Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

HENRY VANSITTART (1732-1770 or 1771)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 897 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

HENRY See also:VANSITTART (1732-1770 or 1771)  , Anglo-See also:Indian See also:governor, was See also:born in See also:London on the 3rd of See also:June 1732 . His See also:father, See also:Arthur See also:van Sittart (1691-176o), and his grandfather, See also:Peter van Sittart (1651-1705), were both wealthy merchants and See also:directors of the See also:Russia See also:company . Peter, a See also:merchant adventurer, who had migrated from See also:Danzig to London about 167o, was also a director of the See also:East See also:India company . The See also:family name is taken from the See also:town of Sittard in See also:Limburg . Educated at See also:Reading school and at See also:Winchester See also:college, See also:Henry See also:Vansittart joined the society of the See also:Franciscans, or the " See also:Hell-See also:fire See also:club," at Medmenham, his See also:elder See also:brothers, Arthur and See also:Robert, being also members of this fraternity . In 1745 he entered the He succeeded his See also:cousin, See also:Solomon Van See also:Rensselaer (1744-1852), who was in the See also:regular See also:army in 1792-1800, who had fought under See also:General See also:Anthony See also:Wayne at Maumee Rapids in 1794 and under See also:Stephen Van Rensselaer at Queenston Heights in 1812, and who was in the See also:House of Representatives in 1819-1822.service of the East India company and sailed for Fort St See also:David; here he showed himself very industrious, made the acquaintance of Robert See also:Clive and See also:rose rapidly from one position to another . As a member of the See also:council of See also:Madras he helped to defend the See also:city against the See also:French in 1759, and in See also:July 176o he went to See also:Bengal as See also:president of the council and governor of Fort See also:William . Courageously facing the difficulties of his new position, which included a serious lack of funds, he deposed the subadar of Bengal, Mir Jafar, whom he replaced by his son-in-See also:law, Mir Kasim, a circumstance which increased the See also:influence of See also:England in the See also:province . He was, however, less successful in another direction . Practically all the company's servants were traders in their private capacity, and as they claimed various privileges and exemptions this See also:system was detrimental to the interests of the native princes and gave rise to an enormous amount of corruption . Vansittart sought to check this, and in 1762 he made a ~ treaty with Mir Kasim, but the See also:majority of his council were against , him and in the following See also:year this was repudiated . See also:Reprisals on the See also:part of the subadar were followed by See also:war; and, ' annoyed at the failure of his pacific schemes, the governor resigned and returned to England in 1764 .

His conduct was attacked before the See also:

board of directors in London, but events seemed to prove that he was in the right, and in 1769 he became a director of the company, having in the previous year obtained a seat in See also:parliament . He was now sent on an important See also:mission to India; he See also:left England in See also:September 1769, but the See also:ship in which he sailed was lost at See also:sea See also:late in 1770 or See also:early in 1971 . One of his five sons was See also:Nicholas Vansittart, See also:Baron See also:Bexley (q.v.) . To defend his conduct in Bengal Vansittart published some papers as A Na, rative of the Transactions in Bengal from I76o to 1764 (London, 1766) . Vansittart's See also:brother, Robert Vansittart (1728-1789), who was educated at Winchester and at Trinity College, See also:Oxford, was regius See also:professor of See also:civil law. at Oxford from 1757 until his See also:death on the 31st of See also:January 1789 . Another brother, See also:George Vansittart (1745-1825), of Bisham See also:Abbey, See also:Berkshire, was the father of General George Henry Vansittart (1768-'824) and of See also:Vice-See also:Admiral Henry Vansittart (1777-1843) . VAN'T HOFF, JACOBUS HENDRICUS (1852- ), Dutch chemist and physicist, was born in See also:Rotterdam on the 3oth of See also:August 1852 . He studied from 1869 to 1871 at the See also:polytechnic at See also:Delft, in 1871 at the university of See also:Leiden, in 1872 with F . A . See also:Kekule at See also:Bonn, in 1873 with C . A . See also:Wurtz at See also:Paris, and in 1874, when he tcok his See also:doctor's degree, with E .

Mulder at See also:

Utrecht . In 1876 he became lecturer on physics at the veterinary school at Utrecht, and two years later he was chosen professor of See also:chemistry, See also:mineralogy and See also:geology in See also:Amsterdam University . In 1894 he declined an invitation to the See also:chair of physics at See also:Berlin University, but in 1896 he went to Berlin as professor to the Prussian See also:Academy of Sciences, with a See also:salary and a laboratory, but freedom to do whatever he liked; and at the same See also:time he accepted an honorary professorship in the university so that he might lecture if he were so minded . On taking up these appointments he announced that, the application of See also:mathematics to chemistry remaining his See also:chief aim, he proposed to devote himself to the study of the formation of oceanic See also:salt deposits, with See also:special reference to the See also:Stassfurt deposits . He may be regarded as the founder of the See also:doctrine of stereoisornerism (q.v.), for he was the first, in 1874, to intro-duce a, definite See also:mechanical theory of See also:valency,. and to connect the See also:optical activity exhibited by many See also:carbon compounds with their chemical constitution . In respect of this doctrine of the " See also:asymmetric carbon See also:atom," van't Hoff's name is generally linked with that of J . A. le See also:Bel (born on the 21st of January 1847, at Pechelbronn, See also:Lower See also:Alsace), who, only two months later, independently enunciated the theory of asymmetric combinations with carbon; though it must be noted that J . See also:Wislicenus, to whom van't Hoff, in fact, acknowledged his indebtedness, had already suggested that in See also:order to explain the constitution of certain organic bodies, the tridimensional arrangement of atoms in space must be taken into See also:account . For this See also:work van't Hoff and Le Bel received the See also:Davy See also:medal jointly from the Royal Society in 1893 . From 1874 to 1884 van't Hoff's See also:attention was mainly given to the law of See also:mass-See also:action, and he established the theorem known by his name, which connects quantitative displacement of See also:equilibrium with See also:change of temperature . From 1885 to 1895 he was engaged on the theory of solutions, and developing the See also:analogy between dilute solutions and gases he showed that the osmotic pressure of a See also:solution has the same value as the pressure that solute would exert if it were contained as a See also:gas in the same See also:volume as is occupied by the solution . From 1885 he published the Zeitschrift See also:fur physikalische Chemie, in collaboration with Professor W .

Ostwald of See also:

Leipzig .

End of Article: HENRY VANSITTART (1732-1770 or 1771)
[back]
VANNES
[next]
LOUIS GUSTAVE VAPEREAU (1819–1906)

Additional information and Comments

Henry Vansittart was friendly with Samuel Enderby II,''oil & St. Petersburg merchant'' meaning he owned Whaling Ships and traded with the Muscovy Company in St Petersburg. The families were friends after the sinking of the Aurora, Henry's wife named Emelia (maiden name Morse, family Governors of the East India Company) must have invested money in whaling, the First Whaler to go around the Cape Horn was Enderby ship Emelia, Captained by an American Shields;Harpoonist was also American. Emelia claimed the 800pound bonus from the British Government for so doing.(the following year Enderby ship Friendship captained by American Thomas Melville grandfather of Herman Melville author of Moby Dick, claimed the second bonus of 700 pounds for so doing. Henry's son Henry built the Enderby wharf on the Thames near Greenwich as well as the Enderby cottages for their retired seamen. Another son Nicholas Vansittart was Chancellor of the Exchequer for 12 years.Vansittart island in Bass Straight was named by Enderby whalers for the family.Keith Dawson.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.