Born at Clapham; trained as a civil engineer, and assisted Robert Stephenson in constructing the Britannia tubular bridge; in 1849 he became secretary to the Society of Arts, a position he held till 1852, when he became secretary and director of the Crystal Palace Company; subsequently he was editor of Macmillan's Magazine, a contributor to Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible," and is best known for the "Dictionary of Music and Musicians" which he edited and partly wrote; was knighted in 1883; born 1820.