About the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Access a collection of biographies, which describe the lives of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond from the 4th century BC to the 21st century.
Use the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography now
Key features
Oxford DNB includes people from around the world who left their mark on the British Isles or the British empire. It includes not just the 'great and the good', but the bad and unusual! (The Oxford DNB does not include entries on living people). Where possible, entries provide:
- Extensive biographical information;
- Illustrations, researched in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, London;
- Dates and places of birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial;
- Records of parents, siblings and other noteworthy family members.
More information
In this resource all walks of life are covered from nuclear physicists to royal mistresses, millionaires and paupers, lawyers and traitors. The Oxford DNB contains stories of courage, malice, romance and ambition capturing the diversity of human conduct. Discover Richard Whately the Irish bishop who was also an accomplished boomerang thrower or the historian Alexander Gordon who insisted on having Not Yours
inscribed on the inside of his hats. There are also figures from more recent history such as Robert Maxwell and Princess Diana and those with a New Zealand connection such as Jean Batten and John Robert Godley.
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