Biographies

V

Van De Velde, Willem, the Elder (1611–1693) and the Younger (1633–1707). Father and son. Worked together in England under the patronage of Charles II.

Van Dyck, Sir Anthony (1599–1641). Born in Antwerp. Principal painter to Charles I from 1632.

Van Oss, Oliver (1909–1992). Teacher. Eton master, 1930–1965; headmaster of Charterhouse (1965–1973). Married, 1945, Audrey Allsopp, whose first husband, also an Eton master, had been killed in WW2.

Van Thal, Herbert Maurice (1904–1983). Publisher, editor, anthologist and author.

Vanbrugh, Dame Irene (1872–1949). Actress. Performed with Tree and Alexander. Created parts in Pinero's The Gay Lord Quex, Barrie's The Admirable Crichton, and A A Milnes's Mr Pim Passes By.

Vanzetti, Bartolomeo (1888–1927). Italian-American anarchist, convicted of murder along with Nicola Sacco in a blatantly unfair trial before an openly biased judge; executed in 1927.

Vassal, Henry (1860–1926). Rugby footballer and schoolmaster. The Times (7 January 1926, p 14) said of the Oxford team led by him that it would always rank as one of the greatest triumphs of intelligent direction and leadership in the history of the game.

Vaughan, Edward Littleton ('Toddy') (1851–1940). Eton master, 1876–1919. Classicist.

Vaughan, Henry (1621–1695). Poet in the vein of George Herbert and the metaphysical school of Donne.

Veale, Sir Douglas (1891–1973). Registrar of the University of Oxford, 1930–1958, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, 1930–1958.

Verlaine, Paulari-Marie (1844–1896). French Symbolist poet.

Verney, Sir John (1913–1993), 2nd baronet. Painter, illustrator and author.

Verrall, Arthur Woolgar (1851–1912). Classical scholar. Lectured at Trinity College, Cambridge, 1877–1911, then first King Edward VII Professor of English literature.

Vespasian. Vespasianus Augustus (9–79 AD), known originally as Titus Flavius Vespasianus and usually referred to in English as Vespasian. Roman emperor from 69 to 79, first of the short-lived Flavian dynasty, succeeded by his sons Titus and Domitian.

Victoria (1819–1901). Queen regnant from 1837; Empress of India from 1876.

Visiak, E H: pen name of Edward Harold Physick (1878–1972) Critic and authority on John Milton; also a poet and fantasy writer.

Vyshinsky, Andrey Januaryevich (1883–1954). Stalin's Prosecutor General. Responsible for the show trials of many of Stalin's victims.