Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

Born on 2 May 1810 and educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer became an Anglican clergyman before building his reputation as a writer and compiler. He is most often remembered as a lexicographer, but his work ranged widely across popular education, reference, and literary explanation.

Brewer had a gift for making difficult subjects approachable. In A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, The Reader's Handbook, and especially Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, he brought together facts, stories, and allusions that helped readers make sense of the language and literature around them. That mix of learning and readability helped his books remain useful long after the Victorian period.

He died on 6 March 1897 in Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire. Today, his name still survives most strongly through Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, a reference book that introduced generations of readers to the pleasure of looking things up and finding more than they expected.