BALD, BART. (I i 92-186 7 ), Scottish historian, was born at Kenley, Shropshire, England. His father, ARCHIBALD ALISON (1757-1839), was the author of a well-known book of Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste (179o) . The son was edu cated at Edinburgh university and held various high legal posi tions in Scotland. He spent fif teen years in collecting the ma terials for his History of Europe.
The history of the period from the beginning of the French Revolution till the restoration of the Bourbons in 1815 was com pleted in ten volumes in 1842.
Within a few years it ran through ten editions, and was translated into many of the languages of Europe, as well as into Arabic and Hindustani. It brought together, though not always in a well-arranged form, an immense amount of information that had before been practically inaccessible to the general public. A continuation of the History, embracing the period from 1815 to 1852, which was completed in four volumes in 1856, did not meet with the same success as the earlier work. His liter ary activity continued till within a short time of his death, the chief works he published in addition to his History being the Principles of Population (1840), in answer to Malthus; a Life of Marlborough (1847, 2nd edition, greatly enlarged, 185 2) ; and the Lives of Lord Castlereagh and Sir C. Stewart (1861). Three volumes of Alison's political, historical and miscellaneous essays were reprinted in 185o. His autobiography, Some Account of My Life and Writings, edited by his daughter-in-law, Lady Alison, was published in 1883 at Edinburgh. His elder son, SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON (18 2 6-190 7) , was a distinguished soldier who served in the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny, was second in command of the Ashanti expedition (1873-74), and led the High land Brigade at Tel-el-Kebir. He was made full general in 1887, and became military member of the Council of India in 1889.