Page:Men of Kent and Kentishmen.djvu/71

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AND KENTISHMEN.
57

John B. Gough,

TEMPERANCE LECTURER,

Was born at Sandgate, August 22, 1817. In 1829 he emigrated to New York, where he learned the trade of a bookbinder, and fell into intemperate habits. In 1842 he took the pledge of abstinence, and soon after began to advocate the principle. His fame as a lecturer soon spread through the United States, reached England, and caused him to be invited by the London Temperance League to visit this country. This he did twice, in 1853 and 1857. and lectured with great success. Later in life he began to discourse on other topics, and his addresses were attended with such success that he amassed a fortune, and built an elegant residence at Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1846 he published his "Autobiography," (q. v.), and a volume of "Orations" in 1854. He died in 1886 at Gravesend.


George Grote,

HISTORIAN,

Was born in 1794 at Clay Hill, near Beckenham. His ancestors came from Germany, and his grandfather was head of the banking house, in Threadneedle Street, of Grote and Prescott. He was educated at Charterhouse, on leaving which he entered as a clerk in his father's counting house. Devoting his leisure to study, he commenced in 1823 the compilation on which his fame chiefly rests, his well known "History of Greece." In 1832 he was elected Member for the City of London, on Reform principles, and he continued Member till 1841. While in the