Modern English biography

MENZIES, WILLIAM COLLIER (son of sir Charles Menzies 1783–1866). _b._ 4 Oct. 1818; 2 lieut. R.E. 5 May 1837, col. 20 Oct. 1869; L.G. 1 July 1881; placed on retired list with hon. rank of general 19 Oct. 1881. _d._ St. Heliers, Jersey 31 March 1890. MERCER, ALEXANDER. _b._ 1800; entered Bengal army 1817; lieut. 27 Bengal N.I. 1 Aug. 1818; lieut. 70 N.I. 13 May 1825, lieut.-col. 19 March 1847 to 1849; lieut.-col. of 1 European regiment, right wing 1849–50, and of 63 N.I. 1850 to death; C.B. 9 June 1849. _d._ York st. London 12 Nov. 1852. MERCER, ALEXANDER CAVALIE. _b._ 1783; 2 lieut. R.A. 20 Dec. 1799; colonel R.A. 1 April 1846; col. commandant 16 Jany. 1859 to death; general 9 Feb. 1865. _d._ Cowley near Exeter 9 Nov. 1868. MERCER, GEORGE. _b._ 1818; solicitor at Deal, Kent 1840 to death; town clerk of Deal 1840 to death; coroner for Deal 1844 to death; shot himself while lying in bed at his house 2 Victoria road, Deal 5 Oct. 1891. _Solicitors’ Journal 17 Oct. 1891 p._ 805. MERCER, JOHN (son of Robert Mercer, hand-loom cotton-spinner, _d._ 1800). _b._ Dean near Blackburn 21 Feb. 1791; a dyer at Great Harwood 1807–9; a hand-loom weaver 1810; a dyer again 1813, discovered a method of fixing orange sulphide of antimony on cotton-cloth 1817; a chemist in the colour-shop of Messrs. Fort Brothers at Oakenshaw, Lancs. 1818, a partner in the business 1825–48; propounded the first rational theory of the so-called catalytic action 1842; joined the Chemical society 1847; partner with Robert Hargreaves of Broadoak near Accrington 1845; discovered the process known as ‘mercerising’ 1850; patented the preparation of parchment paper 1850; F.R.S. 3 June 1852; F.C.S. 1842. _d._ Oakenshaw near Accrington 30 Nov. 1866. _bur._ Great Harwood. _E. A. Parnell’s Life of John Mercer_ (1886), _portrait_. MERCER, ROBERT (son of James Mercer, keeper of the abbreviates of adjudication, general register office, Edinb. _d._ 1846). _b._ 1797; writer to the signet 20 India st. Edinb. 5 July 1821, retired from business. _d._ Ramsay lodge, Portobello 3 Nov.