(Here and There in London is presented here in a high qual...)
Here and There in London is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.
(James Ewing Ritchie (May 1, 1820 – 1898) was an English j...)
James Ewing Ritchie (May 1, 1820 – 1898) was an English journalist and writer. Born in Wrentham, Suffolk, the son of Reverend Andrew Ritchie, he was educated at University College, London. He became an author of travel books and political biographies. Seven of his books were about nineteenth-century London.
James Ewing was a Pennsylvania soldier, statesman, and politician of the Colonial, Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary eras. He served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and also as Vice-President of Pennsylvania, a position comparable to that of Lieutenant Governor.
Background
James Stephen Ewing was born on August 3, 1736, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish descent, the son of Thomas Ewing, a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1738 - 1739, and his wife Susanna Howard, widow of James Patterson, the Indian trader.
Career
Ewing served as a lieutenant in the French and Indian War in 1758, and sat in the Pennsylvania General Assembly 1771 - 1778.
He was a member of the local committee of safety, and on July 4, 1776, was chosen brigadier-general of Pennsylvania militia, in command of the 2nd Brigade, lie had a place in Washington’s plan for the attack on Trenton in the winter of 1776 - 1777, being ordered to cross at Trenton Ferry, with the "Flying Camp" and New Jersey militia.
Ice and high winds prevented the passage by his detachment, however, and he did not share in the victory.
The records are meager regarding his military services, in spite of the high position which he held from the beginning.
Even his name is frequently misspelled, appearing as Eving, Erwing, Irwin, Irvin, and Irvine, the last version leading occasionally to his being confused with the contemporary Gen. William Irvine.
After the war Ewing was vice-president of Pennsylvania 1782 - 1784, a member of the Assembly, and in 1795 - 1799 member of the state Senate.
He was one of the early trustees of Dickinson College at Carlisle, serving from 1783 until his death. James Ewing died on March 1, 1806, at his home near York, Pennsylvania.
Ewing represented York County in the General Assembly from 1771 through 1776. In early 1776 he was one of the few Assemblymen calling for an immediate break with Great Britain. It was, in part, his enthusiasm for Independence that led to his general’s commission on July 4.
Following Independence Ewing aligned himself with wealthy business interests, as a Republican and Anti-Constitutionalist (the latter movement being opposed to the unicameral legislature of Pennsylvania’s 1776 Constitution), and later as a Federalist. In 1781 he won a seat on the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. On November 7, 1782, Ewing was elected Vice-President of Pennsylvania, earning thirty nine votes to the thirty four won by the incumbent, James Potter. (The position of Vice-President is analogous to the modern office of Lieutenant Governor. ) He was unanimously reelected on November 6, 1783, and served until November 6, 1784, when he was succeeded by James Irvine. At one day short of two years, his vice-presidential term was one of the longest in the history of that short-lived office.
In 1784 Ewing served a one-year term in the General Assembly.
As Vice-President of Pennsylvania Ewing served as an ex officio member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1783 he also served as a trustee of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In 1789 he chaired a committee seeking to improve navigation on the Susquehanna River.
In 1795 he returned to elected office, as a Federalist member of the State Senate.
Membership
He was a member of the local committee of safety. After the war Ewing was vice-president of Pennsylvania 1782-84, a member of the Assembly, and in 1795-99 a member of the state Senate.
As Vice-President of Pennsylvania Ewing served as an ex officio member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
Characterized by historian David Hackett Fischer as a "hard-driving Scotch-Irish border chieftain", Ewing commanded a brigade of five regiments at the time of Washington's crossing of the Delaware on the night of December 25–26, 1776, in a surprise attack on the Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey.