FALK, PAUL LUDWIG ADALBERT (1827–1900), German politician, was born at Matschkau, Silesia, on the 10th of August 1827. In 1847 he entered the Prussian state service, and in 1853 became public prosecutor at Lyck. In 1858 he was elected a deputy, joining the Old Liberal party. In 1868 he became a privy-councillor in the ministry of justice. In 1872 he was made minister of education, and in connexion with Bismarck’s policy of the Kultur-kampf he was responsible for the famous May Laws against the Catholics (see Germany: History). In 1879 his position became untenable, owing to the death of Pius IX. and the change of German policy with regard to the Vatican, and he resigned his office, but retained his seat in the Reichstag till 1882. He was then made president of the supreme court of justice at Hamm, where he died in 1900.
FALKE, JOHANN FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB (1823–1876),
German historian, was born at Ratzeburg on the 20th of April
1823. Entering the university of Erlangen in 1843, he soon
began to devote his attention to the history of the German
language and literature, and in 1848 went to Munich, where he
remained five years, and diligently availed himself of the use
of the government library for the purpose of prosecuting his
historical studies. In 1856 he was appointed secretary of the
German museum at Nuremberg, and in 1859 keeper of the manuscripts.
With the aid of the manuscript collections in the
museum he now turned his attention chiefly to political history,
and, with Johann H. Müller, established an historical journal
under the name of Zeitschrift für deutsche Kulturgeschichte (4 vols.,
Nuremberg, 1856–1859). To this journal he contributed a history
of German taxation and commerce. On the latter subject he
published separately Geschichte des deutschen Handels (2 vols.,
Leipzig, 1850–1860) and Die Hansa als deutsche See- und Handelsmacht
(Berlin, 1862). In 1862 he was appointed secretary of the
state archives at Dresden, and, a little later, keeper. He there
began the study of Saxon history, still devoting his attention
chiefly to the history of commerce and economy, and published
Die Geschichte des Kurfürsten August von Sachsen in volkswirthschaftlicher
Beziehung (Leipzig, 1868) and Geschichte des
deutschen Zollwesens (Leipzig, 1869). He died at Dresden on the
2nd of March 1876.
FALKIRK, a municipal and police burgh of Stirlingshire,
Scotland. Pop. (1891) 19,769; (1901) 29,280. It is situated
on high ground overlooking the fertile Carse of Falkirk, 11 m.
S.E. of Stirling, and about midway between Edinburgh and
Glasgow. Grangemouth, its port, lies 3 m. to the N.E., and the
Forth & Clyde Canal passes to the north, and the Union Canal
to the south of the town. Falkirk now comprises the suburbs
of Laurieston (E.), Grahamston and Bainsford (N.), and Camelon
(W.). The principal structures include the burgh and county
buildings, town hall, the Dollar free library and Camelon fever
hospital. The present church, with a steeple 146 ft. high, dates
only from 1811. In the churchyard are buried Sir John Graham,
Sir John Stewart who fell in the battle of 1298, and Sir Robert
Munro and his brother, Dr Duncan Munro, killed in the battle
of 1746. The town is under the control of a council with provost
and bailies, and combines with Airdrie, Hamilton, Lanark and
Linlithgow (the Falkirk group of burghs) to return a member to
parliament. The district is rich in coal and iron, which supply
the predominant industries, Falkirk being the chief seat of the
light casting trade in Scotland; but tanning, flour-milling,
brewing, distilling and the manufacture of explosives (Nobel’s)
and chemicals are also carried on. Trysts or sales of cattle,
sheep and horses are held thrice a year (August, September and
October) on Stenhousemuir, 3 m. N.W. They were transferred
hither from Crieff in 1770, and were formerly the most important
in the kingdom, but have to a great extent been replaced by
the local weekly auction marts. Carron, 2 m. N.N.W., is famous
for the iron-works established in 1760 by Dr John Roebuck
(1718–1794), whose advising engineers were successively John
Smeaton and James Watt. The short iron guns of large calibre
designed by General Robert Melville, and first cast in 1779,
were called carronades from this their place of manufacture.
Falkirk is a town of considerable antiquity. Its original name was the Gaelic Eaglais breac, “church of speckled or mottled stone,” which Simeon of Durham (fl. 1130) transliterated as Egglesbreth. By the end of the 13th century appears the form Faukirke (the present local pronunciation), which is merely a translation of the Gaelic fau or faw, meaning “dun,” “pale red.” The first church was built by Malcolm Canmore (d. 1093). Falkirk was made a burgh of barony in 1600 and a burgh of regality in 1646, but on the forfeiture of the earl of Linlithgow in 1715, its superiority was vested in the crown. Callender House, immediately to the S., was the seat of the earl and his ancestors. The mansion was visited by Queen Mary, captured by Cromwell, and occupied by Generals Monk and Hawley. The wall of Antoninus ran through, the grounds, and the district is rich in Roman remains, Camelon, about 2 m. W., being the site of a Roman settlement; Merchiston Hall, to the N.W., was the birthplace of Admiral Sir Charles Napier. The eastern suburb of Laurieston was first called Langtoune, then Merchistown, and received its present name after Sir Lawrence Dundas of Kerse, who had promoted its welfare. At Polmont, farther east, which gives the title of baron to the duke of Hamilton, is the school of Blair Lodge, besides coal-mines and other industries.
Batttles of Falkirk.—The battle of the 22nd of July 1298 was fought between the forces of King Edward I. of England and those of the Scottish national party under Sir William Wallace. The latter, after long baffling the king’s attempts to bring him to battle, had taken up a strong position south of the town behind a morass. They were formed in four deep and close masses (“schiltrons”) of pikemen, the light troops screening the front and flanks and a body of men-at-arms standing in reserve. It was perhaps hoped that the English cavalry would plunge into the morass, for no serious precautions were taken as to the flanks, but in any case Wallace desired no more than to receive an attack at the halt, trusting wholly to his massed pikes. The English right wing first appeared, tried the morass in vain, and then set out to turn it by a long détour; the main battle under the king halted in front of it, while the left wing under Antony Bec, bishop of Durham, was able to reach the head of the marsh without much delay. Once on the enemy’s side of the obstacle the bishop halted to wait for Edward, who was now following him, but his undisciplined barons, shouting “’Tis not for thee, bishop, to teach us war. Go say mass!” drove off the Scottish archers and men-at-arms and charged the nearest square of pikes, which repulsed them with heavy losses. On the other flank the right wing, its flank march completed, charged with the same result. But Edward, who had now joined the bishop with the centre or “main battle,” peremptorily ordered the cavalry to stand fast, and, taught by his experience in the Welsh wars, brought up his archers. The longbow here scored its first victory in a pitched battle. Before long gaps appeared in the close ranks of pike heads, and after sufficient preparation Edward again launched his men-at-arms to the charge. The shaken masses then gave way one after the other, and the Scots fled in all directions.
The second battle of Falkirk, fought on the 17th of January 1746 between the Highlanders under Prince Charles and the British forces under General Hawley, resulted in the defeat of the latter. It is remarkable only for the bad conduct of the British dragoons and the steadiness of the infantry. Hawley retreated to Linlithgow, leaving all his baggage, 700 prisoners and seven guns in the enemy’s hands.
FALKLAND, LUCIUS CARY, 2nd Viscount (c. 1610–1643),
son of Sir Henry Cary, afterwards 1st Viscount Falkland (d.
1633), a member of an ancient Devonshire family, who was lord
deputy of Ireland from 1622 to 1629, and of Elizabeth (1585–1639),
only daughter of Sir Lawrence Tanfield, chief baron of
the exchequer, was born either in 1609 or 1610, and was educated
at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1625 he inherited from his
grandfather the manors of Great Tew and Burford in Oxfordshire,
and, about the age of 21, married Lettice, daughter of
Sir Richard Morrison, of Tooley Park in Leicestershire. Involved
in a quarrel with his father, whom he failed to propitiate by
