Trades (Carpentry, Catering, Merchant Marine)

Bemo, John

Bemo, born Talamasmico in or before 1825, was the nephew of the great Seminole Chief Osceola. When he was nine or 10 (in 1835) his father died after a drunken brawl in St. Augustine, Florid... [more]

Caines, Michael

Caines is a transracial adoptee, born in Jamaica and raised in Exeter. He was trained as a chef by Raymond Blanc. In 1994 he lost his right arm in a car accident, but with hard work, dedica... [more]

Child Migrants

These are the children sent from Britain and Ireland to colonies and former colonies with the express intention of helping to culturally swamp the native peoples by increasing the white pop... [more]

He spent 20 years at sea, which provided the background for some of his best writing. He settled in England in 1895 and wrote in English. His famous novels include The Heart of Darkness, Nig... [more]

Martinson, Harry Edmund

Martinson was born in Jämshög in southern Sweden. His father died when he was six, and his mother abandoned her seven children to emigrate to America. The rest of his childhood was spent in... [more]

Melville, Herman

Melville was born into a comfortably well-off merchant family in New York, but his father went bankrupt and insane, and died when he was 12 (other sources say 14), leaving his mother a wido... [more]

Pryse, Robert John

Pryse's mother died when he was four and his father when he was 11. He and his four brothers and sisters were raised in dire poverty and he had a total of four days of formal education in h... [more]

Whaitiri, Te Waari Kahukura

Te Waari was born on the isolated Chatham Islands east of New Zealand to Meriana Ngapohe Rawiri and Te Wera William Whaitiri. His mother died when he was six and he was sent as a tamaiti wh... [more]