John Bellows

John Thomas Bellows (18 January 1831 – 5 May 1902) was an English polymath, printer and lexicographer from Cornwall.

A prominent member of the informal but influential network of Quaker businessmen-philanthropists that was a feature of Victorian England, he established the Gloucester printing firm, "John Bellows" which, under his son and remoter descendants, would remain an important part of the Gloucester commercial scene till 1967. He wrote prolifically. received much of their education from their father, both as pupils at the school and on the long country walks which they took together. On completion of the apprenticeship he took a job with Harrison's, a London printing business described as the "Queen's Printers", but he became ill in London and after six months had to return to Cornwall to recuperate. On one of his hasty trips abroad he became acutely aware of a gap in the market for dictionaries small enough to be portable by travelers. His original idea was for portable dictionary involving Norwegian, The objectives of the mission, which received "every possible assistance from the [occupying] German authorities", were eloquently set out in a document which each member of the relief mission carried, its text set out in the English, German and French languages: disease was rife, and on the final day of his Metz stay he was attending the funeral of a fellow relief worker who had succumbed to small pox. when it appeared in 1872 or 1873, was dedicated to Lucien Bonaparte who had himself contributed much to its preparation. Printed on high-quality thin paper, it measured 3 x 5 inches and incorporated 340,000 French and English words.

John Bellows retained the travel habit throughout his life. While the printing business continued to thrive, between 1873 and his death in 1902 he joined a succession of small teams of co-religionists, visiting France, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Canada and the United States of America. The stated purpose of these visits was to promote the religion and work of the Religious Society of Friends (as the Quakers were more formally known). He was able to meet Oliver Wendell Holmes, with whom till now his friendship had been conducted only through correspondence, and on two visits to Russia, to strike up a lasting friendship with Leo Tolstoy, In January 1869 John Bellows himself married Elizabeth Earnshaw from Clitheroe in Lancashire. Elizabeth's father was a surgeon. He met her through his friend, her brother, Hugh Granger Earnshaw, who was employed as a factory inspector in the Gloucester area. The marriage produced ten recorded children. can be seen at the Museum of Gloucester.