Sir George Thomas Staunton

Sir George Thomas Staunton, an English author, born in Salisbury, May 26, 1781, died in London, Aug. 10, 1859. He was the son of Sir George Leonard Staunton (1737-1801), confidential secretary of Lord Macartney at Madras, and a member of his embassy to China, of which he wrote an account (2 vols. 4to, 1797). George Thomas accompanied his father to China in 1792, afterward studied at Cambridge, and in 1799 went to Canton as secretary of the East India company's factory there, of which he afterward became president. In 1816 he was attached to Lord Amherst's embassy to China, and from 1818 to 1852, with a few intermissions, was a member of parliament. His principal works are: "The Penal Code of the Chinese Empire" (4to, London, 1810); "Narrative of the Chinese Embassy to the Tartar Khan Tourgouth during the'Years 1812-'15 " (1821); and " Miscellaneous Notices relative to China and the British Commercial Intercourse with that Country " (1822).

Sir Henry Brooke Parnell

See Congleton.

Sir Henry Halford

Sir Henry Halford, an English physician, born in Leicester, Oct. 2, 1766, died in London, March 9, 1844. He was the son of Dr. James Vaughan, and took the name of Halford in 1814, upon inheriting a large estate from Sir Charles Halford, a distant relation on his mother's side. He was educated at Rugby and Oxford, was elected a fellow of the college of physicians in 1794, and almost immediately embarked in a large practice in London. He was made a baronet in 18<>9, and was physician to George III., George IV., William IV., and Victoria. In 1824 he was elected president of the college of physicians. He published a volume of "Essays and Orations" (1831; 3d ed., 1842), in which is contained an account of the discovery in 1813 of the head of Charles I. in the vaults of St. George's chapel, Windsor; "The Death of some Eminent Persons of Modern Times" (1835); and Nugoe Metricoe, consisting of Latin poems and translations (1842).

Sir Henry Moncreiff (Wellwood)

Sir Henry Moncreiff (Wellwood), a Scottish divine, born at Blackford, Perthshire, Feb. 6, 1750, died in Edinburgh, June 14, 1827. He was the son of the Rev. Sir William Moncreiff, and assumed the name of Wellwood in the latter part of his life. He was educated at Glasgow and Edinburgh, was ordained in 1771, and was minister in Blackford as successor of his father till 1775, when he was appointed minister of St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. He early connected himself with the evangelical party in the church, and became in time its leader. His principal works are: "Discourses on the Evidence of the Jewish and Christian Revelations "(Edinburgh, 1815); "Account of the Life and Writings of Dr. John Erskine" (1818); and "Sermons" (3 vols. 8vo, 1829-'31), with a memoir by his son.

Sir Henry Morgan

Sir Henry Morgan, a British buccaneer, born about 1637, died in Jamaica in 1090. He was the son of a farmer in Wales, became a sailor, and for many years maintained his position among the West India islands as chief of a host of pirates, composed of adventurers from all the nations of Europe. From his strongholds, one of which was the island of St. Catharine, he made many successful descents upon the Spanish settlements in his vicinity, and at sea captured many rich prizes. The most daring of these expeditions was that in which he captured and sacked Portobello and Panama, amassing a large fortune. (See Buccaneers.) He afterward settled in Jamaica, where he was made a marine commissary and knighted by Charles II.