Images Dated 2006 July

John Locke, English philosopher, (1836).Artist: James Posselwhite

John Locke, English philosopher, (1836). Locke (1632-1704) is regarded as the father of British empiricism. He was the author of Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) in which he argued that knowledge is derived from sensation and introspection, rather than from innate ideas. His political philosophy, set out in Two Treatises of Government were to exert considerable influence on the American and French revolutions, setting out the liberal ideas of the natural rights of man and that the authority of government should be limited and subject to its obligation to serve the public good.

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James Brindley, 18th century English civil engineer and canal builder, (1836). Artist: JT Wedgwood

James Brindley, 18th century English civil engineer and canal builder, (1836). Brindley (1716-1772) rests a hand on a theodolite and points to the aqueduct over the Irwell on the Worsley to Manchester (Bridgewater) canal. He became an engineer, inventing a water engine for draining a coalmine in 1752. In 1759, after seeing Brindley's design for a silk mill, Francis Egerton, the Duke of Bridgewater, employed him to build the canal between Worsley and Manchester. After its completion in 1772, he went on to build the Grand Trunk, Birmingham and Chesterfield canals. Although illiterate all his life, Brindley constructed 365 miles of canals. Engraving after a portrait by Francis Parsons (fl1763-1783).

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Hernan Cortes, 16th century Spanish conquistador, (1836).Artist: W Holl

Hernan Cortes, 16th century Spanish conquistador, (1836). Landing in Mexico in 1519, with a force of only some 600 men, Cortes (1485-1547) succeeded in overthrowing the empire of the Aztecs, a civilization numbering 5 million. He was able to achieve this partly due to the natives being terrified of the Europeans' horses and firearms, neither of which they had seen before. In addition, the Aztecs believed a prophecy that they would be visited by a light-skinned bearded god, the Quetzalcoatl, who had taught them agriculture and government in the past, and whose return they were to welcome with great ceremony. Cortes was able to exploit his resemblance to the Quetzalcoatl to great effect.

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