1340) Kitty Kirkpatrick

 Katherine Aurora "Kitty" Kirkpatrick (1802 – 1889). British Anglo-Indian woman best known as a muse of the author Thomas Carlyle, and as an example of Eurasian children during the early years of British colonialism in India.
Her father, James Achilles Kirkpatrick, was the British Resident in Hyderabad and a colonel in the British East India Company's army. Her mother, Khair-un-Nissa, was a Hyderabadi noblewoman and a Sayyida, a lineal descendant of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, whose grandfather was the prime minister of Hyderabad.
In 1805, Kitty and her brother William were sent to live in England at age three and five years, respectively, with their paternal grandfather, Colonel James Kirkpatrick.
In 1822 she met the Scottish philosopher and historian Thomas Carlyle, who swiftly became infatuated with Kirkpatrick. However, Carlyle was impoverished and not believed by the rest of the family to be a suitable match for the wealthy and well-connected Kitty. Carlyle would later use Kitty as the basis for the Calypso-like Blumine in his novel Sartor Resartus.
On 21 November 1829, Kitty married James Winslowe Phillipps (1802-1859), an army officer in the 7th Hussars Regiment, and a member of the Kennaway family, which also had Indian connections. It was evidently a happy marriage, Kirkpatrick and Phillipps went on to have seven children, of whom four survived to adulthood.

 

- "... a strangely complexioned young lady, with soft brown eyes and floods of bronze-red hair, really a pretty-looking, smiling, and amiable though most foreign bit of magnificence and kindly splendour. — Thomas Carlyle, Reminiscences" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Kirkpatrick

- "... and below her ‘topi’ is a hint of the red hair that would be much admired in the years to come." https://www.pakistanlink.org//Opinion/2006/Jan06/13/03.HTM

 

Portrait of Kitty and her brother William, by George Chinnery

 

 

 

1339) Lady Sybil Grant

Lady Sybil Myra Caroline Grant (née Primrose; 1879 – 1955). British writer and artist. She was the eldest child of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery and his wife Hannah de Rothschild (granddaughter of Nathan Meyer von Rothschild).

- "Lees-Milne satirically caricatured the connection between Lady Sybil’s red hair and her abode, noting her ‘orange bonnet, draped with an orange scarf… orange hair’..."  https://attinghamparkmansion.wordpress.com/…/lady-sybil-gr…/

1338) Olga Rudge

Olga Rudge (1895 – 1996). American-born concert violinist, now mainly remembered as the long-time mistress of the poet Ezra Pound, by whom she had a daughter, Mary.
A gifted concert violinist of international repute, her considerable talents and reputation were eventually eclipsed by those of her lover, in whose shade she appeared content to remain. In return, Pound was more loyal, not to say faithful, to her than to any of his many other mistresses. He dedicated the final stanza of his epic The Cantos to her, in homage and gratitude for her courageous and loyal support of Pound during his 13-year incarceration in a mental hospital after having been indicted for treasonous activities against the United States and in support of Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. She also defended Pound against the accusation that he was anti-Semitic. During the last 11 years of Pound's life, Rudge was his devoted companion, secretary, and nurse, as he sank into eccentricity and prolonged silences.

- "In his dry acidulous manner, Montale replied "Sporco" and then launched into a long story about the American poet's "red-haired mistress"... https://www.independent.co.uk/…/obituary-olga-rudge-5622850…

- Line from a poem written by Pound to Olga: "... her red head a flask of perfume." https://publicism.info/biography/ezra_pound/21.html

1337) Larry Fine

Louis Feinberg (1902 – 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine. American actor, comedian, violinist, and boxer, who is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges, along with Moe, Shemp and Curly Howard.

- "While it’s hard enough getting through life as a Jew, he was also a ginger."  https://jewfros.wordpress.com/…/larry-fine-half-a-ginger-j…/

-" The Howard brothers, those two masters of mayhem, who teamed with brother Moe and red-headed Larry Fine..."  https://www.latimes.com/…/la-xpm-1992-11-22-vw-2429-story.h…

- "Fine was easily recognized in the Stooge features by his hairdo, bald on top with much thick, bushy, curly red hair around the sides and back; Moe called him "Porcupine".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Fine

1336) Curly Howard

Jerome Lester Horwitz (1903 – 1952), known professionally as Curly Howard. American vaudevillian actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of the American farce comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his elder brothers Moe and Shemp Howard and actor Larry Fine. Curly Howard was generally considered the most popular and recognizable of the Stooges. He was well known for his high-pitched voice and vocal expressions ("nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!", "woob-woob-woob!", "soitenly!" [certainly], and barking like a dog), as well as his physical comedy (e.g., falling on the ground and pivoting on his shoulder as he "walked" in circular motion), improvisations, and athleticism.
Howard was forced to leave the Three Stooges act in May 1946 when a massive stroke ended his show-business career. He suffered through serious health problems and several more strokes until his death in 1952 at age 48.

- "His condition, however, was that the newest Stooge shave off his thick red hair and handlebar mustache, which inspired his stage name, and thus the rotund Curly appears in all the trio's productions with a shaved head or his hair closely cropped."  https://translate.google.it/translate…

- "However, Healy felt that Curly, with his thick, chestnut-red hair and elegant waxed mustache, did not look like a funny character."  https://stooges.fandom.com/wiki/Curly_Howard

 - "Jerome, who went by Jerry, had brownish-red hair and a handlebar mustache, and Healy didn't think people would laugh at him."  https://www.grunge.com/…/the-tragic-real-life-story-of-the…/

- "Healy took one look at Jerry, who had long red locks and facial hair, and decided he did not have the look that Moe and Larry had."  https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cul…/…/Fine__Larry

1335) Willis H. O'Brien

Willis Harold O'Brien (1886 – 1962). American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," and is best remembered for his work on The Lost World (1925), King Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949), for which he won the 1950 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

- "The young Willis, red-haired and blue-eyed, the fourth of six children..."  https://books.google.it/books…

1334) Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford

Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, (1753 – 1814). American-born British physicist and inventor, whose challenges to established physical theory were part of the 19th-century revolution in thermodynamics. He served as lieutenant-colonel of the King's American Dragoons, part of the British Loyalist forces, during the American Revolutionary War. After the end of the war he moved to London, where his administrative talents were recognized when he was appointed a full colonel, and in 1784 he received a knighthood from King George III. A prolific designer, Thompson also drew designs for warships. He later moved to Bavaria and entered government service there, being appointed Bavarian Army Minister and re-organizing the army, and, in 1791, was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire.

Thompson was an active and prolific inventor, developing improvements for chimneys, fireplaces and industrial furnaces, as well as inventing the double boiler, a kitchen range, and a drip coffeepot. He invented a percolating coffee pot following his pioneering work with the Bavarian Army, where he improved the diet of the soldiers as well as their clothes.
The Rumford fireplace created a sensation in London when he introduced the idea of restricting the chimney opening to increase the updraught, which was a much more efficient way to heat a room than earlier fireplaces. He and his workers modified fireplaces by inserting bricks into the hearth to make the side walls angled, and added a choke to the chimney to increase the speed of air going up the flue. The effect was to produce a streamlined air flow, so all the smoke would go up into the chimney rather than lingering, entering the room, and often choking the residents. It also had the effect of increasing the efficiency of the fire, and gave extra control of the rate of combustion of the fuel, whether wood or coal. Many fashionable London houses were modified to his instructions, and became smoke-free.
Thompson became a celebrity when news of his success spread. His work was also very profitable, and much imitated when he published his analysis of the way chimneys worked. In many ways, he was similar to Benjamin Franklin, who also invented a new kind of heating stove.
The retention of heat was a recurring theme in his work, as he is also credited with the invention of thermal underwear.

In 1804, he married Marie-Anne Lavoisier, the widow of the great French chemist Antoine Lavoisier.

- "A handsome, red-headed, pearly toothed individual..."  https://books.google.it/books…

- "The child has a striking similarity to Benjamin Thompson - red hair, blue eyes, and crested eyebrows."  https://books.google.it/books…