Portal:Bristol/Nominate/Selected biography

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Portal:Bristol/Selected biography/1

Woodes Rogers B. 1679 – d. 15 July 1732 Woodes Rogers was an English sea captain, privateer, and, later, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of the vessel that rescued the marooned Alexander Selkirk, whose plight is generally believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Rogers came from an affluent seafaring family, grew up in Poole and Bristol, and served a marine apprenticeship to a Bristol sea captain. His father left Rogers control of the family shipping business. In 1707, Rogers was approached by Captain William Dampier, who sought support for a privateering voyage against the Spanish. When the expedition returned to England, Rogers had circumnavigated the globe, while retaining his original ships and most of his men, and the investors in the expedition doubled their money. On his return, he was successfully sued by his crew on the grounds they had not received their fair share of the expedition profits, and Rogers was forced into bankruptcy. Rogers was twice appointed Governor of The Bahamas, where he succeeded in warding off threats from the Spanish, and in ridding the colony of pirates. However, his first term as governor was financially ruinous, and on his return to England, he was imprisoned for debt. During his second term as governor, Rogers died in Nassau at the age of about 53.

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Portal:Bristol/Selected biography/2

Charles Holden B. (1875-05-12)May 12, 1875 – d.  Charles Henry Holden Litt.D, FRIBA, MRTPI, RDI was a Bolton-born English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, for Bristol Central Library, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway and for the University of London's Senate House. He also created many war cemeteries in Belgium and northern France for the Imperial War Graves Commission. His early buildings were influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, but for most of his career he championed an unadorned style based on simplified forms and massing that was free of what he considered to be unnecessary decorative detailing. Holden believed strongly that architectural designs should be dictated by the intended functions of buildings. He was a member of the Design and Industries Association and the Art Workers' Guild. Although not without its critics, his architecture is widely appreciated. He was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects' (RIBA's) Royal Gold Medal for architecture in 1936 and was appointed a Royal Designer for Industry in 1943. Many of his buildings have been granted listed building status, protecting them from unapproved alteration. He twice declined the offer of a knighthood.

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Portal:Bristol/Selected biography/3

J. K. Rowling B.  (1965-07-31) July 31, 1965 Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE FRSL (/ˈroʊlɪŋ/; pen names J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith, is a British novelist best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. They have become the best-selling book series in history and been the basis for a series of films which is the second highest-grossing film series in history. Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series. The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, divorce from her first husband and relative poverty until Rowling finished the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1997. Rowling has written three books for adult readers, The Casual Vacancy (2012) and—under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith—the crime fiction novels The Cuckoo's Calling (2013) and The Silkworm (2014). Rowling has led a "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on state benefits to multi-millionaire status within five years. She is the United Kingdom's best-selling living author, with sales in excess of £238m.

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Portal:Bristol/Selected biography/4

Jessie Stephen B. (1893-04-19)19 April 1893 – d.  Jessie Stephen, MBE (19 April 1893 – 12 June 1979) was a twentieth-century British suffragette, labour activist and local councillor. She grew up in Scotland and won a scholarship to train as a teacher. Family finances dictated otherwise, leading to her becoming a domestic worker at the age of 15. She became involved in national labour issues as a teenager, via organisations such as the Independent Labour Party and the Women's Social and Political Union. After moving to Lancashire and London she visited the United States and Canada, where she held meetings with the public including migrant English domestic workers. Stephen later become more involved in formal political parties, being elected as a local councillor and standing as a candidate in general elections. After moving to Bristol she became the first woman president of Bristol Trades Council. She was appointed MBE in 1977 and her life is commemorated by a blue plaque in Bristol.

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Portal:Bristol/Selected biography/5

Portrait photograph of Mary Carpenter in later life. Mary Carpenter B. (1807-04-03)3 April 1807 – d.  Mary Carpenter was an English educational and social reformer. The daughter of a Unitarian minister, she founded a ragged school and reformatories, bringing previously unavailable educational opportunities to poor children and young offenders in Bristol. She published articles and books on her work and her lobbying was instrumental in the passage of several educational acts in the mid-nineteenth century. She was the first woman to have a paper published by the Statistical Society of London. She was active in the anti-slavery movement; she also visited India, visiting schools and prisons and working to improve female education, establish reformatory schools and improve prison conditions. In later years she visited Europe and America, carrying on her campaigns of penal and educational reform. Carpenter publicly supported women's suffrage in her later years and also campaigned for female access to higher education. She is buried in Arnos Vale Cemetery and has a memorial in the North transept of Bristol Cathedral.

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Portal:Bristol/Selected biography/6

Tony Benn B. (1925-04-03)3 April 1925 – d.  Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, originally known as Anthony Wedgwood Benn or Wedgwood Benn (and colloquially as Wedgie Benn), but later as Tony Benn, was a British politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) for forty-seven years between 1950 and 2001 and a Cabinet minister under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, he was situated on the party's hard left, ideologically identifying as a democratic socialist. Benn inherited a hereditary peerage on his father's death (as 2nd Viscount Stansgate), preventing him continuing as an MP. He fought to remain in the House of Commons, and then campaigned for the ability to renounce the title, a campaign which succeeded with the Peerage Act 1963. In 1971–72, he was Chairman of the Labour Party. In the Labour Government of 1974–1979, he returned to the Cabinet, initially as Secretary of State for Industry, before being made Secretary of State for Energy, retaining his post when James Callaghan replaced Wilson as Prime Minister. In the 1980s, he was a prominent figure on its left wing and the term "Bennite" came to be used for someone with radical left-wing politics. Benn was described as "one of the few UK politicians to have become more left-wing after holding ministerial office." After leaving Parliament, Benn was President of the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 until his death.

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Portal:Bristol/Selected biography/7

Paul Stephenson B.  (1937-05-06) 6 May 1937 Paul Stephenson OBE (born 6 May 1937 in Rochford, Essex), is a community worker, activist and long-time campaigner for civil rights for the British African-Caribbean community in Bristol, England. As a young social worker, in 1963 Stephenson led a boycott of the Bristol Omnibus Company, protesting against its refusal to employ Black or Asian drivers or conductors. After a 60-day boycott supported by thousands of Bristolians, the company revoked its colour bar in August. In 1964 Stephenson achieved national fame when he refused to leave a public house until he was served, resulting in a trial on a charge of failing to leave a licensed premises. His campaigns were instrumental in paving the way for the first Race Relations Act, in 1965. Stephenson is a Freeman of the City of Bristol and was awarded an OBE in 2009.

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Portal:Bristol/Selected biography/8

Jennison Myrie-Williams B.  (1988-05-17) 17 May 1988 Jennison Machisti Myrie-Williams is an English footballer who plays as a winger for Sligo Rovers. Myrie-Williams began his career at Bristol City, progressing through the club's youth system before making his first-team debut in May 2006. He played regularly for Bristol City during the 2006–07 season as the club were promoted to the Championship. During the 2007–08 season, Myrie-Williams was loaned out to Cheltenham Town and Tranmere Rovers. The following season he was loaned out to Cheltenham Town again, before having further loan spells at Carlisle United and Hereford United. He was released by Bristol City in May 2009, and joined Scottish Premier League side Dundee United on a free transfer a month later. In July 2011, Myrie-Williams signed for League One side Stevenage on a free transfer. He joined Port Vale on a six-week loan spell in November 2011. He was released by Stevenage in May 2012, and signed for Port Vale on a permanent basis two months later. He helped the club to secure promotion out of League Two in 2012–13, and was also voted onto the PFA Team of the Year. He signed with Scunthorpe United in June 2014. He had a second spell on loan at Tranmere Rovers in January 2015.

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