vice-president for over 50 years, and...

Holmes, Oliver Wendell
(1809-1894) US writer and physician. In 1857 he founded Atlantic Monthly with the poet J R Lowell, in which were published the essays and verse collected 1858 as The Autocrat...

Holmes, Sherlock
Fictitious private detective, created by the Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle in A Study in Scarlet (1887) and recurring in novels and stories until 1927. Holmes' ability to make inferences from...

Holmes, William Henry
(1846-1933) US archaeologist and artist. He was a geologist and outstanding illustrator who turned to archaeology while working for the US Geological Survey in 1875 and became an expert on southwestern Indian...

Holnicote Estate
Estate in Somerset, England, west of Minehead. The National Trust owns 4950 ha/12,226 acres of land here, which includes 2400 ha/5999 acres of Exmoor, toge ...

Holocaust, the
The annihilation of an estimated 16 million people by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945, principally in the numerous extermination and concentration camps, most notably Auschwitz...

Holstein, Friedrich August von
(1839-1909) German diplomat and foreign-affairs expert. He refused the post of foreign minister, but played a key role in German diplomacy from the 1880s until his death. ...

Holt tractor
US agricultural tractor using a `caterpillar` track instead of wheels. Holt tractors were deployed in World War I to haul guns and other heavy loads and inspired the development of the tank. ...

Holt, Henry
(1840-1926) US publisher and author. He formed a publishing company with Frederick Leypoldt, organized in 1873 as Henry Holt & Company. His writings include the popular novels Calmire, Man and Nature 1892 and...

Holtby, Winifred
(1898-1935) English novelist and journalist. She was an ardent advocate of women's freedom and of racial equality. Her novel South Riding (1936), set in her native Yorkshire, was awarded the Tait Black Memorial...

Holub, Miroslav
(1923-1998) Czech poet. A doctor specializing in immunology, amidst the discouragements of communist rule he courageously testified to humanistic values in terse and allusive poems. His collections include Kam...

Holy Alliance
`Christian Union of Charity, Peace, and Love` initiated by Alexander I of Russia in 1815 and signed by every crowned head in Europe. The alliance became associated with Russian attempts to...

Holy Communion
Another name for the Eucharist, a Christian sacrament. ...

Holy Grail
In medieval Christian legend, the dish or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper; credited with supernatural powers and a symbol of Christian grace. In certain stories incorporated in Arthurian...

Holy Land
Christian term for Israel, because of its association with Jesus and the Old Testament. The concept of the `Holy Land` arose with the crusades. For two hundred years from the late 11th century...

holy of holies
Innermost and most sacred apartment of the Temple of Jerusalem, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept until the Temple was destroyed in AD 70. In other religious buildings, the holy of holies, or...

Holy Office
Tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church that deals with ecclesiastical discipline; see Inquisition. ...

holy orders
Christian priesthood, as conferred by the laying on of hands by a bishop. It is held by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican churches to have originated in Jesus'...

Holy Roman Emperor
Elected overlord of German-speaking cities and principalities which made up the Holy Roman Empire. From 1356, the electors - seven ecclesiastical and secular princes - were firmly established....

Holy Roman Empire
Empire of Charlemagne and his successors, and the German Empire 962-1806, both being regarded as the Christian (hence `holy`) revival of the Roman Empire. At its height it comprised much of...

Holy Saturday
In the Christian church, the Saturday of Holy Week and the day before Easter Sunday. Many churches keep an Easter prayer vigil (watch) that lasts all day. Members of the congregation take it in...

Holy See
The diocese of the pope. ...

Holy Shroud
Christian name for the shroud of Turin. ...

Holy Spirit
Third person of the Christian Trinity, with God...

Holy Week
In the Christian church, the last week of Lent, when Christians commemorate the events that led up to the crucifixion of Jesus. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday and includes Maundy Thursday, which...

Holycross Abbey
Cistercian abbey at Holycross, County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland. It dates from the late 12th century but was almost entirely rebuilt in the 15th century; only the west wall and some smaller...

Holyoake, George Jacob
(1817-1906) British agitator and Chartist (see Chartism). Having decided that the evidences of Christianity were insufficient, he made remarks in public...

Holyoake, Keith Jacka
(1904-1983) New Zealand National Party right-of-centre politician, prime minister in 1957 (for three months) and 1960-72, during which time he was also foreign...

Holyrood House
Royal residence in Edinburgh, Scotland. The palace was built from 1498 to 1503, on the site of a 12th-century abbey, by James IV. It has associations with Mary Queen of Scots, and Charles Edward,...

homage
In Britain, feudal ceremony symbolizing the submission of a tenant to his lord. The lord would take the clasped hands of a kneeling man, and kisses might be exchanged as a sign of friendship. The...

home front
Organized sectors of domestic activity in wartime, mainly associated with World Wars I and II. Features of the UK home front in World War I included greater government control over industry, the...

home front, World War I
US domestic activity during World War I. Although the military battles of World War I were not fought in the USA, the war changed the lives of most Americans. Low wages, high inflation, increased...

home front, World War I
Organization of the UK civilian population by the British government to meet the war effort in World War I. Laws were passed extending government control over new areas. The Defence of the Realm Act...

home front, World War II
Mobilization of all sectors of the UK economy and population by the British government to support the war effort in World War II. There was no escape on the home front from involvement in or...

Home Guard
Unpaid force formed in Britain in May 1940 to repel the expected German invasion, and known until July 1940 as the Local Defence Volunteers. It consisted of men aged 17-65 who had not been called...

Home Rule League
Organization demanding home rule for India, established September 1916. The Indian demand for home rule was inspired by the unsuccessful Easter Rising in Ireland the previous April. It was launched...

home rule, Irish
Movement to repeal the Act of Union of 1801 that joined Irel ...

Home, Alec Douglas-
British Conservative politician. See Douglas-Home. ...

Home, John
(1722-1808) Scottish dramatist. Douglas, his first and most successful play, was produced at Covent Garden, London, in 1757. Others include Agis 1758, The Siege of Aquileia 1760, Alonzo...

homeland
Before 1980, name for the Black National States in the Republic of South Africa. ...

Homeland Security, Department of
US government department created in 2002, as a response to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC. It brings together 22 formerly disparate domestic agencies,...

Homelands Policy
South Africa's apartheid policy which set aside Black National States for black Africans. ...

Homer
According to ancient tradition, the author of the Greek narrative epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey (both derived from oral tradition). Little is known about the man, but modern research suggests...

Homer, Sidney
(1902-1983) US economist, broker, and author who, during the Depression, set up his own bond trading house in 1932. He joined Salomon Brothers in 1961, organized the firm's first bond research department, and...

Homestead Act
In US history, an act of Congress in May 1862 that encouraged settlement of land in the west by offering plots of up to 65-ha/160-acres, cheaply...

homesteader
US settler who took up land on the Great Plains following the US government's Homestead Act (1862) during the era of westward expansion. Homesteaders were offered 65 ha/160 acres for a small...

homicide
In law, the killing of a human being. This may be unlawful, lawful, or excusable, depending on the circumstances. Unlawful homicides include murder, manslaughter, infanticide, and causing death by...

Homildon Hill, Battle of
Battle fought 2 km/1 mi west of Wooler, in Northumberland, England on 14 September 1402. A force commanded by Henry `Hotspur`Percy and the...

Homma, Masaharu
(1888-1946) Japanese general. He spent most of his military career in intelligence duties and had little experience of field command. He unwisely boasted he could complete the...

Homo erectus
Species of hominid (of the human family) that walked upright and lived more than 1.5 million years ago. Fossil remains have been found in Java, China, Africa, and Europe. See...