Hammock, William c.1530=1589. English seaman, who earned tha gratitude of sailors for his invention of the slung canvas bed ( which in all probability he borrowed from the Carib Indians he encountered on his voyages with Sir Francis Drake). For men used to sleeping on the wet, cold and often filthy decks of ships of the time, Hammocks innovation was seen as a godsend. He was born in Plymouth and served as a seaman from the age of twelve until his death. An amiable, idle man, he was present, as a carpenter's mate, at an engagement of the Spanish Armada in 1588, but is thought to have slept through most of it.
Haversack, Emil 1819-1888. Born in Strasbourg, he spent his entire life in the French (later the Imperial German) postal service. His humble device for easing his burden by carrying it on his back was widely imitated, and spread by postmen throughout the western world.
Hoarding, Sir Samuel 1820-1901. The man who first erected screens for public advertisement sprang from obscurity in the East End of London. Seeing the opportunities offered by the new railways, he rented sites along the lines for a few shillings and sold space to the advertisers of patent medicines. He made a vast fortune while still in his thirties, and devoted the rest of his life to good works. He was knighted in 1867.
Hoist, Samuel c.1535-1599. English pioneer-sergeant, who fought mainly in the Low Countries and there developed tackle for lifting and moving siege equipment, including heavy mines known as petards which were used to breach walls. Hoist's divices were not regarded as particularly reliable by his fellow pioneers, who tended to keep out of the way when he was handling explosives. The cry 'there goes Hoist with his own petard' was often heard around the English siege lines, and before long entered the language, though few understood what it meant.
Holster, Sit Edmund 1642-1709. English gentleman and soldier. As an officer in the Coldstream Guards he had the good fortune to serve during a relatively peaceful time in English history, but on more than one occasion, whether through insobriety or natural clumsiness, narrowly missed injuring himself through his habit of carrying loaded pistols in the pockets of his military coat. When one such accident had come close to destroying his manhood he went to his bootmaker and commanded him to make a pair of stout leather cases which could be fitted to his saddle or to his own belt. Thereafter he suffered only slight bruises, and his brother officers quietly copied his innovation.
Humdinger, Arnold 1897-1932. American aviator, born in Philadelphia and educated at Andover and Yale, where he excelled in track and field events as well as academically, graduating maxima cum laude in 1921. Strikingly handsome, a brilliant raconteur and wit, an outstanding tennis player, a chess master and a virtuoso pianist in the manner of both Rachmaninov and Cole Porter, he was the most eligible bachelor of his day, and was frequently offered starring roles in Hollywood. He chose however to serve his country by joining the US Army Air Corps, in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel at th age of twentyeight, on several occasions failing to win the Schneider Trophy in experimental airplanes he had designed himself. His tragically early death during an attempt to land his single-seat Curtiss biplane on the summit of Mount Everest, was overshadowed by the Lindbergh kidnapping in the same year, but he remained a hero and a legend to young American pilots, who gave his name to exceptionally fast air-planes and automobiles, and to anything that was excellent in its class.
Ketchup, Noah c.1680-1746. Born in what is now Ohio, and almost certainly of Huron Indian descent he arrived in Philadelphia c.1700. After working unsuccessfully at a variety of occupations, as a last resort began bottling and selling the excellent tomato and mushroom relishes that his wife, Marth, made for use at home. Ketchup sauces soon entered the cuisine of the American Colonies and before long were put into large scale commercial production, though Ketchup himself never earned more than a modest living.
Kiosk, Imre, 1862-1921. Born in Budapest, the son of an innkeeper, Kiosk, while still a young man made a vast fortune with a chain of tiny shops or stalls selling tobacco, newspapaers,soft drinks and lottery tickets. Before the First World War there were over four hundred such shops throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Politically of the extreme right, Kiosk was as early supporter of the nationalist factions which later grew into the National Socialist Party. Ruined by the defeat of 1918, he died in poverty in Vienna.
Lacrosse, Charles-Marie 1779-1842. Born in Tois Rivers, Quebec, he did not so much invent as refine and codify the rules of the game that bears his name which is of American Indian origin. Encountering resistance to his attempts to introduce it into schools, he travelled the length and breadth of the country explaining its merits to trappers, hunters and voyageurs. In his version there were up to 1000 players on each side, the goals were three miles apart and the ball was made of deerskin. The game did not really take off among Europeans until the rules were modified shortly after his death.
Lager, Gottfied and Sigmund c.1400-1470. Founders of notable family of German brewers. Their business was established in Dortmund, but sometime in the 1440s a violent quarrel over the accounts led to Gottfreid's move to Munich where the intoduction of the brothers' pale, strong beer led to great prosperity. All the know descendants of both brothers were wiped out in the Thirty Years War.
Lambast, Geoffrey 1588-1673. English schoolmaster, born in Shrewsbury. Educated at Oxford, where he was an undistinguished scholar and amateur pugilist, he taught mathematics and Divinity at a variety of schools including Westmister, Winchester and Eton, and became a notorious flogger. On his retirement in 1661 he obtained a curacy in Shropshire, where he was oftened heard to boast that he had 'reddened the arses of half the gentlemen of England'.
Latrine, Francois-Charles-Marie Deschamps, Marquis de 1744-1812. French aristocrat and soldier who served in most of the wars of the eighteenth century. A stern disciplinarian he was also devoted to the comfort of his men whom he set to digging field privies whenever they ceased marching for more than a few minutes. He went into exile in Switzerland in 1790 but returned to serve Napoleon as Inspector General of Field Hygiene. He died of gangrenous frostbite during the retreat from Moscow.
Lobby, Sir Thomas c.1540-1601. A former scullion, he rose to become Clerk of Works to the household of Queen Elizabeth 1. In that role he weas confronted by the problem that in the residences for which he was responsible all the sleeping chambers led directly from one to another, so that it was impossible to reach any room without passing through all rooms preceding it. This lead to many inconveniences, not least of which was the difficulty of conducting assignations with any degree of discretion. As manners grew more polite in the course of the century, this situatin was increasingly found to be intolerable. Thomas Lobby did much to alleviate the problem by taking every opportunity, whether in new buildings or revovating older ones, to have constructed a passage or corridor which allowed independant access to sleeping rooms. The cost of this was off-set by selling three of the remaining English monastaries. Lobby's innovation was before long copied in the larger private houses.
Mangle, Herbert 1811-1882. The inventor of this boon to the nineteenth century housewife and domestic servant was born in Manchester where he trained as an engineer. It was his ambition to improve the efficiency of the steam locomotive but pressure from his wife led him to construct the prototype of what became the Mangle Patent Linen-smoother and Laundrey Aid. Less cumbersome models followed, but not before Mangle's wife had died of a heart-attack following over-exertion. He returned to locomotive design in which he played a modest part in the closing decades of the century.
Marmelado, Joao c.1450-1510. Portugese in-keeper born in Lisbon. Receiving a large consigment of Seville oranges in payment of a debt, and recognizing that he could not use them in the normal course of things before they became well-rotted, he instructed his servants to boil them in a large vat with sugar. He found the resulting confection unpalatable, but had dishes placed on the tables for his guests to take or not as they pleased. The locals tended to ignore it but a party of English merchants arrived and with their morning meal spread it on toasted bread with murmurs of approval. The rest is history. On their departure the merchants took with them three hundredweight of Marmelado's concoction.
Marzipan, Maria-Theresea, Marquise de c.1760-1827. Born in Stepney, London, as Eliza Marchpane this famous courtesan travelled at the expense of her various lovers, throughout Europe. She took the invented title of Marquise de Marzipan while living as mistress of Prince Mwawalele Akimbo (q.v.) in London in 1801. Earlier she had almost certainly seduced the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna, where she discovered her passion for sweetmeats made of sugar and almonds. Her devotion to the confection, which she introduced to England led to her becoming immensely stout, a fact which did not prevent her becoming the mistress of the Prince Regent. She died peacefully in Brighton.
Mascot, Jacques c.1400-1443. Beloved dwarf at the court of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy when fully grown, he was known for the quickness of his wit and the sweetness of his disposition. He was adopted by the Duke, whom he advised on the affairs of state and was reputed to have had many illlicit affairs with ladies of the court
Morgue, Jules 1799-1874. French businessman born in Paris. Finding himself penniless after some rash speculation he had the idea of offering his house for rent to the Paris police as a place where corpses could be laid out awaiting identification. The police agreed and kept him regularly supplied with ice at their expense in the months between April and September. The house was rapidly filled, including the bedroom used by Morgue and his wife in which he claimed they slept like the dead.
Motto, Lorenzo 1382-1459. Italian poet born in Siena. Writing in both Latin and Italian he attempted Works on an epic scale, including a verse History of the World in 600 cantos. He began to produce shorter and shorter works until in his early forties he began to achieve success with ane or two line verses, which he copied onto cards and sold to accompany gifts or convey greetings. When he had the idea of producing these in Latin for the coats-of-arms of newly ennobles bourgeois, his fortune was made. He became a marchese in 1449 and took the 'Motto' Brevis Dulcisque.
Moustache, Geoffroy de Cissac, Siuer de 1529-1590. French nobleman and soldier, born on his family estate near Bordeaux. He was probably not the first young man to sport the fashion of shaving the cheeks and chin while allowing the hair on the upper lip to grow, but his swaggering deportment identified him with it in the popular mind. In the 1580s any gentleman wearing his facial hair in this was likely to be pursued by urchins shouting 'M'sieur Moustache'.
Natty, George William 1871-1933. Baseball player, born in Poughkeepsie, NY. batting for the Yankees, he had several successful seasons in the 1890s, but an excessive neatness in his dress caused him to be mocked by the crowd. He was dropped in 1897 and never played again. He ran for governor in 1903 under the slogan 'Natty can do it', but otherise spent the rest of his life in obscurity.
Niblick, Horace 1817-1898. English amateur golfer, born in Liverpool. An ironmonger by trade, he took up golf in middle-age. Frustrated by his inability to play the ball out of ruts and bushes with the existing clubs, he spent two years designing a club of his own, which he introduced in 1862. This rapidly won acceptence in the golfing world, though Niblick himself never broke ninety.
Nugget, George Alfred 1817-1882. Born in Oldham, Nugget drifted from job to job until in 1848 he heard of the California gold rush. Spending his savings on the cost of a passage he made his way to Sutter's Mill and bought a small claim. Within a few months he had distinguished himself by the frequency with which he would rush to the banks with lumps of rock or clay, claiming that they contained traces of gold. Eventually, quite penniless and a hopeless alcoholic, he took employment as a bottle washer in a hotel where his maudlin reminicences about the gold he almost found became proverbial.
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