Buckingham
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Buckingham. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
George Villiers, Duke of (1592-1628), a British court favorite. He was a native of Leicestershire. He came of an old Norman family and was educated, especially in the manual of arms, in France. James I made him a companion of his son, afterward Charles I, and promoted him rapidly. In two years' time he rose to be knight, gentleman of the bedchamber, baron, viscount, marquis of Buckingham, and lord high admiral. Through his influence with the king and the heir he became the power behind the throne. Social standing, appointment to office, pensions, and preferments of all kinds were dependent on this conscienceless scamp, much to the distaste of the nation. He was graceful in person and could be affable or insolent in bearing,--a hypocrite or a profligate in practice, as suited his ends. For a picture of the audacious Steenie, as he was affectionately called by King James, the reader is referred to Scott's The Fortunes of Nigel. Buckingham traveled in disguise with Charles, and intrigued in the arrangements for his marriage with the Princess Henrietta Maria of France. During the wars that followed with France and Spain he proved his own incapacity for public office. He was assassinated by a lieutenant of the army. His son of the same name came into public notice in the reign of Charles II, and lived a life even more shameless than that of the father. Names more unworthy or worthless are not found in the pages of English history. The site of the city home of the family is now occupied by Buckingham Palace, the London residence of the king. It is an imposing, three-story structure, with long wings. It has a frontage of 360 feet on St. James Park. There are the usual throne room, where young ladies are presented, state rooms, galleries, and private apartments.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF, son of the preceding, born at Westminster in 1627; studied at Trinity College, Cambridge; served in the Royal army under Rupert and then went abroad. In 1648 he returned to England, was with Charles II. in Scotland , and and at the battle of Worcester afterward served as a volunteer in the French army in Flanders. He then returned to England, and in 1657 married the daughter of Lord Fairfax. At the Restoration he became master of the horse and one of the King's confidential cabal (1667-1673). In 1666 he engaged. in a conspiracy, and in 1676 was committed to the Tower for a contempt by order of the House of Lords; but on each occasion he recovered the King's favor. On the death of Charles he retired to his seat in Yorkshire, where he died in 1688. WILLIAM BUCKINGHAM, AL- FRED, an American statesman, born in Lebanon, Conn., May 28, 1804; was for nine years Governor of Connecticut (1858-1866); called the "War Governor" for his zeal in furnishing troops in the Civil War; and was United States Senator from 1869 till his death. He was a patron of Yale College. He died in Norwich, Conn., Feb. 3, 1875.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 note that Buckingham Palace is "an imposing, three-story structure" with a 360-foot front describes a building that was refaced within a few years: the familiar east front, in Portland stone, was rebuilt to Aston Webb's design in 1913, and the Victoria Memorial was unveiled outside it in 1911. The "throne room, where young ladies are presented" also belongs to a vanished world — court presentations of debutantes were abolished in 1958, and since 1993 the State Rooms have been opened to paying visitors in summer to help fund repairs after the Windsor Castle fire. On the men themselves the entries still stand factually, though few historians today would echo Aiton's "conscienceless scamp" or "names more unworthy or worthless are not found"; twentieth-century biographers treated the first duke as an overreaching royal favourite rather than a monster. Collier's Alfred Buckingham of Connecticut, the Civil War governor, is remembered chiefly in Norwich and in the statue of him in the Connecticut State Capitol.
Written for this edition, 2026.