OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Regenbald

​REGENBALD (fl. 1065), chancellor of Edward the Confessor, has been deemed the first English chancellor on record. But on Leofric (d. 1072) [q. v.] becoming bishop of Crediton (Exeter) in 1046, Florence of Worcester styles Leofric ‘cancellarius regis.’ The earliest appearance of Regenbald is as ‘Ræinbaldus presbyter,’ a witness to Edward's Exeter charter (Cod. Dipl. No. 791) in 1050, but Kemble questioned its authenticity. He witnesses as ‘cancellarius’ a royal charter of 1062 (ib. No. 813), and as ‘Rengebold cancheler’ a writ of Edward after 1052 (ib. No. 891). Charters of 1060 (Ramsey Cart. fol. 139), 1061, and 1066, which he witnesses (Cod. Dipl. Nos. 810, 824, 825), are doubtful. Mr. Freeman pronounced him a ‘Norman’ (Norm. Conq. ii. 357), but without authority. A charter of Edward to him as ‘Reinbold min preost’ is printed in ‘Archæologia’ (xxvi. 256), and confirms to him sac and soc, which his predecessors enjoyed. With it are printed two charters of King William, who also styles him ‘my priest,’ confirming him in his lands and granting him fresh ones.
In Domesday he is found in several counties, both as a tenant-in-chief and as an under-tenant. In the former capacity he held in Gloucestershire lands at Ampton, Driffield, Northcote, and Preston, in Dorset at Pulham, in Wiltshire at Latton, in Berkshire at Cookham, Hagborne, and Aston, and in Buckinghamshire at Boveney. He also held the church of Frome, Somerset, with its estates, and land at Bodicote, Oxfordshire. He seems also to have held the church of Milborne, Somerset, with Frome, as well as that of Cheltenham. The ‘Survey’ also enters him—styling him ‘Reinbaldus Canceler’—as having held an estate in Herefordshire under the Confessor. Domesday also mentions his brother as holding Ampney St. Peter, under Gloucester Abbey; and Mr. Ellis (Domesday Tenants of Gloucestershire, p. 111) has well suggested that Elward Reinbaldson, who held land at Aldsworth in 1086, was his son. Henry I endowed Cirencester Abbey with ‘the lands of Reinbald the priest’ (Mon. Angl. ii. 177), and Leland states that he was dean of the College of Prebendaries it replaced (Itinerary, ii. 49), and that his epitaph there ran ‘Hic jacet Rembaldus presbyter quondam hujus ecclesiæ decanus et tempore Edwardi Regis Anglie cancellarius.’ This story is supported by his being once styled in Domesday ‘Reinbaldus de Cirecestre’ (i. 63). The charter of Henry I (ut supra) is valuable for its list of his possessions. He probably held, besides his estates, ‘sixteen churches, rich in tithes and glebe’ (Feudal England, p. 426).
J. H. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Talbot, Gilbert de

​TALBOT, GILBERT de, first Baron Talbot (1277?–1346), was born about 1277, being the eldest son of Richard de Talbot, the lord of certain manors in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. His mother Sarah was a younger daughter of William Beauchamp, earl of Warwick. Talbot took part in Edward I's expedition into Scotland in 1293, and succeeded to his father's lands in 34 Edward I (1305–6). As a tenant of Earl Thomas of Lancaster [q. v.], and as a kinsman, through his mother, of the Earl of Warwick, he was among those who found it necessary to obtain a pardon for their share in the death of Gaveston (Parl. Writs, ii. 68). He took part, as a follower of William de la Zouche, in the expedition against Scotland in 1319. Early in 1322 he was among the barons who were in arms against the Despensers, and attacked and burnt Bridgenorth (ib. ii. 174–5). On Edward II's approach he and the others fled northwards to Thomas, earl of Lancaster (Murimuth, p. 36). He was captured at Boroughbridge on 17 March, but was allowed to purchase his pardon by a fine of 2,000l. and a promise of one tun of wine annually to the king (Parl. Writs, ii. 213). On 10 Oct. he was empowered to pursue and arrest Robert le Ewer and his accomplices ​in the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford (ib. ii. 220). As a further condition of his pardon, he was summoned in 1325 to do military service in Guienne (ib. i. 692). After the dethronement of Edward II he appears as chamberlain (23 Aug. 1327, Cal. Pat. Rolls, p. 159), and accompanied Edward III on his voyage to do homage for his French possessions in May 1329 (ib. p. 390). On 23 Oct. 1330 he was appointed justice of South Wales (Cal. Pat. Rolls, p. 10). On 5 Oct. 1333 he was appointed to a like office in the bishopric of St. David (ib. p. 468). He seems to have held the former office until his death, and was on 13 July 1337 appointed captain of the men raised for the wars in South Wales along with Hugh le Despenser (Rymer, II. ii. 985). He was summoned to parliament from the fourth to the eighteenth year of Edward III, and died in 1346. By his wife Anne, daughter of William Boteler, Talbot was father of Richard de Talbot, second baron Talbot [q. v.]
W. E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Talbot, James

​TALBOT, JAMES, first Baron Talbot de Malahide in the peerage of the United Kingdom (1805–1883), born at Tiverton on 22 Nov. 1805, was the son of James Talbot, third baron Talbot de Malahide in the Irish peerage (1767?–1850), who married, on 26 Dec. 1804, Anne Sarah (d. 1857), second daughter and coheiress of Samuel Rodbard of Evercreech House, Somerset. His grandmother Margaret (d. 1834) was created Baroness Talbot de Malahide in 1831 [see Talbot, Sir John (1769?–1851)].
James entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1823, and graduated B.A. in 1827 and M.A. in 1830. After an extended tour in southern and eastern Europe, he repaired to Ireland, where his family influence lay, and was in 1832 chosen M.P. for Athlone; but O'Connell's influence rendered it impossible for him to contest the election in 1835. He succeeded to the Irish peerage upon his father's death in 1850, and on 19 Nov. 1856, upon the instance of Lord Palmerston, he was advanced to a peerage of the United Kingdom. Through the same influence he held the post of lord-in-waiting from 1863 to 1866. In the House of Lords he generally spoke upon measures of social reform, such as the acts to prevent the adulteration of food (1855–60), and in 1858 his archæological interests led him to introduce a bill respecting treasure-trove (based upon a similar measure in force in Denmark), by the provisions of which, upon the finder of any archæological remains of substantial value depositing the same before a justice of the peace, machinery was provided for a valuation, with a view to purchase by the state, if deemed desirable, for the national collections, the full value to be remitted to the finder. But owing to the difficulties raised by the treasury the bill was only read a first time on 5 July 1858. Lord Talbot was an active member of the Royal Archæological Institute from 1845, and he filled the office of president with energy from 1863 until his death. His special interest lay in the direction of Roman and Irish antiquities. He formed a collection of Irish gold ornaments and enamels, some specimens of which he presented to the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. Among his later memoirs were one upon the circular temple of Baalbeck, and another upon the antiquities, and especially upon the epigraphy, of Algeria (1882). He gave help and encouragement to John O'Donovan [q. v.] in his Celtic studies, and he collected extensive materials for a monograph upon the Talbots. His own estate and castle of Malahide, co. Dublin, had been in the family's hands since the Irish conquest. His reputation as an archæologist procured his election as F.R.S. (18 Feb. 1858) and F.S.A. He was also president of ​the Royal Irish Academy and of the Anthropological Society, and a member of numerous other learned bodies. He died at Funchal, Madeira, on 14 April 1883. He married, on 9 Aug. 1842, Maria Margaretta (d. 1873), youngest daughter and coheir of Patrick Murray of Simprim, and was succeeded in the peerage by his eldest son, Richard Wogan Talbot.
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/MacDonell, Hugh Guion

​MACDONELL, Sir HUGH GUION (1832–1904), soldier and diplomatist, was second son of Hugh MacDonell, who as British consul-general at Algiers rendered important services, and with his second wife, daughter of Admiral Ulrich, the Danish consul-general, went through a period of great personal suffering and danger during Lord Exmouth's mission and the bombardment of the town in 1816. Owing to subsequent protests of the Dey against the elder MacDonell's continuance in the office of consul-general, he was pensioned off, and retired to Florence, where his son, Hugh Guion, was born on 5 March 1832, being one of a family of two sons and six daughters. His elder brother. General Sir Alexander F. MacDonell, died in 1891. His eldest sister, married to the Marquis de la Marismas, was Dame du Palais to the Empress Eugenie and died in 1908.
Hugh was educated for the army at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He joined the rifle brigade in 1849, and served for three years in British Kaffraria. He retired from the army on 11 March 1853, and entered the diplomatic service in the following year, becoming attache at Florence. He was promoted to be paid attache at Constantinople in December 1858, and served there till 1866, when he was transferred to Copenhagen. In 1869 he was appointed secretary of legation at Buenos Ayres, was transferred to Madrid in 1872, and after three years of service there was promoted to be secretary of embassy at Berlin (1875–8) and subsequently at Rome (1878–82). After serving as chargé d'affaires at Munich from 1882 to 1885, he held in succession the appointments of British envoy at Rio (1885-8), at Copenhagen (1888–93), and at Lisbon (1893-1902). The outbreak of war between Great Britain and the two South African republics in October 1899 raised some very difficult and delicate questions between this country and Portugal, whose port at Lourenço Marques was directly connected with the Transvaal by rail and afforded the principal, if not the only, channel for supplies and external communications when access through the British colonies had been closed. MacDonell's management of the discussions which he had to conduct on these subjects was perfectly tactful and conciliatory, and contributed in no small degree to the maintenance of cordial relations.
His services were recognised by the distinction of C.M.G. in 1889; C.B. in 1890; K.C.M.G. in 1892; and G.C.M.G. in 1899. On his retirement in 1902 he was made a privy councillor, and died in London on 25 Jan. 1904. MacDonell married in July 1870, while at Buenos Aires, Anne, daughter of Edward Lumb, of Wallington Lodge, Surrey, by whom he had four sons and one daughter.
[The Times, 26 Jan. 1904; Foreign Office List, 1905, p. 268; The Scourge of Christendom, by Lieut.-col. Playfair, pp. 249-305.]
S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thelwall, Eubule

1904 Errata appended.
​THELWALL, Sir EUBULE (1562–1630), principal of Jesus College, Oxford, fifth son of John Thelwall of Bathafarn, near Ruthin, and Jane, his wife, was born in 1562. He was educated in Westminster school, whence he was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1572 (Welch, Alumni Westmon. p. 50), graduating B.A. in 1576–7. On 14 July 1579 he was incorporated at Oxford, where he graduated M.A. on 13 June 1580. He was admitted student at Gray's Inn on 20 July 1590 (Foster, Reg. Gray's Inn, p. 75); he was called to the bar in 1599, and became treasurer of the inn in 1625. He was appointed a master in chancery in 1617, was knighted on 29 June 1619, and represented the county of Denbigh in the parliaments of 1624–5, 1626, and 1628–9. In 1621 he was elected principal of Jesus College, Oxford, an office he held until his death. So ample were his benefactions to the college that he has been styled its second founder; he spent upon the hall, the decoration of the chapel, and other buildings a sum of 5,000l. He also obtained a new charter for the college from James I in 1622. In 1624 the king employed him to assist in framing statutes for Pembroke College, Oxford (Macleane, Hist. Pembroke Coll. 1897, pp. 183–5). He died unmarried on 8 Oct. 1630, and was buried in the college chapel, where there is a monument to him, erected by his brother Sir Bevis Thelwall. He gave to his nephew John the house he had built himself at Plas Coch in the parish of Llanychan, Denbighshire. There is a portrait of him as a child, in Jesus College.
J. E. L.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.263 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 110 | i | 14 f.e. | Thelwall, Eubule: for Eubule read Sir Eubule |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thane, John

​THANE, JOHN (1748–1818), printseller and engraver, born in 1748, carried on business for many years in Soho, London, and became famous for his expert knowledge of pictures, coins, and every species of vertu. He was a friend of the antiquary Joseph Strutt, who at one period resided in his family. He collected the works of Thomas Snelling [q. v.], the medallic antiquary, and published them with an excellent portrait drawn and engraved by himself. On Dr. John Fothergill's death in 1780 his fine collection of engraved portraits were sold to Thane, who cut up the volumes and disposed of the contents to the principal collectors of British portraits at that time. Thane was the projector and editor of ‘British Autography: a Collection of Facsimiles of the Handwriting of Royal and Illustrious Personages, with their Authentic Portraits,’ London (1793 &c.), 3 vols. 4to. A supplement to this work was published by Edward Daniell, London [1854], 4to, with a fine portrait of Thane prefixed, engraved by John Ogborne, from a portrait by William Redmore Bigg. Thane died in 1818. His portraits were sold in May 1819.
[Evans's Cat. of Engraved Portraits, No. 22033; Nichols's Illustr. of Lit. v. 436–7; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ii. 160, iii. 620, 664, v. 668, ix. 740.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Theakston, Joseph

​THEAKSTON, JOSEPH (1772–1842), sculptor, born in 1772 at York, was the son of respectable parents. In sculpture he was a pupil of John Bacon (1740–1799) [q. v.], and formed himself on his style. He also studied several years under John Flaxman [q. v.] and with Edward Hodges Baily [q. v.], but for the last twenty-four years of his life he was employed by Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey [q. v.] to carve the draperies and other accessories of that artist's statues and groups. Theakston was the ablest ornamental carver of his time. Although he appeared to work slowly, he was so accurate that he seldom needed to retouch his figures. Besides aiding Chantry, he produced some busts and monumental work of his own, and exhibited occasionally at the Royal Academy from 1817 to 1837. He died at Belgrave Place on 14 April 1842, and was buried by the side of his wife at Kensal Green.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thellusson, Peter

​THELLUSSON, PETER (1737–1797), merchant, born in Paris on 27 June 1737, was the third son of Isaac de Thellusson (1690–1770), resident envoy of Geneva at the court of France, by his wife Sarah, daughter of Abraham le Boullen. The family of Thellusson was of French origin, but took refuge at Geneva after the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572. Isaac's second son, George, founded a banking house in Paris, in which Necker, the financier, commenced his career as a clerk, and in which he afterwards became junior partner. Peter Thellusson came to England in 1762, was naturalised by act of parliament in the same year, and established his head office in Philpot Lane, London. Originally he acted as agent for Messrs. Vandenyver et Cie, of Amsterdam and Paris, and other great commercial houses of Paris. Afterwards engaging in business on his own account, he traded chiefly with the West Indies, where he acquired large estates. He eventually amassed a considerable fortune, and, among other landed property, purchased the estate of Brodsworth in Yorkshire. He died on 21 July 1797 at his seat at Plaistow, near Bromley in Kent. On 6 Jan. 1761 he married Ann, second daughter of Matthew Woodford of Southampton, by whom he had three sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Peter Isaac Thellusson (1761–1808), was on 1 Feb. 1806 created Baron Rendlesham in the Irish peerage.
By his will, dated 2 April 1796, Thellusson left 100,000l. to his wife and children. The remainder of his fortune, valued at 600,000l. or 800,000l., he assigned to trustees to accumulate during the lives of his sons and sons' sons, and of their issue existing at the time of his death. On the death of the last survivor the estate was to be ​divided equally among the ‘eldest male lineal descendants of his three sons then living.’ If there were no heir, the property was to go to the extinction of the national debt. At the time of Thellusson's death he had no great-grandchildren, and in consequence the trust was limited to the life of two generations. The will was generally stigmatised as absurd, and the family endeavoured to get it set aside. On 20 April 1799 the lord chancellor, Alexander Wedderburn, lord Loughborough [q. v.], pronounced the will valid, and his decision was confirmed by the House of Lords on 25 June 1805. As it was calculated that the accumulation might reach 140,000,000l., the will was regarded by some as a peril to the country, and an act was passed in 1800 prohibiting similar schemes of bequest. A second lawsuit as to the actual heirs arose in 1856, when Charles Thellusson, the last grandson, died at Brighton on 25 Feb. It was decided in the House of Lords on 9 June 1859. As George Woodford, Peter's second son, had no issue, the estate was divided between Frederick William Brook Thellusson, lord Rendlesham, and Charles Sabine Augustus Thellusson, grandson of Charles Thellusson, the third son of Peter. In consequence of mismanagement and the costs of litigation, they succeeded to only a comparatively moderate fortune.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thayre, Thomas

​THAYRE, THOMAS (fl. 1603–1625), medical writer, describes himself as a ‘chirurgian’ in July 1603; but as his name does not occur among the members of the Barber-Surgeons' Company, and as he uses no such description in 1625, he was probably one of the numerous irregular practitioners of the period, and no sworn surgeon. He published in London in 1603 a ‘Treatise of the Pestilence,’ dedicated to Sir Robert Lee, lord mayor 1602–3. The cause of the disease, the regimen, drugs and diet proper for its treatment are discussed. Ten diagnostic symptoms are described, and some theology is intermixed. The general plan differs little from that of Thomas Phaer's ‘Treatise on the Plague,’ and identical sentences occur in several places [see Phaer, Thomas]. These passages have suggested the untenable view (Catalogue of the Library of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, ii. 439) that the works are identical, and Thayre a misprint for Phayre. A similar resemblance of passages is to be ​detected in English books of the sixteenth century on other medical subjects, and is usually to be traced to several writers independently adopting and slightly altering some admired passage in a common source. Thayre published a second edition in 1625, dedicated to John Gore, lord mayor 1624–5. The work shows little medical knowledge, but preserves some interesting particulars of domestic life, and, though inferior in style to the writings of Christopher Langton [q. v.] and even of William Clowes (1540–1604) [q. v.], contains a few well-put and idiomatic expressions.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Theinred

​THEINRED (fl. 1371), musical theorist, at an early age entered the Benedictine order. He was afterwards made precentor of the monastery at Dover, where he died and was buried. In 1371 he wrote a treatise ‘De legitimis ordinibus Pentachordorum et Tetrachordorum,’ which he addressed to Alured of Canterbury. The name Alured has been repeatedly transferred to Theinred himself, and Moreri has further corrupted his name into David Theinred. The treatise is an exhaustive disquisition in three books upon scales and intervals; it employs the ancient letter-notation instead of the usual musical signs, which do not occur throughout. The copy in the Bodleian Library is the only one known to be extant. Boston of Bury gave the title as ‘De Musica et de legitimis ordinibus Pentacordorum et Tetracordorum lib. 3;’ Bale, probably misled by this statement, described two separate treatises, and was followed by Pits. Both writers bestowed the highest encomiums on Theinred's learning, Bale calling him ‘Musicorum sui temporis Phœnix,’ which Pits extended into ‘Vir morum probitate, multiplicique doctrina conspicuus,’ although both apparently made these assertions only on the ground that the precentor of a monastery must have had such qualifications. Bale adds that Theinred was the reputed author of several other works whose titles he had not seen. Burney spoke slightingly of Theinred's treatise, but Chappell shows that Burney had but cursorily examined it, and does not even correctly quote the opening words ‘Quoniam Musicorum de his cantibus frequens est dissensio.’ It was announced for publication in the fourth volume of Coussemaker's ‘Scriptores de Musica medii ævi,’ but did not appear.
H. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/William of St. Albans

​WILLIAM of St. Albans (fl. 1178), hagiologist, was a monk of St. Albans. Probably on the translation of the relics of St. Amphibalus in 1178, William, at the request of Abbot Simon (1166–1183), wrote the lives of Amphibalus and Alban, printed in the ‘Acta SS.,’ June, iv. 149. William professes to translate from a Saxon author. At his request his prose was versified by Ralph of St. Albans [q. v.] Usher (Brit. Eccles. Antiq. p. 80) conjectures that William may be identified with William Martell the sacrist, who vainly tried to succeed to the abbacy on Simon's death (Gesta S. Albani, pp. 195, 199).
M. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/William of Wheatley

​WILLIAM of Wheatley or Whetley (fl. 1310), divine and author, seems to have studied at Oxford (probably in 1300), and in Paris about 1301. He taught at Stamford in 1309 and at Lincoln in 1316, and was also rector of Yatesbury in Wiltshire.
His works are: 1. A commentary on Boethius's ‘De Disciplina Scholasticorum’ (MSS. in Exeter College, Oxford, No. xxviii. and Pembroke College, Cambridge). 2. Another ‘Super Divisiones ejusdem.’ 3. A commentary on Boethius's ‘De Consolatione Philosophiæ’ (MSS. in Exeter College, No. xxviii. and New College, Oxford, No. cclxiv., and in Pembroke College, Cambridge). 4. ‘Epistolæ ad diversos.’ 5. ‘De signis prognosticis sterilitatis.’ 6. ‘Duo hymni de vita et moribus B. Hugonis episcopi Lincolniensis.’ The three last are in the manuscript at New College, Oxford (cclxiv.).
W. E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/William of Peterborough

​WILLIAM of Peterborough (fl. 1188), theological writer, was a native of Peterborough and a monk of Ramsey. He is improbably stated by Wood to have studied at Oxford in 1168 (Hist. and Antiquities, i. 54). Boston of Bury (Tanner, p. xl) calls him a doctor of theology, and names his ‘Commentary on the Song of Songs,’ ‘Homilies,’ ‘Distinctions,’ and ‘Euphrastica.’ These works were seen at Ramsey by Leland (Comm. de Script. Brit. p. 263), but the last alone is now known, in the Bodleian MS. Super A i. art. 44, formerly belonging to Ramsey Abbey. In his notebook (Selden MS. 64 B) Bale mentions also ‘Interpretaciones Vocabulorum,’ which he knew from a Ramsey copy.
M. B.