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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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General Wolfe
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(James Wolfe, 1726–59) Soldier whose capture of Quebec in 1759 led to the ceding of Canada to Britain at the end of the *Seven Years' War, and whose death at the moment of victory was the most poignant scene in Britain's annals of war until eclipsed by that of Nelson at *Trafalgar. He was already weak from tuberculosis when he led his men up a wooded cliff during the night of September 12 to reach the Heights of Abraham, just outside the city of *Quebec, where a successful engagement was fought the following day. Wolfe was wounded three times before dying on the battlefield. The house in which he grew up, at Westerham in Kent, is known now as Quebec House and is kept as a museum.
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