Tabitha Moffatt Brown (1780 - 1858)

Tabitha Moffatt Brown Moffat was born on May 1, 1780, at Brimfield, Massachusetts, the daughter of Dr. Joseph and Lois (Haynes) Moffat. She married the Reverend Clark Brown in 1799, and they had four children. After her husband’s death in 1817, Brown taught school before moving to Missouri, where her brother-in-law, Captain John Brown, lived. […]

Hallie Quinn Brown (1850 - 1949)

Educator. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she was an African American educator and elocutionist who pioneered in the movement for Black women’s clubs. Educated at Wilberforce University Ohio, she taught on plantations and in the public schools of Mississippi and South Carolina. In the 1870s, she traveled as an elocutionist and lecturer, speaking in Europe as […]

Kingman Brewster, Jr (1919 - 1988)

Educator, US Diplomat. He graduated from Yale in 1941, where he was chairman of the “Yale Daily News”, and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1948. After teaching at Harvard Law School from 1950 to 1960, he accepted the post of Provost at Yale, serving from 1960 to 1963. Upon the death […]

Horace Mann Bond (1904 - 1972)

Educator. Served as president of Fort Valley State College and Lincoln University, two historically predominant African American colleges. His son, Julian Bond, became a prominent civil rights activist, the first African American elected to the Georgia House of Representatives since the Reconstruction, chairman of the NAACP and who hosted television’s “America’s Black Forum” and narrated […]

Auguste Boeckh (1785 - 1867)

Historian of the ancient world and a founder of modern classical philology. (bio by: David Conway)

Norberto Bobbio (1909 - 2004)

Italian Philosopher, considered one of the most important philosophers of Twentieth Century. A referring one for the parties and thinkers of the left. Among his books are “La Filosofia del Decadentismo,” “La Cultura e Il Fascismo,” “Quale Socialismo?” and “Destra e Sinistra.” (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni)

Susan Elizabeth Blow (1843 - 1916)

Educator. Reared in a deeply religious home, she was educated by tutors and at a private school in New York City. While traveling in Germany, she became interested in the revolutionary kindergarten methods developed by the German Idealist philosopher Friedrich Froebel. After a year of study under Froebel devotee Maria Kraus-Boeltz in New York, Blow […]

Charles Valentine Blomfield (1970 - 1816)

Classical scholar and author. (bio by: David Conway) Cause of death: ‘fever’

John Stuart Blackie (1809 - 1895)

Scholar, Educator. Born in Glasgow, he became a lawyer in 1834 and went to teach at the Marischal College in Aberdeen, Scotland. He became one of the most influential scholars of nineteenth-century Scotland, as a Professor of Humanity at Marischal College and Professor of Greek at the University of Edinburgh. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)

George Birkbeck (1776 - 1841)

Philanthropist, Educationalist. Born in Settle, Yorkshire, he became a became professor of natural philosophy at the Anderson’s College, Glasgow, in 1799. There he pioneered the first free classes for working-class men in mechanics and chemistry. In 1804, he became a physician in London and continued his interest in working class education. He founded the Mechanics’ […]

James Henry Binford (1832 - 1876)

Noted regional educator. A teacher and principal at private schools, Binford was unanimously elected superintendent of Richmond’s public school system in 1870, only one year after Richmond had established its first public schools. In 1871, Richmond’s schools formally became part of Virginia’s new public school system. An effective and innovative administrator, Binford sought to bring […]

Yogi Bhajan (1929 - 2004)

Yoga Pioneer. Born as Harbhajan Singh Puri, in India, he arrived in Los Angles, California in 1969 and was the first to publicly teach Kundalini Yoga. A deeply devoted Sikh, his inspiration and example motivated millions to embrace the Sikh way of life. Through his personal efforts, he was legally incorporated and officially recognized as […]

Wilhelm Beuth (1781 - 1853)

‘The Father of Prussian Industry’. Founded the Technical Trade School in 1821, ancestor of the Berlin Technical University. (bio by: David Conway)

Dr Mary Jane McLeod Bethune (1875 - 1955)

Martha McChesney Berry (1866 - 1942)

Educator. She was home schooled at her plantation home in Rome, Georgia until as a teenager she went to a girls school in Baltimore, Maryland. Her interest in education was piqued when she began teaching Bible stories to poor children who lived around the mountain retreat cabin that she inherited from her father. Concerned by […]

Maximilian Berlitz (1852 - 1921)

Educator. He was the founder of the Berlitz Language Schools. Born David Berlitzheimer in the village of Mühringen at the edge of the Black Forest in southwest Germany. his father was a village cantor and Jewish religious teacher. In 1872, he came to Rhode Island where he worked for a while as a private language […]

Ernest Alfred Benians (1880 - 1970)

Historian, Master of St. John’s College, 1933-1952 (bio by: David Conway)

Ivan Ivanovich Belsky (1719 - 1799)

Educator. Born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, he was painter, teacher whom founded and was President of the Russian Academy of Arts in the 18th Century. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)

Frank Stringfellow Barr (1897 - 1982)

Educator. Barr taught modern European history at the University of Virginia (1924-1936). Barr became president in 1937 of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, and he inaugurated a revival of the traditional liberal arts course through a mandatory four-year program based on the study of some 100 classics, a curriculum similar to those at Columbia […]

Francis Bancroft (1970 - 1970)

Educator. He was a citizen and Draper of London, England, on the Board of Education whom was the founder of Bancroft’s School. Upon his death, he bequeathed all his personal estate on trust to The Drapers’ Company. An almshouse and school were established, originally at Mile End, East London, known as Bancroft’s Hospital. Under a […]

Edward Balston (1817 - 1891)

Headmaster of Eton College 1857-1864. Later Archdeacon of Derby. (bio by: David Conway)

Rev Elisha Ballantine (1809 - 1886)

Celebrated theologian, scholar and educator. President of Indiana University. (bio by: Doug Beaver)  Family links:  Spouse:  Betsey Ann Watkins Ballantine (1812 – 1873)*  Children:  Mary O Osborne Brown (1837 – 1905)*  Anna Thankful Ballantine (1842 – 1915)*  Elizabeth Morton Ballantine (1844 – 1866)*  Frances Wood Ballantine (1846 – 1868)*  William Gay Ballantine (1848 – 1937)* […]

Maria Louise Baldwin (1856 - 1922)

Educator. She was one of the most distinguished African-American educators of the late 19th and early 20th century. First a teacher, later principal, then Master of the interracial Agassiz Grammar School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she was the first African-American woman to attain those positions in the state. She was also active in many clubs, including […]

John Baldwin (1799 - 1884)

Educator. He was the founder of Baldwin Institute (later to join with German Wallace College to become Baldwin-Wallace College). (bio by: MJGoette)  Family links:  Parents:  Joseph Baldwin (____ – 1825)  Rosannah Baldwin (____ – 1843)  Spouse:  Mary Dunn Chappel Baldwin (1802 – 1895)  Children:  Rosanna Baldwin Walker (1831 – 1924)*  Newton Baldwin (1836 – 1854)* […]

Daniel Bagley (1818 - 1905)

Seattle Pioneer, Minister. Born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, he was ordained a Methodist minister in 1842. He spent the first 10 years of his ministry traveling throughout the state of Illinois as a circuit preacher, before being assigned to the Oregon Territory in 1852. On April 20, 1852 he left Princeton, Illinois, for the Oregon […]

Alexander Dallas Bache (1806 - 1867)

Graduated West Point in 1825 at the top of his class. Professor of natural philosophy and chemistry University of Pennsylvania. Appointed Superintendent of the Coast Survey by Pres. Tyler in 1843, a position he held until 1861. Bache introduced many new and innovative ideas into the Coast Survey including the involvement of many of the […]

Mary Alice Bird Babb (1850 - 1926)

Alice Bird Babb was one of the seven founders of P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization), one of the pioneer societies for women, that was founded on January 21, 1869, at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Today, P.E.O. has grown to almost a quarter of a million members in chapters in the United States and […]

Kocho Baba (1970 - 1970)

Scholar of English literature. Younger brother of politician Tatsui Baba. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Kangetsu Awashima (1859 - 1926)

Antique Collector, Painter. He is remembered for his collection of books by 17th century Japanese author Ihara Saikaku, Yedo period poet and early fiction writer, and as a collector other items from this period. Renowned Meiji Era writers, Koda Rohan and Ozaki Koya, were influenced by him as he encouraged the two writers to study […]

Roger Ascham (1970 - 1568)

Author. Scholar and writer who was born in Yorkshire, and was educated in the household of Sir Humphrey Wingfield, Speaker of the House of Commons. In 1548 he was appointed tutor to the young Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I).