Roscoe, WILLIAM, historian, was born at Liverpool on 8th March 1753, his father being a market-gardener. In 1769 he was articulated to an attorney at Liverpool, and began to practise there on his own account in 1774. During this period he assiduously cultivated his mental powers, turning his attention especially to the Italian language and literature. In 1773 he first appeared in print as the author of a poem, Mount Pleasant, now forgotten; and in 1787-88 published Wrongs of Africa, a courageous protest against the slave-trade. But it was his Life of Lorenzo de' Medici, called the Magnificent (1796), which established his literary reputation; it went through several editions, and was translated into German, French, and Italian. In 1805 appeared his second important book, Life and Pontificate of Leo X. This, like the former, appeared in German, French, and Italian, and was received with much commendation, though its tone and spirit, especially with reference to the Reformation, were severely criticised. About the year 1800 he became partner in a Liverpool bank, a step which involved him eventually in great pecuniary embarrassment. From his pen came, besides the above-mentioned books, a collection of Poems (1857), of which by far the best known was the Butterfly's Ball; also a Memoir of R. R. Jones (1822). He issued an edition of Pope in 1825. Roscoe died at Liverpool, June 30, 1831. During the later years of his life he gave much attention to the study of botany, and wrote a monograph on Monandrian plants. See Life by his son Henry Roscoe (1833), and Espinasse's Lancashire Worthies (2d series, 1877).
SIR HENRY ENFIELD ROSCOE, chemist, born in London 7th January 1833, was a grandson of the above, and the son of Henry Roscoe, barrister. He was educated at the Liverpool High School, and later at University College, London, and at the university of Heidelberg. He was appointed professor of Chemistry in Owens College, Manchester, in 1858, and rendered valuable services towards the organisation of this institution. He was returned member of parliament for the south division of Manchester in 1885, was re-elected in 1886, and in the latter year he resigned his professorship. He has served on the Royal Commissions on Noxious Vapours and on Technical Education, and is a member of the Scottish Universities Commission. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1863. He was president of the Chemical Society in 1880, of the Society of Chemical Industry in 1881, and of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at the Manchester meeting in 1887. Of his original contributions to chemical science the most important are researches on the measurement of the chemical activity of light, and on vanadium and its compounds. His pub- lished works include Spectrum Analysis, a course of lectures (1868) on the subject; his well-known Lessons in Elementary Chemistry (1870); and his Treatise on Chemistry (written in conjunction with Schorlemmer), in 3 vols. (1878-89; new ed. 1894 et seq.). He lost his seat in parliament in 1895.