Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/209

Poste Dreams from the Bible,' London, 1848. 6. 'A Summary of the Principles and Doctrines of the Christian Religion (as taught in the Bible),' 1849; reprinted, London, 1850. 7. 'Uncle's Visit at the Villa, or Evening Conversations with his Sister's Grandchildren on some of the distinguishing Peculiarities of the Society of Friends,' London, 1849. 8. 'A Popular Memoir of William Penn,' London, 1850. 9. 'The Origin, History, and Doctrine of Baptisms,' London, 1851. 10. 'A Brief Memoir of George Fox ... for the Information of Strangers,* London, 1854. 11. 'A Compendium of Christian Doctrine and Precepts, as taught in the Bible,' London, 12mo, 1854.

 POSTE, BEALE (1793–1871), divine and antiquary, of an ancient Kentish family, was second son of William Poste, one of the four common pleaders of the city of London. Born in 1793 at Hayle Place, his father's seat near Maidstone, Kent, he entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge (,Grad. Cant. p. 416), but left the university at an early age, travelled on the continent, returned, took holy orders, and married (in 1817) before graduating LL.B. in 1819. He was for some years curate of High Halden, and then of Milstead, both in Kent. At Milstead he devoted himself to the study of archæology. He was one of the earliest members of the Archaeological Association, and many papers from his pen appeared in their 'Journal.' He removed about 1851 to Bydews Place, near Maidstone, where he died on 15 April 1871. By his wife Mary Jane, daughter of John Cousins, esq., of Westbourne, Sussex, who died two years before her husband, he had three sons and four daughters. His third son, Edward, is director of civil service examinations.

His works, dealing principally with early British history, evidence the most painstaking research. They are: 1. 'History of the College of All Saints,' Maidstone, 1847, 8vo. 2. 'The Coins of Cunobeline and of the Ancient Britons,' 1853, 8vo. 3. 'Britannic Researches, or New Facts and Rectifications of Ancient British History,' 1853, 8vo. 4. 'Britannia Antiqua: Ancient Britain brought within the Limits of Authentic History,' 1857, 8vo. 5. 'Celtic Inscriptions on Gaulish and British Coins, intended to supply Materials for the Early History of Great Britain; with a Glossary of Archaic Celtic Words and an Atlas of Coins,' 1861, 8vo.

 POSTGATE, JOHN (1820–1881), initiator of the laws against adulteration, the son of a Scarborough builder, Thomas Postgate, by his wife Jane, born Wade, was descended from an ancient Roman catholic family of Yorkshire, of which a representative, Nicholas Postgate (1597-1679), was executed at York during the panic caused by the 'popish plot.' This Nicholas, born at Egton in Yorkshire, was ordained at Douay on 20 March 1628, and served the English mission in the district of Ugthorpe, near Whitby, where the farm at which he resided is still known by his name. He was apprehended for baptising a child according to the Roman rite, indicted at York assizes under the old penal statute of 27 Eliz., and executed on 7 Aug. 1679. A hymn that he composed in York Castle 'is even now used in the wild moorlands about Ugthorpe ' (cf. Foley, Society of Jesus, v. 760;, Yorkshire Catholics, p. 98; , York Castle Depositions.)

Born at Scarborough on 21 Oct. 1820, John Postgate started life as a grocer's boy at the age of eleven. In 1834 he went as assistant to a surgeon at the modest salary of 2s. 6d. a week. His leisure hours he devoted to self-improvement, working hard at Latin, chemistry, and botany, and at the age of seventeen he wrote and published in the 'Yorkshire Magazine' a paper on 'Rare Plants and their Properties.' He subsequently attended lectures at the Leeds school of medicine; in July 1845 he qualified at Apothecaries' Hall, and earned the means to continue his education by acting as assistant to a firm in the east of London. He then attended the London Hospital, satisfied the College of Surgeons in 1844, and settled in May 1851 at Birmingham, where he soon acquired a position of influence. Three years later he obtained the fellowship of the College of Surgeons, and thenceforward commenced his lifelong crusade against the adulteration of food substances, into the secrets of which his experience as a grocer's boy had given him a grim insight. He succeeded in interesting the Birmingham members, William Scholefield and George Frederick Muntz [q.v.], in the matter, and on 26 June 1855 Scholefield moved for a select committee of inquiry in the House of Commons. Postgate was frequently examined, and by means of circulars and letters he kept the question before the public. Meetings were held in the large towns of the north, and samples of such commodities as bread, flour, 