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When you've got a lot of people together, it makes sense to pick someone to be in charge. As exploration expanded, individuals were chosen to oversee colonies and settlements. This section highlights those men (and some women), as well as the leaders and attendant ruling class -- nobles, peerage, wannabes and hangers-on --back home.
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Cross-listed in Writers

Brian Fairfax

borndied
1633, Oct 61711, Sep 20
an English politician. On the death of the archbishop in 1694 Fairfax retired into private life at York, where he devoted himself to literary work, and to acting as the friend and mentor of the younger generations of his family. He carried on a correspondence with most of the literary men of his day. Some communications of his are among the correspondence of...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in MilitaryLegal

Edmund Fanning [1]

borndied
1739, Apr 241818, Feb 28
a British North American colonial administrator and military leader. Born in New York, he became a lawyer and politician in North Carolina in the 1760s. He first came to fame as the focus of hatred of the Regulators, and led anti-Regulator militia in the War of the Regulation. When the American Revolutionary War broke out, he was driven from his home in New ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Alexander Farnese

aka: Duke of Parma, Alessandro Farnese, Alejandro Farnesio
borndied
1545, Aug 271592, Dec 3
Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1586 to 1592, and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1578 to 1592. He is best known for his successful campaign 1578-1592 against the Dutch Revolt, in which he captured the main cities in the south (now Belgium) and returned them to the control of Catholic Spain. His talents as a field commander, strategist and ...
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Timeline (8)Links (1)


Ottavio Farnese

aka: Duke of Parma
borndied
1524, Oct 91586, Sep 18
reigned as Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1547 and Duke of Castro from 1545 until his death. Farnese attempted to seize Parma by force, and having failed, entered into negotiations with Ferrante Gonzaga. This rebellion on the part of his grandson is believed to have hastened the Pope's death on 10 November 1549. During the interregnum that followed, Ottavio...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Farrukh Pasha

aka: Pasha ibn Abdullah, Farrukh Bey
bornactivedied
unknown1593-16211621
the Ottoman governor of Nablus and Jerusalem in the early 17th century, and founder of the Farrukh dynasty, which held the governorship of Nablus and other posts for much of the 17th century. He also held the prestigious office of amir al-hajj (commander of the Hajj caravan). He built a large caravanserai called the Wikala al-Farrukhiyya or Khan al-Farrukhiy...
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Links (1)


Pierre Fatio

borndied
1662, Nov 71707, Sep 6
a politician from the Republic of Geneva. His struggle against the dominance of the aristocracy in the Genevan government led to his execution on charges of conspiring against the State. Matriculated at the University of Basel in 1679 and then again in 1685, he earned a doctorate in law in 1686. Fatio also studied in Valence, Montpellier and Leiden. Back in ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Writers

John Fearn [2]

borndied
1768, May1837, Dec 3
a British philosopher. Little is known about Fearn's early life. He was probably born in May 1768 (baptised 11 May) in Chatham, Kent He spent some years as an officer in the Royal Navy, and after retirement devoted himself to philosophical writings. He was particularly interested in ocular phenomena and visual perception. He was a friend of Samuel Parr and ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Scientists

Jesse Fell

bornactivedied
unknown1800s-1810sunknown
an early political leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He was the first to successfully burn anthracite on an open air grate. His method and 'discovery' in 1808 led to the widespread use of coal as the fuel source that helped to foster America's industrial revolution. He lived in the Fell House and Tavern until his death. The House stood until the 1980s wh...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


John Fendall Jr.

borndied
1762, Oct 91825, Nov 10
also known as John of Java and Bengal, was a colonial official in the British Honourable East India Company and governor of Java for five months in 1816 before it was returned to the Netherlands. He began service in the East India Company in 1778 at the age of 16. In 1790 he was Collector of Midnapur and had attained the status of Senior Merchant. He returne...
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Links (1)


Feodor I

aka: Fyodor (Theodore) I Ivanovich, Feodor I Ioannovich, Feodor the Bellringer
borndied
1557, May 311598, Jan 16/17
the last Rurikid Tsar of Russia. Feodor's mother died when he was three, and he grew up in the shadow of his father, Ivan the Terrible. A pious man of retiring disposition, Feodor took little interest in politics, and the country was effectively administered in his name by more
Timeline (1)Links (1)


Feodor III

aka: Theodore, Feodor III Alexeyevich
borndied
1661, Jun 91682, May 7
the Tsar of all Russia between 1676 and 1682. Feodor was born in Moscow, the eldest surviving son of Tsar Alexis and Maria Miloslavskaya. In 1676, at the age of fifteen, he succeeded his father on the throne. He was endowed with a fine intellect and a noble disposition; he had received an excellent education at the hands of Simeon Polotsky, the most learned ...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


HRE Ferdinand I

bornactivedied
1503, Mar 101521-15641564, Jul 25
Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526, and king of Croatia from 1527 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Also,...
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Timeline (15)Links (1)


Ferdinand I of Austria

bornactivedied
1793, Apr 191835-18481875, Jun 29
Emperor of Austria, President of the German Confederation, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia (as Ferdinand V), as well as associated dominions from the death of his father (Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor) on 2 March 1835, until his abdication after the Revolutions of 1848. He married Maria Anna of Savoy, the sixth child of Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia....
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Ferdinand II

bornactivedied
1529, Jun 141564-15951595, Jan 24
ruler of Further Austria including Tirol. The son of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, he was married to Philippine Welser in his first marriage. In his second marriage to Anna Juliana Gonzaga, he was the father of Anna of Tyrol, the would-be Holy Roman Empress. In 1557 he was secretly married to Philippine Welser, daughter of a patrician from Augsburg, with ...
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Timeline (19)Links (1)


Ferdinand II of Aragon

aka: Ferdinand the Catholic, Ferdinand III
borndied
1452, Mar 101516, Jan 23
King of Sicily from 1468 and King of Aragon from 1479 until his death. As a consequence of his marriage to Isabella I, he was King of Castile as Ferdinand V from 1474 until her death in 1504. He was recognised as regent of Castile for his daughter and heir, Joanna, from 1508 until his own death. In 1504, after a war with France, he became King of Naples as ...
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Timeline (5)Links (1)


HRE Ferdinand III

bornactivedied
1608, Jul 131590/1619-16371657, Apr 2
Holy Roman Emperor from 15 February 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria. In 1627 Ferdinand enhanced his authority and set an important legal and military precedent by issuing a Revised Land Ordinance that deprived the Bohemian estates of their right to raise soldiers, reserving this power sol...
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Timeline (6)Links (1)


Ferdinand IV

bornactivedied
1633, Sep 81637-16571654, Jul 9
made King of Bohemia in 1646, King of Hungary and Croatia in 1647, and King of the Romans on 31 May 1653. He also served as Duke of Cieszyn. Born in Vienna on 8 September 1633, Ferdinand IV was the eldest son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife Maria Anna, the daughter of Philip III of Spain. At a young age, Ferdinand IV took his father's...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Ferdinand VI of Spain

borndied
1713, Sep 231759, Aug 10
called the Learned, was King of Spain from 9 July 1746 until his death in 1759, the third ruler of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty. When he came to the throne, Spain found itself in the War of the Austrian Succession which ended without any benefit to Spain. He started his reign by eliminating the influence of the widow Queen Elisabeth of Parma and her group of ...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Ferdinand Charles

bornactivedied
1628, May 171632-16621662, Dec 30
the Archduke of Further Austria, including Tyrol, from 1646 to 1662. As the son of Archduke Leopold V and Claudia de' Medici, he succeeded his father upon the latter's death in 1632, under his mother's regency. He took over his mother's governatorial duties when he...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Educators

Abigail Fillmore

aka: Abigail Powers
bornactivedied
1798, Mar 131814-18531853, Mar 30
the wife of Millard Fillmore, was First Lady of the United States from 1850 to 1853. In 1814 Abigail became a part-time school teacher at the Sempronius Village school. In 1817 she becomes a full-time teacher and in 1819 she took on another teaching job and ...
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Timeline (1)Links (11)


Millard Fillmore

bornactivedied
1800, Jan 71850-18531874, Mar 8
the 13th President of the United States (1850–1853), the last Whig president, and the last president not to be affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties. Fillmore was the only Whig president who did not die in office or get expelled from the party, and Fillmore appointed the only Whig Supreme Court Justice. As more
Timeline (3)Links (19)Notes (3)


Cross-listed in MilitaryWriters

Tobias Fitch

bornactivedied
unknown1720s-1730sunknown
wrote a journal of his mission from Charleston to the Creeks. Succeeded Colonel Chicken as Indian Commissioner and held that post in 1733-1734. In the latter year he was appointed a justice of the peace in Berkeley County.


Cross-listed in Military

Juan Jose Flores

aka: Juan José
borndied
1800, Jul 191864, Oct 1
a Venezuelan military general who became Supreme Chief, and later the first President of the new Republic of Ecuador. He later served two more terms from 1839 to 1843 and from 1843 to 1845, and is often referred to as "The Founder of the Republic". On May 13, 1830, the day of Ecuador's breaking away from Gran Colombia, Flores was named supreme chief of the n...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Charles Floyd

borndied
17821804, Aug 20
a United States explorer, a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, and quartermaster in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A native of Kentucky, he was a son of Robert Clark Floyd, a nephew of James John Floyd, a cousin of Virginia governor John Floyd, and possibly a relative of more
Timeline (1)Links (1)


William Floyd

bornactivedied
1734, Dec 171774-18201821. Aug 4
an American politician from New York, and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. In 1795, Floyd ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York with Robert Yates on the Democratic-Republican ticket, but they were defeated by Federalists John Jay and Step...
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Links (1)Notes (1)


John Forsyth

bornactivedied
1780, Oct 221813-18411841, Oct 21
a 19th-century American politician from Georgia. He represented Georgia in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Forsyth also served as the 33rd Governor of Georgia. As a strong supporter of the policies of Andrew Jackson, he was appointed Secretar...
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Cross-listed in Writers

Carl Andreas Fougstad

borndied
1806, Mar 21871, Jul 3
a Norwegian politician. He graduated from the University of Oslo as cand.jur. in 1831. In 1828 he had been chairman in the Det Norske Studentersamfund for half a year. He was a member of the social circle Intelligenspartiet, whose most famous members were Anton Martin Schweigaard, Frederik Stang and Johan Sebastian Welhaven. Fougstad was a co-editor of their...
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Links (1)


Nicolas Fouquet

borndied
1615, Jan 271680, Mar 23
the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV. He had a glittering career, and acquired enormous wealth. He fell out of favor, accused of peculation (maladministration of the state's funds) and lèse-majesté (actions harmful to...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


Charles James Fox

borndied
1749, Jan 241806, Sep 13
a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger. His father Henry, a leading Whig of his day, had similarly been the great rival of Pitt's famous father. He rose to prominence in the House of Commons as a forceful and eloquent speak...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Henry Fox

aka: 1st Baron Holland, Lord Holland
bornactivedied
1705, Sep 281735-17651774, Jul 1
a leading British politician of the 18th century. He identified primarily with the Whig faction. He notably held the posts of Secretary at War, Southern Secretary and Paymaster of the Forces, from which he enriched himself, but while widely tipped as a future Prime Minister, he never held that office. He was the father of more
Timeline (1)Links (7)


HRE Francis I

bornactivedied
1708, Dec 81740-17651765, Aug 18
Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany, though his wife effectively executed the real powers of those positions. With his wife, Maria Theresa, he was the founder of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty. From 1728 until 1737 he was Duke of Lorraine. In 1737, Lor...
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Timeline (3)Links (1)


Francis I of France

bornactivedied
1494, Sep 121515-15471547, Mar 31
the first King of France from the Angoulême branch of the House of Valois, reigning from 1515 until his death. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. A prodigious patron of the arts, he initiated the French Renaissance by attracting many Italian artists to work on the Château de Chambord, including more
Timeline (18)Links (1)Notes (1)


HRE Francis II

aka: Francis I of Austria
bornactivedied
1768, Feb 121792-18351835, Mar 2
the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Holy Roman Empire after the decisive defeat at the hands of the First French Empire led by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz. In 1804, he had founded the Austrian Empire and became Francis I, the first Emperor of Austria, ruling from 1804 to 1835, so later he was name...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Francis II of France

bornactivedied
1544, Jan 191559-15601560, Dec 5
a monarch of the House of Valois-Angoulême who was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King consort of Scotland as a result of his willing marriage to Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560. He ascended the throne of France at t...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)Notes (1)


Cross-listed in WritersInventorsScientistsCommerce

Benjamin Franklin

aka: Richard Saunders
bornactivedied
1705, Jan 61718-17891790, Apr 17
one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories rega...
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Timeline (26)Links (7)Gallery (6)Notes (6)


Cross-listed in Legal

William Franklin

borndied
1730 ca1813, Nov
an American-born attorney, a colonial administrator, and the acknowledged illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin. He was the last colonial Governor of New Jersey (1763–1776). Franklin was a steadfast Loyalist throughout the American Revolutionary War. As hi...
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Timeline (1)Links (8)


Cross-listed in Military

Vaclav Eusebius Frantisek

aka: Prince of Lobkowicz
borndied
1609, Jan 301677, Apr 22
a Bohemian military leader and diplomat of the Lobkowicz family. After 1646, he was Duke of Sagan. After a thorough training, he joined the Imperial Army in 1631, where he raised his own regiment to fight in the Thirty Years' War and reached the rank of field marshal. He later made a name as a politician and diplomat, holding the titles of President of the I...
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Links (1)


Franz Joseph I

borndied
1830, Aug 181916, Nov 21
Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia from 2 December 1848 until his death on 21 November 1916. From 1 May 1850 to 24 August 1866 he was also President of the German Confederation. He was the longest-reigning Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, as well as the third longest-reigning monarch of any country in European history, after ...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


Frederick

aka: Hereditary Prince of Denmark
borndied
1753, Oct 111805, Dec 7
heir presumptive to the thrones of Denmark and Norway. He was the only surviving son of King Frederick V by his second wife, Juliana Maria of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. Hereditary Prince Frederick acted as regent on behalf of his half-brother King Christian VIImore
Links (1)


Frederick I

bornactivedied
1471, Oct 71523-15331533, Apr 10
the King of Denmark and Norway. His name is also spelled Friedrich in German, Frederik in Danish and Norwegian and Fredrik in Swedish. He was the penultimate Roman Catholic monarch to reign over Denmark, when subsequent monarchs embraced Lutheranism after the Protestant Reformation. As King of Norway, Frederick is most remarkable in never having visited the ...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Frederick I of Prussia

aka: Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg, Duke of Prussia, Prince of Neuchâtel
borndied
1657, Jul 111713, Feb 25
of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was (as Frederick III) Elector of Brandenburg (1688–1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union (Brandenburg-Prussia). The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia (1701–1713). From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel (German: Fürstentum Neuen...
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Timeline (2)Links (9)


Frederick II

bornactivedied
1534, Jul 11559-15881588, Apr 4
King of Denmark and Norway and duke of Schleswig from 1559 until his death. He was hailed as successor to the Throne of Denmark in 1542 and of Norway in 1548. As king, he visited Norway in 1585, when he came to Båhus. Unlike his father, he was strongly affected by military ideals. Already as a young man he made friendship with German war princes. Shortly af...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Composers

Frederick II of Prussia

aka: Frederick the Great
borndied
17121786
King of Prussia whose achievements included his military victories, reorganization of Prussian armies, patronage of the Arts and the Enlightenment, and his final success against great odds in the Seven Years' War. He composed 100 sonatas for the flute as well as four symphonies.
Timeline (6)Links (1)


HRE Frederick III

aka: Frederick V of Austria
bornactivedied
1415, Sep 211457-14931493, Aug 19
Holy Roman Emperor from 1452 until his death, the first emperor of the House of Habsburg. He was the penultimate emperor to be crowned by the Pope, and the last to be crowned in Rome. Prior to his imperial coronation, he was duke of the Inner Austrian lands of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola from 1424, and also acted as regent over the Duchy of Austria (as F...
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Links (1)


Frederick III of Denmark

aka: Frederick II
bornactivedied
1609, Mar 181648-16701670, Feb 9
king of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death. He also governed under the name Frederick II as diocesan administrator (colloquially referred to as prince-bishop) of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden (1623–29 and again 1634–44), and the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (1635–45).[citation needed] He instituted absolute monarchy in Denmark-Norway in 16...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Frederick IV

bornactivedied
1671, Oct 111699-17301730, Oct 12
the king of Denmark and Norway from 1699 until his death. Frederick was the son of King Christian V of Denmark-Norway and his consort Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel. Frederick's most important domestic reform was the abolition in 1702 of the so-called vornedskab, a kind of serfdom which had fallen on the peasants of Zealand in the Late Middle Ages. His eff...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Frederick V

bornactivedied
1723, Mar 311746- 17661766, Jan 14
king of Denmark-Norway and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein from 1746 until his death. He was the son of Christian VI of Denmark and Sophia Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. In 1760 Frederick broke his leg in a drunken accident, which greatly weakened him. According to Dorothea Biehl's statements the king was often seen in a condition "where his arm was not stron...
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Links (1)


Frederick V of the Palatinate

borndied
1596, Aug 261632, Nov 29
the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and served as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both roles, and the brevity of his reign in Bohemia earned him the derisive nickname of "the Winter King." In 1618 the largely Protestant estates of Bohemia rebelled against their Catholic King Ferdinand, tr...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Frederick VI

bornactivedied
1768, Jan 281808-18141839, Dec 3
King of Denmark from 13 March 1808 to 3 December 1839 and King of Norway from 13 March 1808 to 7 February 1814. From 1784 until his accession, he served as regent during his father's mental illness and was referred to as the "Crown Prince Regent" (kronprinsregent). For his motto he chose God and the just cause (Danish: Gud og den retfærdige sag) and since t...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Frederick Henry

aka: Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange
bornactivedied
1584, Jan 291625-16471647, Mar 14
the sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel from 1625 to 1647. As the leading soldier in the Dutch wars against Spain, his main achievement was the successful Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch in 1629, It was the main Spanish base and a well-fortified city protected by an experienced Spanish garrison and by f...
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Timeline (18)Links (1)


Frederick of Wales

aka: Frederick Lewis
borndied
1707, Feb 11751, Mar 31
heir apparent to the British throne from 1727 until his death from a lung injury at the age of 44 in 1751. He was the eldest but estranged son of King George II and Caroline of Ansbach, and the father of King George III. Under the Act of Settlement passed by the E...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Frederick William I

borndied
1688, Aug 141740, May 31
known as the 'Soldier King,' was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death, as well as the father of Frederick the Great. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel. During his own reign, Frederick William I did much to centralize and improve Prussia. He replaced mandatory military service a...
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Timeline (8)Links (1)


Cross-listed in ExplorersMilitary

John C. Fremont

aka: Frémont
bornactivedied
1813, Jan 211833-18901890, Jul 13
an American military officer, explorer, and politician who became the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, when he led four expeditions into the American West, that era's penny press and admiring historians accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder. During the Mexican Am...
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Timeline (3)Links (25)


Richard French

borndied
1792, Jun 201854, May 1
a U.S. Representative from Kentucky. Born near Boonesborough, Kentucky, French attended private schools. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1820 and commenced practice in Winchester, Kentucky. He served as member of the State house of representatives 1820–1826. He served as judge of the circuit court in 1829. French was elected as a Jacksonian t...
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Links (2)


Cross-listed in Military

John William Friso

aka: Johan Willem, Prince of Orange-Nassau
borndied
1687, Aug 141711, Jul 14
became the titular Prince of Orange in 1702. He was stadtholder of Friesland until his death by drowning in the Hollands Diep in 1711. Along with his wife, Marie Louise, Friso is the ancestor of all European monarchs occupying the throne today. On coming of age in 1707, John William Friso became a general of the Dutch troops during the War of Spanish Success...
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Timeline (4)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Louis de Buade de Frontenac

borndied
1622, May 221698, Nov 28
a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France from 1672 to 1682 and from 1689 to his death in 1698. He established a number of forts on the Great Lakes and engaged in a series of battles against the English and the Iroquois. In his first term, he supported the expansion of the fur trade, establishing Fort Frontenac (in what is now Kingston, ...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Robert Fullerton

borndied
17731831
a governor of Penang and also the first governor of Straits Settlements, appointed by the Colonial Office, London. He is credited with the creation of the municipal system in the Straits Settlements – Buckley stated that the first trace of subsequent municipalities can be traced to 1827. Fullerton, with the sanction of the Court of Directors and Board of C...
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Links (1)

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