from 1887, Bondfield became involved in trade unionism. She was the first woman chairman of the TRADES UNION CONGRESS (1923) and a LABOUR PARTY MP 1923–4, 1926–31. In 1924 she became the first woman minister in a British government (as parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Labour), and from 1929 the first woman CABINET member (as minister of labour) and privy councillor. In both instances, she served under Ramsay MAC DONALD. In 1931 she refused to join his NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.BONIFACE
(b. early 670s in Wessex; d. 5 June 754 near Dokkum, Frisia, aged about 80). Responding to a missionary vocation, the monk Wynfrith lived in Frisia (modern Netherlands) in 716. In 719 the Pope commissioned him to evangelize pagans and named him Boniface. He worked with WILLIBRORD in Frisia (719–21). In 722, while revisiting Rome, he was made bishop and authorized to preach E of the R. Rhine (eastern Francia). He founded monasteries and churches, and recruited assistants from England.
In 732 Boniface was appointed archbishop. He reorganized dioceses in Bavaria (739), founded new bishoprics to the N (741–2), and founded Fulda monastery. Around 746 he adopted Mainz (in modern Germany) as his see. After resigning (753), he returned to Frisia, where he was martyred (buried at Fulda). See also LEOBA; MISSIONS TO CONTINENTAL EUROPE, ANGLO‐SAXON.
BONNER, EDMUND
(b. probably at Hanley, Worcestershire, England; d. 5 Sept. 1569 at London, England). Bonner, a clergyman, served King HENRY VIII as a diplomat (late 1520s–1540s). He accepted Henry’s supremacy in the English Church (confirmed 1534). He was appointed bishop of Hereford (1538), then of London (1539). But during the reign of EDWARD VI (1547–53) Bonner resisted Protestant reforms. He was imprisoned and deprived of his bishopric (Oct. 1550).
Restored as bishop by MARY I (Aug. 1553), Bonner promoted Catholicism and combated heresy in his diocese – 113 heretics were burnt (1555–8). After the accession of ELIZABETH I (1558), Bonner refused to acknowledge her supremacy in the Church. He was again deprived (May 1559) and later imprisoned (1560). See also REFORMATION, ENGLAND.
BOOKLANDIn Anglo‐Saxon England, land held by written CHARTER or ‘book' (OE bocland). Unlike other land, bookland was given (e.g., by kings) with freedom to alienate (by grant, sale or bequest). Kin had no entitlement to inherit. Bookland tenure was introduced in the 7th century to endow MINSTER churches. From the late 8th century, senior lay people also held (and alienated) bookland. Bookland was replaced by new tenures in the late 11th century. See also TENURES, ENGLAND BEFORE 1066; THREE PUBLIC SERVICES.BOOK OF ORDERSIn England and Wales, instructions issued Jan. 1631 by the PRIVY COUNCIL to JUSTICES OF THE PEACE requiring quarterly reports about the administration of laws relating to the poor. Although the Book arose from short‐term problems (e.g., grain shortage), and did not represent the policy of THOROUGH, it reflected the concern of Charles I for maintaining social harmony and avoiding disorder. See also CHARLES I, PERSONAL RULE.BOOT, JESSE(b. 2 June 1850 at Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England; d. 13 June 1931 at Vallée, Jersey, Channel Islands, aged 81). Boot became a medical herbalist and, facing competition from new patent medicines, from 1877 sold medical products in quantity at reduced prices. From 1883 he developed a retail business that employed pharmacists and sold other products (e.g., books, stationery). His company manufactured medical products from 1892. By 1914 Boot’s company had 560 outlets, including DEPARTMENT STORES. Boot sold a controlling interest in 1920. He was created a knight (1909), a baronet (1916) and Lord Trent (1928).BOOTH, CHARLES(b. 30 March 1840 at Liverpool, Lancashire, England; d. 23 Nov. 1916 at Gracedieu Manor, Leicestershire, England, aged 76). Sociologist. Booth, a businessman involved in shipping, became disenchanted with politics and religion. Influenced by positivism from the 1860s, he studied the lives of the poor in LONDON from 1887, including employment, poverty and religious influences. His investigations, published in Life and Labour of the People in London (17 volumes, 1889–1902), demonstrated that about a third of Londoners lived in poverty. From these, he argued for old age PENSIONS and TARIFF REFORM. See also NATIONAL DETERIORATION.BOOTH FAMILYThe English family which developed the SALVATION ARMY. William Booth (1829–1912) was active in Wesleyan METHODISM from the 1840s. In 1865 he founded the independent East London Christian Mission, which established ‘stations’ elsewhere. The organization was renamed the Salvation Army in 1879, with Booth as ‘general’. Booth’s wife Catherine (1829–90) conducted mission services from 1860 and campaigned for the PURITY MOVEMENT. Their son Bramwell Booth (1856–1929) was involved in his parents’ work from 1870, becoming chief organizer of the Army from 1881, general from 1912. His sister Evangeline Cory Booth (1865–1950) led the Army in the USA from 1904 and was general 1934–9. His daughter Catherine Bramwell‐Booth (1883–1987) was in charge of Army social work among women in Great Britain 1926–46. Other family members were also Salvationists.BORDER, ANGLO‐SCOTTISH
The historical border between England and Scotland follows natural features, running (NE–SW) along the R. Tweed and across the Cheviot Hills to the Solway Firth. First established in the later 11th century, and more firmly from the mid 12th century, it represents the line at which England finally halted southward expansion by the kingdom of Scotland. (There is no compelling natural border across N Britain.)
Scotland originated in the UNION OF SCOTS AND PICTS from c.842. Their kingdom (called ‘Alba’ meaning ‘Britain’ from c.900, ‘Scotland’ from the 11th century) was mostly N of the FORTH–CLYDE ISTHMUS. To the SE, it abutted the Anglian (English) kingdom of NORTHUMBRIA, and to the SW the British kingdom of STRATHCLYDE. In the 10th or 11th century (probably by 1026), Alba/Scotland acquired the LOTHIAN part of Northumbria, extending to the R. Tweed. From 1018 it had authority over Strathclyde (including Cumbria in modern NW England).
In 1092, King WILLIAM II of England seized the southern part of former Strathclyde, pushing the border back northwards, to the Solway Firth (see CARLISLE). Scottish expansionist ambitions nonetheless continued. King DAVID I regained former southern Strathclyde in 1136, obtained NE England in 1139, and from 1141 ruled southwards to a line from the R. Tees to the R. Ribble. In 1157, however, HENRY II of England forced MALCOLM IV to surrender N England, restoring the Tweed–Solway line.
The border remained largely unchanged (see BERWICK‐UPON‐TWEED), though Scottish claims were maintained until 1237 (abandoned in treaty of York). Local cross‐border relations fell under special laws (codified 1249 as the ‘Laws of the Marches').
The border area remained turbulent in the 14th–16th centuries, often with recurrent warfare. Conditions became peaceful with the UNION OF CROWNS (1603). Following the UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND (1707), the border ceased to be an international boundary, becoming an internal border of GREAT BRITAIN. See also SCOTTISH–ENGLISH RELATIONS; RAIDING, CROSS-BORDER; COUNCIL OF THE NORTH.
BORDER, ANGLO‐WELSH
W Britain (WALES) was severed from direct land contact with other British areas by Germanic (English) kingdoms probably in the early 7th century. Soon afterwards, the advance of the English kingdom of MERCIA against the Welsh kingdom of POWYS pushed the border back to a N–S line between the Dee and Severn estuaries, which was roughly marked from the late 8th century by OFFA'S DYKE. For over 400 years, political and settlement borders fluctuated around that axis (from the mid 10th century dividing the Welsh kingdoms from a united England).
English settlement moved W even after construction of the dyke; English lived around Radnor (C Wales) by the late 10th century, and in NE Wales before 1066. Though NORMANS invaded Wales from the late 11th century, the lordships they founded, constituting the MARCH OF WALES, were treated as territories within Wales.
BORDER COMMISSIONSIn the 14th–16th centuries, disorder was endemic in the Anglo‐Scottish border country, with cross‐border raids for cattle thieving. After the UNION OF CROWNS (1603), both sides came under King JAMES VI/I, who appointed ten border commissioners (five
