8 Historical Figures That Deserve To Be Remembered

You might associate history with dusty old books or classrooms filled with the endless droning of a miserable and tediously boring teacher, but the simple scope of it all means that there are countless figures that you may not have heard of. Even if you have, you might never have learned the full extent of their heroism, badassery, or set of proverbial brass testicles.

History is filled to the brim with larger than life characters. Many of them are remembered in myths, legends and folklore, and fictionalised versions of many have been portrayed in film and TV. Often, stories of these incredible individuals end up watered down or twisted, and every so often, they pass into obscurity, or are even forgotten altogether. We all know who Blackbeard was, and we've all heard of Genghis Khan, but what about the men who stood behind and beside them? What about those who ended up as footnotes in history simply because they were female? There are even many people in living memory that simply don't get the recognition they deserve.

These are eight of those figures, each of which deserves to be remembered and immortalised for their incredible actions, skills and deeds.

Benjamin Hornigold was born in 1680.

He began his life of piracy in 1713, when he began attacking merchant ships in the Bahamas. He would use canoes, turning a profit by attacking much larger vessels. He helped establish the 'Republic of Pirates' in Nassau, and it was around this time that he met Edward Teach, more famously known by the name of Blackbeard, who he took under his wing as his second-in-command.

Hornigold refused to attack British ships, believing that this would give him grounds to claim he was operating as a privateer. By 1716, his crew grew bored of this, and they mutinied. He returned to Nassau with his most loyal followers in tow, Blackbeard among them.

In 1717, word spread of the King's pardon. Hornigold decided to take it, receiving his pardon in 1718. He quickly turned from pirate to pirate hunter.

Hornigold spent the next year and half hunting his former friends and associates across the Bahamas. He achieved some success, although notably less than the success he had enjoyed in his days of piracy. At the height of his career, his pirate gang had numbered over 200 men; now he was hunting down his down former allies.

Hornigold obtained a commission from Rogers in 1719, and sailed out against the Spanish. He was soon captured, and was never heard from again.

Although it seems that Hornigold's loyalties were been fickle, he achieved a great amount in his time as a pirate. He also played mentor to Blackbeard, as well as founding the infamous 'Republic of Pirates'. His later decision to take the King's pardon may seem like a betrayal of his former allies, but it seems that his lack of any notable captures points to one simple fact: Hornigold had always been a better pirate than pirate hunter.