Gould

Gould, George Jay, 1864-1923, U.S. railroad owner, b. New York City; son of Jay Gould. He was associated with his father, inherited all the holdings on Jay Gould's death, and adopted daring policies. To compete with E. H. Harriman he bought the Denver & Rio Grande RR. When Harriman bought the Southern Pacific and bottled up the Gould roads, Gould purchased the Western Pacific and completed it to San Francisco to get an outlet to the sea. In the east he also bought or built lines from Toledo to Baltimore via Pittsburgh to give the Wabash RR an outlet to the Atlantic and to challenge the monopoly of the Pennsylvania RR. He seemed to have a transcontinental system in his grasp, but his financing was unsound, and he crashed in the Panic of 1907. By 1918 all the roads had been lost.

Gould, Glenn, 1932-82, Canadian pianist and composer. A prodigy, he began study at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto at 12. He was piano soloist with the Toronto Symphony at 14, and by the time he was 19 he was making concert tours in Canada, soon becoming known for idiosyncratic performance behavior. A great pianist, Gould was particularly noted for his interpretations of Bach and the romantics. As a composer, Gould was influenced by the postromantic music of the late 19th cent. His first published composition, a string quartet, had its premiere on television in 1956. During the 1960s Gould reduced his concert appearances to a minimum, preferring thereafter to concentrate on recording.

Gould, Jay, 1836-92, American speculator, b. Delaware co., N.Y. A country-store clerk and surveyor's assistant, he rose to control half the railroad mileage in the Southwest, New York City's elevated railroads, and the Western Union Telegraph Company. With savings of $5,000 at 21 he became a speculator, particularly in small railroads. After some years he became a director of the Erie RR. Aided by James Fisk and Daniel Drew, he defeated Cornelius Vanderbilt for control of this road and manipulated its stocks in his own interest and that of his group, including "Boss" Tweed. The Gould-Fisk scheme to corner gold in 1869 caused the Black Friday panic. Public protest forced the Gould group out of the Erie, ending with Gould's expulsion in 1872. He then bought into the Union Pacific and other western roads. He gained control of four lines that made up the Gould system. For years his name was a symbol of autocratic business practice, and he was widely disliked. After his death his estate and interests were managed by his son, George Jay Gould.

Gould, Stephen Jay, 1941-2002, American paleontologist and science writer, b. Queens, New York; grad. Antioch College (B.S., 1963), Columbia Univ. (Ph.D., 1967). With Niles Eldredge, Gould proposed (1972) the evolutionary theory of "punctuated equilibrium," which states that in geologic time and strata, the appearance of a new species occurs suddenly and without the continuous slow accretion of tiny variations, due to the nature of the evolutionary process and the relationship between the evolutionary and geologic timescales (see evolution); and that the new species then persists virtually unchanged in the fossil record for perhaps millions of years. The "missing links" in evolutionary development sought since the time of Charles Darwin are thus unlikely to be found. Elaboration of these concepts has led to extensive scientific debate. Gould addressed these and other aspects of evolutionary thought in his magnum opus, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (2002). He began his lifelong teaching career at Harvard in 1967 and wrote many other books, including Ontogeny and Phylogeny (1977), The Mismeasure of Man (1981), Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History (1989), and the posthumously published The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox (2003), as well as essay collections drawn from his popular articles in Natural History magazine. Gould was also an avid baseball fan; his Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville, an essay collection, was also published posthumously in 2003.

(born Sept. 10, 1941, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died May 20, 2002, New York, N.Y.) U.S. paleontologist and evolutionary biologist. He received a Ph.D. in paleontology from Columbia University and joined the faculty of Harvard University in 1967. With Niles Eldredge (b. 1943), he developed the controversial theory of punctuated equilibrium (1972), a revision of Darwinism that proposed that the evolutionary creation of new species occurs in rapid bursts over periods as short as thousands of years, which are followed by long periods of stability. He was widely known as a popularizing writer on biological and evolutionary topics, especially in Natural History magazine; his numerous books include The Panda's Thumb (1980), The Mismeasure of Man (1981), and The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (2002).

Learn more about Gould, Stephen Jay with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Jason Gould

(born May 27, 1836, Roxbury, N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 2, 1892, New York, N.Y.) U.S. railroad executive, speculator, and robber baron. Educated in local schools, he worked as a surveyor and then operated a tannery. By 1859 he was speculating in the stocks of small railways. In 1867 he became a director of the Erie Railroad; in the following year he joined with Daniel Drew and James Fisk to prevent Cornelius Vanderbilt from buying control of the company. To this end he engaged in outrageous financial manipulations, including the issue of fraudulent stock and the payment of lavish bribes to New York state legislators to legalize the stock's sale. He and Fisk then joined forces with William Magear Tweed to profit from further stock manipulations. In 1869 they attempted to corner the gold market, causing the Black Friday panic. In 1872 public outcry forced Gould to cede control of the Erie Railroad. With a fortune of $25 million, he began buying large blocks of stock in Union Pacific Railroad Company and acquired control of that company by 1874. By 1881 he owned 15percnt of all U.S. rail mileage. Having made large profits by manipulating the company's stock, he pulled out of the company in 1882 and began building a new rail system southwest of St. Louis that by 1890 included half the region's rail mileage. In 1881 he gained control of Western Union Corp., and he owned the New York World newspaper from 1879 to 1883. He remained ruthless, unscrupulous, and friendless to the end.

Learn more about Gould, Jay with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Sept. 10, 1941, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died May 20, 2002, New York, N.Y.) U.S. paleontologist and evolutionary biologist. He received a Ph.D. in paleontology from Columbia University and joined the faculty of Harvard University in 1967. With Niles Eldredge (b. 1943), he developed the controversial theory of punctuated equilibrium (1972), a revision of Darwinism that proposed that the evolutionary creation of new species occurs in rapid bursts over periods as short as thousands of years, which are followed by long periods of stability. He was widely known as a popularizing writer on biological and evolutionary topics, especially in Natural History magazine; his numerous books include The Panda's Thumb (1980), The Mismeasure of Man (1981), and The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (2002).

Learn more about Gould, Stephen Jay with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Jason Gould

(born May 27, 1836, Roxbury, N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 2, 1892, New York, N.Y.) U.S. railroad executive, speculator, and robber baron. Educated in local schools, he worked as a surveyor and then operated a tannery. By 1859 he was speculating in the stocks of small railways. In 1867 he became a director of the Erie Railroad; in the following year he joined with Daniel Drew and James Fisk to prevent Cornelius Vanderbilt from buying control of the company. To this end he engaged in outrageous financial manipulations, including the issue of fraudulent stock and the payment of lavish bribes to New York state legislators to legalize the stock's sale. He and Fisk then joined forces with William Magear Tweed to profit from further stock manipulations. In 1869 they attempted to corner the gold market, causing the Black Friday panic. In 1872 public outcry forced Gould to cede control of the Erie Railroad. With a fortune of $25 million, he began buying large blocks of stock in Union Pacific Railroad Company and acquired control of that company by 1874. By 1881 he owned 15percnt of all U.S. rail mileage. Having made large profits by manipulating the company's stock, he pulled out of the company in 1882 and began building a new rail system southwest of St. Louis that by 1890 included half the region's rail mileage. In 1881 he gained control of Western Union Corp., and he owned the New York World newspaper from 1879 to 1883. He remained ruthless, unscrupulous, and friendless to the end.

Learn more about Gould, Jay with a free trial on Britannica.com.

The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould (28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) was an English hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic scholar. His bibliography lists more than 1240 separate publications, though this list continues to grow. His family home, Lewtrenchard Manor near Okehampton, Devon, has been preserved as he rebuilt it and is now a hotel. He is remembered particularly as a writer of hymns, the best-known being "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "Now the Day Is Over". He also translated the carol "Gabriel's Message" from Basque to English.He habitually wrote standing up, and his desk can be seen in the manor.

Biography

Because the family spent much of his childhood travelling round Europe his education was mostly conducted by private tutors. He spent a period of about two years in formal schooling, first at King's College School London (then located in Somerset House) and then, for a few months, at Warwick Grammar School (now Warwick School). Here his time was cut short when a bronchial attack of the kind that was to plague him throughout his long life gave his father the excuse for another trip to the South of France for the sake of the boy's health.

In 1853 he went up to Cambridge, earning the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in 1857, then Master of Arts in 1860 from Clare College, Cambridge. In 1864, he became the curate at Horbury Bridge, West Yorkshire. It was while acting as a curate that he met and fell in love with Grace Taylor, the 16-year-old daughter of a mill hand. He sent Grace to live for two years with a vicar's family in York to learn proper manners, then brought her back and married her in 1868 at Wakefield. Their marriage lasted for 48 years, and the couple had 15 children, all but one of whom lived to adulthood. When he buried his wife in 1916 he had carved on her tombstone the Latin motto Dimidium Animae Meae ("Half my Soul").

In 1871 Baring-Gould became the rector of East Mersea in Essex, where he spent 10 years.

In 1880 he inherited the family estates of Lewtrenchard, Devon, which comprised 3,000 acres (12 km²) and in 1881 he installed himself at Lewtrenchard as both Squire and Parson. He did a great deal of work restoring St. Peter’s Church, Lewtrenchard, and his home Lewtrenchard Manor.

Baring-Gould died on 2 January 1924 at his home at Lewtrenchard and was buried next to his wife, Grace.

Folk songs

He regarded as his principal achievement the collection of folk songs that he made with the help of the ordinary people of Devon and Cornwall. His first book of songs, Songs and Ballads of the West (1889–91), was the first collection published for the mass market. The musical editor for this collection was Henry Fleetwood Sheppard, though some of the songs included were noted by Baring-Gould's other collaborator Frederick Bussell.

Baring-Gould and Sheppard produced a second collection called A Garland of Country Songs in 1895. A new edition of Songs of the West was proposed for publication in 1905. Sheppard had died in 1901 and so the collector Cecil Sharp was invited to undetake the musical editorship for the new edition. Sharp and Baring-Gould also collaborated on English Folk Songs for Schools in 1907. This collection of 53 songs was widely used in British schools for the next 60 years.

Though he had to modify the words of some songs which were too rude for Victorian ears, he left his original manuscripts for future students of folk song. His work preserved many beautiful pieces of music and their lyrics which otherwise might have been lost.

The folk-song manuscripts from Baring-Gould's personal library and from public libraries have been published as a microfiche edition available for study in the main Devon Libraries and other places (including the Vaughan Williams memorial Library in London). Thirty boxes of unpublished manuscript material on other topics (the Killerton manuscripts) are kept in the Devon Record Office in Exeter. The folksong manuscripts, including the notebooks used in the field, given to Plymouth Public Library were deposited with the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office in 2006.

Cecil Sharp dedicated his English Folk Song—Some Conclusions to Baring-Gould.

Literature

Baring-Gould wrote many novels (including Mehalah), a collection of ghost stories, a 16-volume The Lives of the Saints, and the biography of the eccentric poet-vicar of Morwenstow, Robert Stephen Hawker. His folkloric studies resulted in The Book of Were-Wolves (1865), one of the most frequently cited studies of lycanthropy. Half-way through, the topic changes to crimes only vaguely connected to werewolves, including grave desecration and cannibalism.

One of his most enduringly popular works was Curious Myths of the Middle Ages , first published in two parts in 1866 and 1868, and republished in many other editions since then. "Each of the book's twenty-four chapters deals with a particular medieval superstition and its variants and antecedents," writes critic Steven J. Mariconda. H. P. Lovecraft called it "that curious body of medieval lore which the late Mr. Baring-Gould so effectively assembled in book form.

Baring-Gould served as President of the Royal Institution of Cornwall for ten years, starting in 1897.

Personal life

Stories of his own eccentricity have been exaggerated. He did for a time, have a bat in his care while he was teaching at Hurstpierpoint. More usually it lived in an old sock in his room, where its life was ended when a housemaid stepped on it. It is also told how, at a children's party he asked a small girl, "And whose little girl are you?" whereon she burst into tears, and said: "I'm yours, Daddy." This story was verified by his daughter, Joan, who said that the little girl was her.

One grandson, William Stuart Baring-Gould, was a noted Sherlock Holmes scholar who wrote a fictional biography of the great detective—in which, to make up for the lack of information about Holmes's early life, he based his account on the childhood of Sabine Baring-Gould. Sabine himself is a major character in Laurie R. King's Sherlock Holmes novel The Moor, a Sherlockian pastiche. In this novel it is revealed that Sabine Baring-Gould is the godfather of Sherlock Holmes.

Notes

References

• Warwick School: A History (2004) by G N Frykman and E J Hadley ISBN 0946095469

External links

• 'Songs of the West' - Sabine Baring-Gould and the Folk Songs of South-West England
• Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, by Sabine Baring-Gould
• Works by Sabine Baring-Gould at Project Gutenberg
• Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society
• Biography from Devon Discovering Devon by the BBC