a municipal and parliamentary borough and seaport-town of England, capital of Lancashire, on the left bank of the Lune, about 7 miles from its mouth in Lancaster Bay. The town stands on the slope of a hill, on the summit of which is a fine old castle originally built in the eleventh century, but rebuilt in the reign of Edward III., by John of Gaunt, and now used as the county gaol. The county courts attached to this building are chiefly of a modern date, and are very commodious. On the north side of the castle stands St. Mary's Church, an edifice in the later English style, containing carved stalls, screen, and monuments. Though the town is finely situated, the streets are generally narrow, ill-paved, and inconvenient. The houses are generally well built, the material being obtained from the freestone quarries in the vicinity. Among the public buildings are a town-hall, lunatic asylum, theatre, assembly-rooms, public baths, custom-house, several almshouses, and a free grammar school. The Lune is here crossed by a handsome stone bridge of five arches. The river is navigable for vessels of 300 tons up to the town. About half a mile N.E. of the town the Lancaster Canal is conducted over the Lune by means of a noble aqueduct erected by Rennie at a cost of £48,000. The Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway, forming a portion of the great north-western line stretching from London to Carlisle, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, passes through the town. Manufactures of cotton, silk, linen, and sailcloth; cabinet-making and upholstery and ship-building; marble-polishing works and iron foundries are carried on. On 31st December 1855, 88 sailing vessels of 8996 tons, and 9 steamers of 1148 tons, were registered as belonging to the port. During that year 1719 vessels of 127,443 tons entered, and 780 vessels of 78,475 tons left the port in the coasting trade; while 13 vessels of 3709 tons entered, and 8 vessels of 2751 tons left in the colonial and foreign trade. Lancaster is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors; and returns two members to parliament. Pop. of parliamentary borough (1851), 16,168; municipal borough, 14,604.

a town of the United States of North America, capital of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, is situate near the right bank of Conestoga Creek, an affluent of the Susquehanna, 70 miles W. of Philadelphia by railway. It is one of the oldest towns of the state, and was capital of Pennsylvania from 1799 to 1812, when the government was transferred to Harrisburg, the present capital. Its streets are regularly laid out, and the houses are substantial and commodious edifices, mostly of brick. The chief public buildings are—the county prison, the new court-house, an elegant edifice in the Grecian style, and Fulton Hall, for public meetings and assemblies. Franklin College, which was founded here in 1787, but afterwards declined, has been recently united with Marshall College of Mercersburg, and a building called Franklin and Marshall College has been erected.

The cotton manufacture is carried on with much success here, as well as that of rifles, carriages, and threshing machines. The population is, for the most part, of German origin. Lancaster is well supplied with churches and schools, and public libraries. It has 16 churches, 5 being Lutheran and German Reformed, 2 Roman Catholic, 2 Presbyterian, 2 Methodist, and the rest belonging to smaller sects. Lancaster was founded in 1730, and incorporated as a city in 1818. Pop. (1840) 8417; (1850) 12,369; (1864) about 14,000.

a town of the United States of North America, capital of Fairfield county, Ohio, is situate on both sides of the Hocking River, an affluent of the Ohio, 30 miles S.E. of Columbus. It stands in a beautiful and fertile valley, through which the Hocking and Ohio Canal passes. The town is well built, and contains several churches, while it is connected by railway and canal with the principal towns of the district. In the neighbourhood is a natural pyramid of sandstone. Lancaster was founded in 1800. Pop. (1850) 3480; (1854) about 5000.

Sir James, an English seaman of the Elizabethan era, noted as the commander of the first expedition sent out by the East India Company in 1600–1603; besides accomplishing all that he was sent out to do, he opened Lancaster, commercial negotiations between his employers and some of the petty princes of Java and Sumatra. During his voyage he learned enough about the north-west passage to feel assured of its practicability. When he reached home he urged the matter so strongly that expeditions were sent out under Weymouth, Hudson, and other experienced navigators. The secret was not destined to be unriddled for two centuries and a half later; but Basil, one of those who advanced farthest N., gave the name of Lancaster Sound to a strait which has now been found to communicate with the Arctic Ocean. Had the explorers pushed their way through this sound they would have solved the mystery of the north-west passage. Lancaster's services were acknowledged with the title of knighthood. He died in 1620.

The history of his discoveries is given in vol. iii. of Hakluyt's Voyages, and vol. i. of Purchas' Pilgrims.

Lancaster, Joseph, an educational reformer of much note, was the son of a retired private in the Foot Guards, and was born at London in 1778. When a mere lad he opened a school, on the principle of mutual instruction, for poor children, in the wretched purlieus of Southwark. Before he was twenty-three he had more than 300 pupils, who, according to his system, were taught for almost nothing. His pamphlet on the Amelioration of Education had an immense success, and brought him under the notice of the Duke of Bedford, and finally of George III., whose encouragement gave a great impulse to the establishment of Lancastrian schools throughout the country. Extending his views, Lancaster set out in 1807 on a tour through the chief towns of England and Scotland. He was a devoted member of the Society of Friends; and the Anglican clergy, finding that he admitted children of every sect into his schools, began to cry out that the church was in danger, and opposed him with all their might. Lancaster was imprudent; his imprudence resulted in his ruin in Great Britain, and in 1818 he set off to try his fortunes in the new world. He was at first well received, but his zeal again outran his judgment, and in 1829 he emigrated to Canada. The Canadian parliament awarded him some small grants, with a view to giving his experiments fair play. Ill luck again attended him, and he was only saved from great distress by some kind friends, who purchased a small annuity for him. Retiring to New York, he died there in very reduced circumstances, October 24, 1838. Lancaster was the author of several small elementary text-books and pamphlets, in which he advocated his views of education. Whatever be the value of Lancaster's system of instruction, it must cheerfully be confessed that his labours gave a powerful stimulus to the education of the lower classes in England, where numerous schools on his plan still exist.