Thomas Braidwood

Thomas Braidwood, one of the earliest teachers of the deaf and dumb in Great Britain, died in 1806. He commenced a school for deaf mutes at Edinburgh in 1760, following the system of Heinecke and others, giving great prominence to articulation and " reading from the lip." His processes were kept a close secret in his own family for many years. He taught with considerable success at Edinburgh till 1783, when he removed to Hackney, near London, continuing his school till his death, after which it was carried on by his widow and her grandchildren. The Braidwood family long had a monopoly in instructing the deaf and dumb in England. A pamphlet, entitled Vox Oculis Subjecta, published in 1783 by an American whose son had been educated there, gives an account of the school at Edinburgh.

Thomas Brassey

Thomas Brassey, an English railway contractor, born at Boughton, Cheshire, in 1805, died Dec. 8, 1870. His first railway enterprise was the construction of a Welsh road.

In 1836 he made a contract for a small portion of the line between Birmingham and Liverpool, a part of the London and Northwestern railway, and was subsequently widely engaged in similar enterprises both in England and abroad. In several of these he was associated with Sir Morton Peto and others. His sons, T. Brassey and J. H. A. Brassey, represent Hastings and Sandwich in the house of commons (1873). He is said to have left to his family about £6,000,000, besides extensive landed property. His biography by Arthur Helps was published in 1872.

Thomas Brattle

Thomas Brattle, an American merchant, born in Boston, Sept. 5, 1657, died there, May 18, 1713. He graduated at Harvard college in 1676, and was afterward treasurer of that institution. There is preserved in the " Historical Collections" a letter by him, containing an excellent account of the witchcraft delusion in 1692. Several of his communications on astronomical subjects were published in the " Philosophical Transactions".

Thomas Bray

Thomas Bray, an English clergyman and philanthropist, born at Morton, Shropshire, in 1656, died in London, Feb. 15, 1730. Being selected by Bishop Compton to build up the infant Anglican church in Maryland, with the title of ecclesiastical commissary, he founded in 1698 the society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts, and sailed for Maryland Dec. 16,1699, arriving March 12,1700. He was received with great cordiality, and the "act of religion " was adopted by the legislature as he desired. He returned to England in 1701. Under the patronage of the princess, afterward Queen Anne, he established a number of parochial libraries in America, and he set on foot through England and Wales lending libraries in every deanery, whence the neighboring clergy might borrow books, and where they might meet for mutual consultation. He also engaged in the reformation of prison abuses, the establishment of parish workhouses, and other benevolent undertakings.