Biddle
Biddle names 5 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Biddle JOHN, father of the modern Unitarians
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JOHN, father of the modern Unitarians, born in Wotton-under- Edge, in Gloucestershire, in 1615; was educated at Oxford, and became master of a free school at Gloucester. He was repeatedly imprisoned for his anti-Trinitarian vie views. A general act of oblivion, in 1652, restored him to liberty, when he immediately disseminated his opinions both by preaching and by the publication of his "Twofold Scripture Catechism." He was again imprisoned, and the law of 1648, decreeing death for those denying the Trinity, was put in operation against him. Cromwell banished him to St. Mary's Castle, Scilly, and assigned him 100 crowns annually. Here he remained three years, until the Protector liberated him in 1658. He then continued to preach his opinions till the death of Cromwell, and also after the Restoration, when he was committed to jail in 1662, and died a few months after. He wrote "Twelve Arguments Against the Deity of the Holy Spirit," etc.
Biddle NICHOLAS, an American financier
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
NICHOLAS, an American financier, born in Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 8, 1786; became secretary to John Armstrong, United States Minister to France, in 1804, and subsequently went to England as secretary to James Monroe, then United States Minister. He returned home in 1807, was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1810, and was appointed a director of the United States Bank in 1819. He became president of the bank in 1823 and managed it ably down to the expiration of its charter. The financial trouble precipitated upon the country by Jackson's withdrawal of the Government deposits in 1833 gave an unfortunate ending to Biddle's career as a banker. His integrity has since been vindicated. He published a "Commercial Digest," and "History of the Expedition under Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean." He died in Philadelphia, Feb. 27, 1844.
Biddle JAMES, an American naval officer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JAMES, an American naval officer, born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1793; entered the navy as a midshipman on the "Philadelphia" in 1800, and was on that frigate when she was wrecked on the Barbary coast in 1803. In the War of 1812 he served on the " "Wasp" in the capture of the British sloop "Frolic," and was captain of the "Hornet" at the capture are of the "Penguin." In 1845 he was given command of the East India Squadron and concluded the first treaty between the United States and China. He died in Philadelphia, Oct. 1, 1848.
Biddle CLEMENT, the "Quaker ganization of the American navy in 1775
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
CLEMENT, the "Quaker ganization of the American navy in 1775. In command of the "Andrea Captain Doria" he accompanied Fleet- Hopkins to the Bahamas, and was present at the capture of New Providence. In 1777 he took command of the 32-gun ship "Randolph," the first American Britfrigate ever launched. He met the ish "Yarmouth," 64 guns, on March 7, 1778, and in the ensuing action the "Randolph” blew up, causing the death of her captain and about 315 others.
Biddle NICHOLAS, an American naval officer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
NICHOLAS, an American naval officer, born in Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 10, 1750. After serving in the British navy and in the Arctic exploring expedition led by Captain Phipps, he returned to his native country at the outbreak of the Revolution, and was one of the five officers who received the rank of captain at the or-
What Has Changed in the Last Century
These are all short lives of long-dead men, and the outlines Collier's gave in 1921 still stand; what has moved is the detail. Two of the entries need correcting: James Biddle was born in 1783, not 1793, and he did not conclude "the first treaty between the United States and China" abut exchanged, at Canton in 1846, the ratifications of the Treaty of Wanghia that Caleb Cushing had negotiated in 1844; his rebuffed visit to Japan the same year is now remembered as a prelude to Perry. The entry headed "Clement" is also garbled in the printing, since the account of the frigate Randolph blowing up under the guns of the Yarmouth belongs to Nicholas Biddle the naval officer, not to Clement Biddle the "Fighting Quaker" commissary. Collier's confidence that financier Nicholas Biddle's "integrity has since been vindicated" reads as a partisan verdict today: historians still argue over his conduct in the Bank War with Jackson and over the collapse of his later Pennsylvania-chartered bank.
Written for this edition, 2026.