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

​MACCARTHY, JOHN GEORGE (1829–1892), Irish land commissioner and author, born at Cork in June 1829, was son of John MacCarthy, of Cork. He was educated at a private school in that city. He was admitted a solicitor in Easter term 1853, and continued to practise in Cork until 1881. From 1874 to 1880 he represented Mallow in parliament as a home ruler. While in parliament he devoted particular attention to the Irish land question, and his mastery of the subject led to his appointment as an assistant commissioner under the Land Act of 1881. On the passing of the Land Purchase ​Act in 1885, MacCarthy was appointed one of the two commissioners selected to carry out that measure. He was a firm believer in the efficacy of peasant proprietorship, and administered the different Land Purchase Acts with conscientious care.
MacCarthy was connected with many philanthropic institutions, notably with the Cork Young Men's Society, of which he was for a long period president, and in recognition of services to the catholic church, he was made a knight of the order of St. Gregory by Pope Leo XIII. He was married to Maria Josephine, daughter of John Hanrahan, esq., of Cork, and had a family. He died in London on 7 Sept. 1892, and was buried in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin.
He was the author of the following works, in addition to several legal pamphlets:
* ‘The History of Cork, a Lecture,’ Cork, 1856, 8vo, and almost entirely rewritten and republished in 1869.
* ‘Letters on the Land Tenures of Europe.’
* ‘Irish Land Questions, plainly stated and answered,’ London, 1870, 8vo.
* ‘A Plea for Home Government of Ireland,’ London, 1871, 8vo.
* ‘The French Revolution of 1792: its Causes, Events, and Results,’ Dublin, 1884, 12mo.
* ‘Henry Grattan, a Historical Study,’ Dublin, 1886, 12mo.
[Cork Examiner, 9 Sept. 1892; Freeman's Journal, 8 Sept. 1892; Irish Monthly, xx. 548–9; Thom's Official Directory for 1892; Irish Law Times, 8 Oct. 1881.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacCodrum, John

Iain MacCodrum in the ODNB. a.k.a. Iain Mac Fhearchair ?
​MACCODRUM, JOHN (fl. 1750), Gaelic poet, the son of a peasant, was born in the earlier part of the eighteenth century, in ​North Uist,and is known as the North Uist bard. His youth was spent on his father's farm, and he received no sort of education. When a youth a fancied insult at a wedding led him to compose his first verses. The song gave much offence, and the author did not declare himself, but his father, happening to have overheard MacCodrum recite the verses before they became known, exacted a promise from the boy to do nothing of the kind again. The promise appears to have been faithfully kept until the father's death, when he again began to compose satirical verses. One of his lampoons so irritated the tailors of the district that they refused to make clothes for him. Sir James MacDonald, the proprietor of the island, happening to meet the poet in rags, inquired the reason of his poverty, and having heard the objectionable verses recited, forthwith appointed MacCodrum his bard, with a grant of free land and an annual gratuity of meal and cheese. MacCodrum enjoyed this patronage under successive lairds until his death, about the close of the century. He is buried at Houghary, a hamlet in North Uist.
MacCodrum was the last bard of the MacDonalds. His verses are mostly satirical and political, and his work has never been collected. Two of his best poems ('Old Age' and 'Whisky') appear among the poems of his contemporary Alexander MacDonald [q. v.] He has been frequently referred to in connection with the Ossianic controrenty. Sir James MacDonald, in a letter to Dr. Blair in 1783, mentioned the great number of legendary poems similar to those published by Macpherson which MacCodrum could recite, and in one of the declarations (Ewan Macpherson's) published in the Highland Society's' Report on the Poems of Ossian' it is said that when Macpherson was travelling in North Uist he met MncCodrum and asked him if he knew any Fingalian poems. The request was couched in such bad Gaelic that the poet made fun of hisqueetioner, who left him in a passion.
[The Celtic Magazine vol. iii, vii contains critical papers on MacCodrum and specimens of his verse in Gaelic, See also McKenzie's Beauties of Gaelic Poetry; Report of the Highland Society on Ossian's Poems.]
J. R. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacCarwell, David

David Mac Cearbhaill in the ODNB.
​MACCARWELL or MACCEBHAILL, DAVID (d. 1289), archbishop of Cashel, was dean of Cashel previously to 1353, when on a vacancy to the see he was elected archbishop. A condition attached to the royal assent, which was not given till 19 Feb. 1253, was that David should come to the king to do fealty; this he did accordingly in April (Sweetman, ii. 432, 443). In 1261 David went on a journey to Rome (ib. ii. 695). In 1266 he confirmed the election of Florence, bishop of Emly, before the royal assent had been had been given, and was summoned to England next year to explain his conduct, on 4 Nov. obtained grace for having acted in ignorance, and gave an undertaking not to repeat the offence (ib. ii. 792, 833). He remained in England till Whitsuntide 1268 (ib. ii. 830). In 1273 he was involved in a fresh quarrel with the royal officers for having seized the goods of a usurer, which were claimed by the king. In order to escape his consequent debt to the crown he is said have taken the cross, though he never went on the crusade (ib. ii. 959, 1015-16). In 1276 a fresh quarrel arose through a royal proposal to repair the gaol at Cashel; this, David alleged, would be prejudicial to his church, and therefore excommicated the justices and laid an interdict on his diocese. In 1277 the dispute was arranged by the king removing the gaol and granting the site to the archbishop, who agreed to found on it a chantry to St. Nicholas (ib. ii. 1361-1362). David's troubles still continued, and it is said that in 1278 he was called to England where he remained two years, and that afterwards he had to make yet another visit. He was certainly in England in May 1281, when his represenlatives in Ireland were granted letters of attorney during two years (ib. ii. 1822). In October 1281 he gave recognisances for his good behaviour (ib. ii. 1869-72). In 1286 he appears as paying an accumulation of debts and fines to the king, all 100l. 13s. 4d. (ib. iii. 215, pp. 100, 126, 223). He died in 1289, before 4 Sept. {ib. iii. 517). David founded Hore Abbey, or St. Mary's Abbey of the Rock of Cashel, for Cistercians, having expelled the Benedictines in consequence of a dream that the monks tried to kill him. This was between 1269 and 1272. He forcibly annexed to his house the hospital of St. Nicholas at Cashel (Archdall, Monasticon Hibernicum, pp. 647, 648). David seems to have been a quarrelsome prelate: in addition to his other disputes he quarrelled with and expelled Keran, the deau of Cashel.
[Annals of Loch Cé. i. 407; Ware's Works on Ireland, i. 472-5, ed. Harris; Sweetman's Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, vols. ii. and iii.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gairdner, William

​GAIRDNER, WILLIAM, M.D. (1793–1867), physician, son of Robert Gairdner of Mount Charles, Ayrshire, was born at Mount Charles on 11 Nov. 1793. After an education at the Ayr academy, he went in 1810 to the university of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.D. 13 Sept. 1813, taking dysentery as the subject of his inaugural dissertation. After further study in London he went abroad as physician to the Earl of Bristol. In 1822 he settled in London, where he had a house in Bolton Street, and in 1823 he was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians. In the following year he published an ‘Essay on the Effects of Iodine on the Human Constitution.’ Dr. Coindet of Geneva had in 1820 proposed to treat goitre and other glandular enlarge​ments by the internal administration of iodine, and this essay is written in support of Coindet's views. While advocating the use of iodine it describes more minutely than any previous English book the ill effects of large doses. Gairdner's practice grew slowly, and he did not attain success till after long struggles. In 1849 he published ‘On Gout, its History, its Causes, and its Cure,’ a work which had four editions, of which the last appeared in 1860. It is a lucid exposition of the main clinical features of the disease, without pathological information, while as to treatment it advocates bleeding, moderate purgation, and the administration of colchicum. The older he grew, the author says, the more did his confidence in drugs abate. He married, 12 Jan. 1822, a Genevese lady who died before him. He continued his practice almost to the end of his life, and died at Avignon, after spending a winter in the south of France, on 28 April 1857. He left one daughter. He was a small man with a florid complexion, and his hair became white at an early age. He was a new whig in politics, and had an independent, inflexible spirit, which, if it sometimes increased the difficulties of his life, also enabled him to conquer them.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. iii. 265; Works; Lancet, 1867; information from family.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Galbraith, Robert

​GALBRAITH, ROBERT (d. 1543), judge, was a priest and treasurer of the Chapel Royal at Stirling, in which capacity he received a charter of the lands of Mydwyn Schelis, near Berwick, dated 5 July 1528. He was advocate to Queen Margaret Tudor, wife of James IV of Scotland, and as such made his protest on 1 Sept. 1528 in parliament against any prejudice to her claim for debt against the Earl of Angus being occasioned by his forfeiture. He was one of the advocates appointed when first the College of Senators was instituted, and was admitted an ordinary lord on 7 Nov. 1537. In 1543 he was murdered by John Carkettle, a burgess of Edinburgh, and others, on account of favour which he was alleged to have shown to Sir William Sinclair of Hermanston in a suit before him. The murderers were cited before parliament, but nothing is known of their fate. He left some reports of cases, which are cited as the ‘Book of Galbraith’ by the compiler of Balfour's ‘Practicks.’
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gale, George

​GALE, GEORGE (1797?–1850), aeronaut, was, according to the register of his burial, born about 1797. He was originally an actor in small parts in London minor theatres. He became a great favourite of Andrew Ducrow [q. v.] In 1831 he went to America, and played Mazeppa for two hundred nights at the Bowery Theatre in New York. He afterwards travelled in the west and joined a tribe of Indians. He brought six of them, with their chief, ‘Ma Caust,’ to London, and was scarcely distinguishable from his companions. They were exhibited at the Victoria Theatre till their popularity declined. Sir Augustus Frederick D'Este [q. v.] had become interested in them, and procured Gale an appointment as coast blockade inspector in the north of Ireland. On the strength of this appointment, which he held for seven years, he afterwards assumed the title of lieutenant. Tiring of this he made an unsuccessful attempt to return to the London stage, and then took to ballooning. He had a balloon manufactured at the old Montpelier Gardens in Walworth, and made his first ascent with success from the Rosemary Branch tavern at Peckham in 1848. He made many ascents, the 114th of which was from the hippodrome of Vincennes at Bordeaux, with the Royal Cremorne balloon, on 8 Sept. 1850. He was seated on the back of a pony suspended from the car. Gale descended at Auguilles. When the pony had been released from its slings, the peasants holding the balloon ropes, not understanding his directions, relaxed their hold, and Gale was carried up by the only partially exhausted machine. The car overturned, but he clung to the tackling for a time, and was borne out of sight. Next morning his body was found in a wood several miles away. He was buried at the protestant cemetery at Bordeaux on 11 Sept. Gale was a man of much courage and very sanguine. For some time ​after his death his widow, who had frequently made ascents in his company, continued to gain a livelihood by ballooning.
J. B-y.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gale, Dunstan

​GALE, DUNSTAN (fl. 1596), poet, was the author of a poem entitled ‘Pyramus and Thisbe,’ supposed to have been printed for the first time in 1597, as the dedication is addressed ‘To the Worshipful his verie friend D. B. H. Nov. 25th, 1596.’ It was published with Greene's ‘History of Arbasto’ in 1617, in the title of which it is spoken of as ‘a lovely poem.’ No earlier edition is known. Another edition was published in 1626. A poem called ‘Perymus and Thesbye’ was entered to William Griffith in 1562, and according to Warton printed in quarto for T. Hackett; but this was probably an earlier and quite different work.
R. M. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knox, Thomas Francis

​KNOX, THOMAS FRANCIS, D.D. (1822–1882), superior of the London Oratory, born on 24 Dec. 1822, was the eldest son of John Henry Knox, M.P., third son of Thomas Knox, first earl of Ranfurly. His father died on 27 Aug. 1872. His mother was Lady Mabella Josephine, eighth daughter of Francis Jack Needham [q. v.], first earl of Kilmorey. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1845, coming out in the first class of the classical tripos and as second chancellor's medallist. ​On 16 Nov. in the same year he and Frederick William Faber [q. v.] were received into the Roman catholic church at Northampton. At the beginning of 1848 he was admitted a member of the congregation of the Oratory by Father Newman at Maryvale, and in the following year he went with Father Faber to found the London Oratory, in which he remained till his death. He was created D.D. by Pope Pius IX in 1875, at which time he held the office of superior of the London Oratory. His learning and prudence were highly valued by Cardinal Manning. He held for several years the office of ‘Defensor Matrimoniorum’ in the archdiocese of Westminster, and he took a leading part in promoting the canonisation of the English martyrs. He died at the Oratory, South Kensington, on 20 March 1882, and was buried in the private cemetery of the Oratorian fathers at Sydenham.
His works are: 1. ‘Life of Blessed Henry Suso, by himself. Translated from the German,’ London, 1865, 8vo. 2. ‘When does the Church speak infallibly? or the Nature and Scope of the Church's Teaching Office,’ London, 1867, 8vo; 2nd edit., enlarged, London, 1870, 8vo; also translated into German and Italian. 3. ‘The last Survivor of the ancient English Hierarchy, Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St. Asaph’ [London, 1876, 8vo]. Reprinted from the ‘Month and Catholic Review,’ January and February 1876, and republished by the Rev. T. E. Bridgett, in his ‘True Story of the Catholic Hierarchy deposed by Queen Elizabeth,’ London [1889], 8vo. Knox prefixed ‘Historical Introductions’ to the ‘Diaries’ of the English College, Douay (1878), and Cardinal Allen's ‘Letters’ (1882), which form respectively vols. i. and ii. of ‘Records of the English Catholics under the Penal Laws.’ He also edited the Rev. Thomas Whytehead's ‘College Life. Letters to an Undergraduate,’ Cambridge, 1845, 8vo.
[Bowden's Life of Faber, pp. 238, 363, 424; Browne's Annals of the Tractarian Movement, 3rd edit. p. 101; Graduati Cantabr.; Tablet, 25 March 1882, p. 471, 1 April, p. 511; Times, 25 March 1882, p. 12, col. 1; Weekly Reg, 25 March 1882, pp. 365, 369, 1 April, p. 386.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knox, Thomas George

​KNOX, Sir THOMAS GEORGE (1824–1887), consul-general in Siam, born in 1824, was eldest surviving son of James Spencer Knox, D.D. (1789–1862), rector of Maghera, co. Derry, and his wife Clara, daughter of the Right Hon. John Beresford, and was grandson of William Knox [q. v.], bishop of Derry. On 17 April 1840 he was appointed ensign 65th foot, and on 7 Oct. 1842 was promoted to a lieutenancy in the 98th. After serving with the 98th in China and India, he sold out in December 1848. He subsequently served with the Siamese army from 1851 to 1857. He was appointed interpreter at the consulate of Bangkok on 7 July 1857, was acting consul there from December 1859 to May 1860, was appointed consul on 30 Nov. 1864, and promoted to be consul-general in Siam on 18 July 1868, and agent and consul-general in Siam on 8 Feb. 1875. He retired on a pension on 26 Nov. 1879, and was made K.C.M.G. in April 1880. He died at Eaux Chaudes, Pyrenees, on 29 July 1887. Knox married in 1854 a Siamese lady, Prang, daughter of Phya (Count) Somkok and Mâe Yen of Somkok and Bangkok.
[Foster's Peerage under ‘Ranfurly;’ Dod's Knightage, 1887; Hart's Army List, 1848; Foreign Office List, 1887.]
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knox, Robert (1815-1883)

​KNOX, ROBERT (1815–1883), Irish presbyterian divine, third son of Hugh Knox, who was for forty years a ruling elder of the parish of Urney, co. Tyrone, was born at Clady, in that parish in 1815. In 1834 he entered Glasgow University, where in 1837 he took M.A. He subsequently studied at the old Belfast College, where during his student days he was an active promoter of the union between the synod of Ulster and the secession synod, which resulted in the formation of the general assembly of the presbyterian church in Ireland in 1840. He was licensed to preach in 1840, and sent as a missionary to the south of Ireland, being ordained by the presbytery of Strabane in April of that year. Several congregations owed their origin to his labours. On 10 June 1842 he was installed as assistant and successor to the Rev. John Whiteside, pastor of the second congregation of Coleraine. Next year he became minister of the Linenhall Street Church, Belfast.
Knox was soon one of the most energetic of the Belfast clergy, being particularly active in promoting the erection of new churches and school-houses, and in furthering the work of the town mission, of which he became honorary secretary. He established and edited a monthly periodical entitled the ‘Irish Presbyterian,’ and published many sermons. A prolonged newspaper controversy with the Rev. Theophilus Campbell of Trinity Church, Belfast, afterwards dean of Dromore, on the question of baptismal regeneration, brought him into much prominence. The letters were subsequently collected and published. In 1863 he received the degree of D.D. from the university of Schenectady, U.S. He was one of the founders of the Sabbath School Society for Ireland in connection with the presbyterian church, and one of the earliest and most enthusiastic promoters of the presbyterian alliance, in which all the presbyterian churches of the world are represented. While actively engaged in preparations for the meeting of this body in Belfast, arranged for 1884, he died on 16 Aug. 1883, leaving a widow, daughter of William Gilbert, esq., of Belfast, who subsequently married the Rev. George Matthews, D.D., of Quebec. Dr. Knox was buried in the Belfast borough cemetery.
[Personal knowledge; obituary notice in Belfast Witness.]
T. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Leglæus, Gilbertus

​LEGLÆUS, GILBERTUS (fl. 1250), writer on medicine. [See Gilbert the Englishman.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Legrew, James

​LEGREW, JAMES (1803–1857), sculptor, born at Caterham, Surrey, in 1803, was son of James Legrew, rector of that parish. He was descended from a family of Huguenot refugees settled as weavers in Spitalfields. Legrew was well educated, and acquired a good knowledge of foreign languages, including Hebrew and Syriac. His tastes led him, however, to adopt art as a profession, and he was placed under Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey [q. v.] to study sculpture. He also became a student of the Royal Academy, where he gained the silver medal in 1824, and the gold medal in 1829, for a group of 'Cassandra dragged from the Altar of Minerva,' which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1830. In 1826 he sent 'A Sleeping Boy.' and was a frequent exhibitor in subsequent years. From 1840 to 1842 he travelled in Italy, and worked for some time at Rome. On his return he resided in Ebury Street, Pimlico, removing thence to St. Albania Road, Kensington. He sent to the Westminster Hall competition in 1844 two works, 'The Last Prayer of Ajax' and 'Milton dictating to his Daughters.' He executed several busts and groups, such as 'Samson breaking his Bonds,' 'The Murder of the Innocents,' &c. Unfortunately his mind failed, and he committed suicide at his house in Kensington on 15 Sept. 1857. He was unmarried.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760-1880; Royal Academy Catalogues; private information.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Leicester, Earls of

​LEICESTER, Earls of. [See Beaumont, Robert de, 1104–1168; Montfort, Simon de, 1208–1265; Dudley, Robert 1532?–1588; Sidney, Robert, 1595–1677.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Legh, Gerard

​LEGH, GERARD (d. 1563), writer on heraldry, was the son of Henry Legh, draper, of Fleet Street, London, by his first wife ​Isabel Cailis or Callis. He was indebted for his education to Robert Wroth of Durants in Enfield, Middlesex, and probably to Richard Goodrich [q. v.] Though Wood places him in the ‘Athenæ Oxonienses’ (i. 428), he was not a student at Oxford. He served an apprenticeship to his father and became a member of the Drapers' Company. He appears to have taken the part of the government rather than that of the city in some political question, which had the effect of alienating him from his trade associations. Subsequently his love of study led him to become a member of the Inner Temple. He travelled in France, and in 1562 was preparing for a journey to Venice. Although vain and pedantic, Legh was certainly a man of considerable talent and of much acquired knowledge, both in languages and in various branches of science. He died of the plague on 13 Oct. 1563, and was buried on the 15th at St. Dunstan-in-the-West, where a monument was erected to his memory. He left a widow, Alice, and five daughters.
Legh's only work, entitled ‘The Accedens of Armory,’ 8vo, London, 1562 (1568, 1572, 1576, 1591, 1597, and 1612), is written in form of a colloquy between ‘Gerarde the Herehaught and Legh the Caligat Knight,’ and although put forth as an elementary treatise, is in reality a medley of irrelevant learning. Richard Argall of the Inner Temple supplied a prefatory address and probably part of the latter passages of the book. In endeavouring to explain the art, Legh is purposely obscure from fear of trenching on the official privileges of the College of Arms. Folio 228 of the work supplies what appears to be a portrait of Legh himself in the fictitious character of ‘Panther Herald.’
G. G.