OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parsons, William (1658-1725?)

​PARSONS, WILLIAM (1658–1725?), chronologer, born at Langley, Buckinghamshire, in 1658, was the younger son of William Parsons, who was created a baronet by Charles II on 9 April 1661. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Laurence Parsons, knight. He matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 28 April 1676, and having entered the 1st regiment of foot-guards as ensign in 1682, he was promoted captain in 1684, and obtained the rank of lieutenant-colonel 15 June 1687. In 1695 he was acting lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Tollemache's regiment of foot (now the 5th Northumberland fusiliers). Parsons married the daughter of Sir John Barker of Grimston Hall, Suffolk, and died without issue, probably about 1725.
He published two works of some utility: 1. ‘A New Book of Cyphers … wherein the whole Alphabet (twice over), consisting of Six Hundred Cyphers, is variously changed, interwoven, and reversed. The whole engraved,’ obl. 4to, London, 1703. The object of this manual of monograms was mainly, it would appear, to assist the labours of coachbuilders, carvers, and designers, but it was also addressed to the general public, and the letterpress is engraved in both French and English. 2. ‘Chronological Tables of Europe. From the Nativity of our Saviour to the year 1703. Engraven on forty-six copper-plates. Licensed 10 Nov. 1689. Robert Midgley,’ obl. 12mo, London. The first impression known appears to be that of 1707. An eighth edition appeared in 1718. This work, which was regarded in its day as an invaluable vade mecum by the young student, was dedicated to Charles, marquis of Worcester, son of the Duke of Beaufort. It seems to have been derived with but slight modification from Guillaume Marcel's ‘Tablettes Chronologiques,’ Paris, 1682. There are also attributed to Parsons in the British Museum Catalogue ‘The Tent of Darius Explain'd,’ from the French of Félibien, 1703, fol., and, with Thomas Tuttell, ‘Proposals for a New Pair of Globes,’ s. sh. fol. n.d.
To some copies of the ‘Chronological Tables’ is prefixed a small portrait of Parsons, in an oval, engraved by Gribelin, after Berchet.
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parsons, Robert (1647-1714)

​PARSONS, ROBERT (1647–1714), archdeacon of Gloucester, son of John Parsons of Southampton, was born in 1647. He matriculated from University College, Oxford, on 10 Dec. 1663, graduated B.A. on 27 June 1667, and M.A. on 22 April 1670. He then became chaplain to Anne, dowager countess of Rochester (daughter of Sir John St. John of Liddiard Tregooze in Wiltshire, widow both of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley, and of Henry Wilmot, first earl of Rochester), and he acted as curate of Adderbury in Oxfordshire for William Beaw (afterwards bishop of Llandaff). He was instituted ​vicar of Shabbington in Buckinghamshire on 8 March 1672, canon of Llandaff on 10 June 1681, portionist rector of Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire on 20 April 1682, rector of Oddington in Gloucestershire in 1687 (when he resigned Shabbington), and archdeacon of Gloucester on 10 March 1703. From 26 May to 26 July 1680 he was in constant attendance on John Wilmot, second earl of Rochester [q. v.], and was responsible for his deathbed repentance. Parsons died on 18 July 1714, and was buried at Oddington. Administration was granted to his son Robert on 6 Sept., his widow Joanna having renounced. Hearne tells an amusing story of how Parsons recognised in a sermon preached by Anthony Addison, before the judges, at St. Mary's, Oxford, the work of William Pindar of University College, and charged the preacher with the plagiarism as he left the church. He left three sons, Robert (b. 1678), John (1682–1699), and Bainton or Baynton (1691–1742).
Parsons published: ‘A Sermon preached at the Funeral of John, Earl of Rochester,’ Oxford, 1680; Dublin (reprinted), 1681; London, 1707, 1709, 1723, 1727 (12th ed.); 1728 (13th ed.), 1735, 1765? 1798, 1800 and 1807 in vol. ix. of Religious Tracts dispersed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. On the title-pages of the editions of 1727, 1728, and 1765? the author is erroneously called Thomas Parsons. The biographical portion of the sermon was printed at the end of Gilbert Burnet's ‘Life and Death of John, Earl of Rochester,’ Glasgow, 1752, and in Wordsworth's ‘Ecclesiastical Biography,’ iv. 646–51 n. The whole of it is in the editions of Burnet's work of 1782, 1805, 1810, 1819, 1820, and in Burnet's ‘Lives of Sir Matthew Hale,’ &c., London, 1774. With Burnet's ‘Rochester,’ it was translated into German, and published at Halle in 1698 and 1775? Abstracts from the sermon were published about 1690, as ‘The Libertine Overthrown.’
B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parsons, Robert (d.1570)

​PARSONS, ROBERT (d. 1570), musical composer, was born in Exeter. On 17 Oct. 1563 he was sworn gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and on 25 Jan. 1569-70 he was drowned at Newark-upon-Trent. He was a composer of church music, and he revelled in the science of part-writing. His settings of 'In Nomine' were praised by Butler (Principies of Music); and one, preserved m the Christ Church Library, Oxford, together with an Ave Maria, made an agreeable impression on Burney, who, however, singled out the song 'Enforced by love or feare' to print as an example of Parsons's rich and curious harmony (History, ii. 567, 596).
There are published in Bernard's 'Selected Church Music,' 1641, (1) A morning, Communion, and evening service, α 4, 5, 6, and 7; and (2) Full anthem, α 6, 'Deliver me from mine enemies;' (3) Madrigal, α 5, 'Enforced by love and feare' in Burney's 'History' (ii. 596) and Grove's 'Dictionary' (iii. 271). John Day ascribes a large number of psalm-tunes to a W. Parsons in the 'Whole Book of Psalms,' 1563.
In manuscript there is a copy of the anthem 'Deliver me' in Tudway's collection (Brit. Mus. Harleian MS. 7339, f. 65); a second Magnificat (ib. Addit. MS. 29289, f. 4); Ave Maria, Te Fili, and an In Nomine, α 5, copied by Burney from Christ Church MSS. (ib. 11586); Motetts and settings of 'In Nomine,' for which Parsons was famous (ib. 22597, tf. 36 b, 54 b, 29246 f. 55, in lute notation; 31390 ff. 10 b, 23 b, 24 b, 59 b, 'Delacourt,' 82 b, 96 b, 32377 ff. 5, 13, 14, 21 b, 47 b, 59 b); Sol-fa, and 'Delacorte,' α 5 (ib. 30380-4, ff. 63, 67); 'Abradad,' 'Pandulpho,' &c. (ib. 17786, ff. 7, 9).
In the library of the Royal College of Music are Parsons's First, Second, and Third Services, of which the third is published in Barnard as Parsons's First; an Anthem, 'Ah, helpless wretch;' a Motett, 'Anima Christi;' and pieces for viols. At the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, are an Anthem, 'Deliver me,' and an In Nomine (Virginal Book). At the cathedral libraries of Ely, Durham, and Gloucester are various compositions.
A son John (d. 1623) is separately noticed.
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parsons, William (1746?-1817)

​PARSONS, Sir WILLIAM (1746?–1817), professor of music, born about 1746, was a chorister of Westminster Abbey, under Cooke. Before 1768 he applied in vain for an engagement at Covent Garden Theatre, and thereupon betook himself to Italy for the improvement of his voice and method. On his return he was successful in the career ​of a singing-master, and was acknowledged by a severe critic to be equal to any in London (A B C Dario). An introduction to court procured him, on the death of Stanley in 1786, the post of master of his majesty's band, conductor, and composer of the odes and minutes performed at court on the king's birthday, with a salary of 300l. His first essay was the setting of an ode by Warton, ‘In rough magnificence array'd,’ performed at court to celebrate the new year 1787.
On 26 June 1790 Parsons was admitted Mus. Bac. and Mus. Doc. at Oxford. On his visiting Ireland, in 1795, he attended the lord-lieutenant, Earl Camden, who knighted him. In 1796 Parsons was appointed instructor to the princesses royal. His name was on the commission of the peace, and for many years Parsons attended Bow Street police-court as a kind of subsidiary magistrate, and was afterwards promoted to be stipendiary magistrate at Worship Street. Some authorities give Marlborough Street as the scene of his labours. He died of apoplexy, at Somerset Street, Portman Square, on 19 July 1817, in his seventy-first year.
Parsons was a professional member of the Catch Club and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He was an early patron of Michael Kelly and of Horn.
Parsons published:
* ‘Court Minuets for His Majesty's Birthday,’ for the pianoforte and in orchestral parts, 1794.
* ‘Six English Ballads,’ dedicated to the Princess Mary, 1790?
He also issued other ballads, besides arrangements. The ‘European Magazine’ published a portrait, engraved by Ridley and Blood, from a watercolour-painting by Wilkins, jun. (August 1808).
[Dictionary of Musicians, 1827, ii. 268; Georgian Era, iv. 521; Busby's Anecdotes, i. 265; Grove's Dictionary of Music, ii. 652; Morning Chronicle, 1 and 4 Jan. 1787; Mrs. Papendieck's Journal, ii. 165, 190, 272; Annual Biography, 1818, ii. 463; Kelly's Reminiscences, i. 12; Pohl's Haydn in London, p. 285; Gent. Mag. 1817 pt. ii. p. 92; authorities cited.]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parsons, Philip (1729-1812)

​PARSONS, PHILIP (1729–1812), divine and miscellaneous writer, descended from a family seated at Hadleigh, Suffolk, was born at Dedham, Essex, in 1729, and was educated at Lavenham grammar school, Suffolk, under the care of his maternal uncle, the Rev. Thomas Smythies, then the master there. Thence he proceeded to Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, went out B.A. in 1752 as third junior optime, and proceeded M.A. in 1776. After taking orders he was appointed to the mastership of Oakham School, Rutland, which he resigned in 1761 on being presented to the school and perpetual curacy of Wye, Kent, by Lord Winchilsea. At Wye he instituted a Sunday-school, and contributed much to the establishment of such schools in Kent by a sermon and some letters which he published (see below). In 1776 Lord Winchilsea gave him the rectory of Eastwell, Kent, and in 1776 Dr. Cornwallis, archbishop of Canterbury, instituted him to the rectory of Snave in the same county. He was also domestic chaplain to Lord Sondes. Parsons died at the college, Wye, on 12 June 1812.
His most important work is entitled ‘Monuments and Painted Glass in upwards of one hundred Churches, chiefly in the eastern part of Kent … with an Appendix, containing three Churches in other Counties; to which are added, a small Collection of detached Epitaphs,’ 4to, Canterbury, 1794. The three churches are those of Hadleigh, Lavenham, and Dedham. Many copies of this useful volume having been destroyed in the fire at Messrs. Nichols's printing office, it has become very scarce.
Parsons wrote also: 1. ‘The Inefficacy of Satire: a Poem,’ 4to, 1766. 2. ‘Newmarket; or an Essay on the Turf’ (anon.), 2 vols. 12mo, London, 1771. 3. ‘Astronomic Doubts; or an Enquiry into the Nature of that Supply of Light and Heat which the superior Planets may be supposed to Enjoy,’ 8vo, Canterbury, 1774. 4. ‘Essays and Letters, with other miscellaneous Pieces’ (anon.), 12mo, Canterbury, 1775. 5. ‘Dialogues of the Dead with the Living’ (anon.), 8vo, London, 1779. 6. ‘Simplicity: a Poem,’ 4to, 1784. 7. ‘Six Letters to a Friend on the Establishment of Sunday Schools,’ 12mo, London, 1786. To vol. ii. of the ‘Student,’ 1751, he contributed the first nine papers, and wrote in the ‘World’ for 1756 an amusing jeu d'esprit ‘On advertising for Curates.’ These essays attracted the notice of Lord Winchilsea, who proved afterwards Parsons's steady patron.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Hay, John (1816-1892)

​HAY, Sir JOHN (1816–1892), Australian statesman, born at Little Ythsie, Aberdeenshire, on 23 June 1816, was the elder son of John Hay of Little Ythsie, by his wife Jean Moir. He was educated at the University and King's College of Aberdeen, graduating M.A. in 1834. In the same year he went to Edinburgh, and studied for several years for the Scottish bar. In 1838 he emigrated to New South Wales as a squatter, settling at Welaregang on the upper Murray.
He first took part in colonial politics in 1856, when he was returned to the legislature on 2 April for the Murrumbidgee district. On 24 Sept. he carried a motion of want of confidence in the ministry of (Sir) Charles Cowper [q. v.], and after declining to form an administration became secretary of lands and public works in the government formed by (Sir) Henry Watson Parker [q. v.] This office he resigned in September 1857 on the defeat of the Parker government on a question of electoral reform. In 1858 the electoral district of the Murrumbidgee was subdivided, and Hay was returned for the Murray, one of the new divisions. He represented this constituency until 1864, when he was returned for Central Cumberland. In 1860, when (Sir) John Robertson [q. v.] brought forward the famous Crown Lands Alienation Act, Hay moved an amendment which was carried against the government, but, on an appeal to the country, Robertson was supported by a large majority of the electors.
On 14 Oct. 1862 Hay was elected speaker of the legislative assembly, a post which he resigned on 21 Oct. 1865 on the ground of ill-health. After his resignation he continued a member of the assembly until 26 June 1867, when he was summoned to the legislative council, of which, on the recommendation of Sir Henry Parkes [q. v. Suppl.], he became president on 8 July 1873, succeeding Sir Terence Aubrey Murray [q. v.] This position he filled with remarkable ability until his death. On 25 May 1878 he was nominated K.C.M.G. He was vice-president of the New South Wales Agricultural Society.
Hay died, without issue, at his residence at Rose Bay on 20 Jan. 1892, and was buried in the Waverley cemetery on 22 Jan. A marble bust of Hay, executed in September 1889, is in the hall of the legislative council. He married, on 28 Feb. 1838, Mary (d. 1 Feb. 1892), daughter of James Chalmers.
[Sydney Morning Herald, 21 and 23 Jan. 1892; Burke's Colonial Gentry, 1891, i. 77-8; Heaton's Australian Dictionary, 1879; Denison's Varieties of Viceregal Life, 1870, i. 369; Parkes's Fifty Years in the Making of Australian History, 1892, i. 118, 120, 299.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Haywood, Francis

​HAYWOOD, FRANCIS (1796–1858), translator of Kant, was born at Liverpool in 1796. He belonged to the literary circle which surrounded William Roscoe [q. v.] and William Shepherd [q. v.] in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and formed an especially close friendship with Antonio Panizzi when he came to Liverpool as a protegé of Roscoe's in 1823. Possessed of ample means, he devoted himself to study, and must at an early age have acquired a knowledge of German and of German philosophy and divinity unusual in England at the period, having been in 1828 the anonymous translator of Bretschneider's reply to Hugh James Rose's [q. v.] 'State of Protestantism in Germany,' dealing with the tendencies of German theology. He shortly afterwards undertook a much more difficult task in the translation of Kant's 'Critick of Pure Reason,' previously only accessible to English students unacquainted with German in a French or a Latin version. Haywood's long remained the standard English translation. Published in 1838, it was reprinted with improvements in 1848, and was commended by the chief authority on Kant in Great Britain, Sir William Hamilton, with whom Haywood corresponded respecting it. Its general accuracy was admitted by Max Müller, interested though the latter was in a rival translation. In 1844 Haywood published an analysis of the 'Critick,' designed 'to elucidate the points which still remain unintelligible.' In 1853 he translated the 'Researches into the History of the Roman Constitution' of Wilhelm Ihne, a personal friend. He resided at Edge Lane Hall, near Liverpool, but died at Silliers, Worcestershire, on 29 May 1858. Haywood was Panizzi's surety on occasion of all the latter's appointments at the British Museum, and the warmth of their mutual regard is evinced in their correspondence.
[Pagan's Life of Sir Anthony Panizzi, 1880, i. 54 (with a sketch of Haywood), 100, 331, ii. passim; Gent. Mag. 1858, ii. 201; Brit. Mus. Cat,]
R. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Hay, John Hay Drummond-

​HAY, Sir JOHN HAY DRUMMOND- (1816–1893), diplomatist, [See Drummond-Hay.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rios, Joseph de Mendoza y

​RIOS, JOSEPH de MENDOZA y (1762–1816), astronomer. [See Mendoza.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rimmer, Alfred

​RIMMER, ALFRED (1829–1893), artist and author, son of Thomas Rimmer, timber merchant, and Mary Burroughs, his wife, was born at Liverpool on 9 Aug. 1829, and educated at Liverpool college under the Rev. J. S. Howson (afterwards dean of Chester). He was articled to a Liverpool architect named Cunningham, and followed the profession until 1858, when he went to Canada. There he engaged in trade and became consul-general for Denmark and justice of the peace in Montreal. He returned to England in 1870 and settled in Chester, devoting himself to artistic and literary pursuits. Before he went to Canada he published 'Ancient Halls of Lancashire, from Original Drawings,' Liverpool, 1852, 4to, and contributed two papers on ancient domestic architecture to the 'Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire' (1800-1852). For the same journal he wrote in 1871 a paper on 'Peculiarities of the Gothic Architecture of Chester and its Neighbourhood.' In conjunction with Dean Howson he produced in 1872 a quarto volume on 'Chester as it was,' and in 1875 illustrated the dean's work on the 'River Dee: its Aspect and History.' His other works, all illustrated by himself, were: 1. 'Ancient Stone Crosses of England,' 1875. 2. 'Ancient Streets and Homesteads of England,' 1877. 3. 'Pleasant Spots around Oxford,' 1878. 4. 'Our Old Country Towns,' 1881. 5. 'Rambles about Eton and Harrow,' 1882. 6. 'Early Homes of Prince Albert,' 1882. 7. 'About England with Dickens,' 1883. 8. 'Stonyhurst Illustrated,' 1884. 9. 'Summer Rambles round Manchester' (reprinted from the Manchester Guardian), 1890. 10. 'Rambles round Rugby,' 1892.
He received a grant of 100l. from the roval bounty fund in 1892. He died at Chester on 27 Oct. 1893. He married Frances Parkinson of Liverpool, and had issue five sons and two daughters. One of his sons, Heber Rimmer, a clever architect and draughtsman, born in 1869, died near Gibraltar on 2 June 1895.
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ringstead, Thomas de

​RINGSTEAD, THOMAS de (d. 1366), bishop of Bangor, perhaps a native of Ringstead in Norfolk, was educated at Cambridge, where he became doctor and professor of theology. He subsequently became a Dominican, studied in France and Italy, and was appointed penitentiary to Innocent VI, who, on 21 Aug. 1357, provided him to the see of Bangor. He died in the Dominican monastery at Shrewsbury on 8 Jan. 1365–6, and was buried in Blackfriars, London, or in the Dominican monastery at Huntingdon, where, according to Tanner, his parents also were interred. Ringstead is said to have been the author of a work which is extant in Balliol College MSS. xxxiv., Lincoln College MSS. lxxxvi., and Trinity College (Oxford) MSS. xxxv. Its title is variously given as ‘Expositio super Parabolas Salomonis,’ ‘Super Salomonis Proverbia,’ and ‘Postilla super 29 capitula Parabolarum.’ These have generally been considered separate works, without good ground, as the opening words of two of the manuscripts are identical. A note, added by a later hand, to one of the manuscripts, stating that it was written in London in 1461, points to the author being a later Thomas de Ringstead, who was collated to the prebend of Moreton-cum-Whaddon in Hereford Cathedral, and held the prebends of Bampton and Castor in Lincoln Cathedral between 1440 and 1452. Wood ​erroneously states this commentary to have been the work of Richard de Ringstead, who was prior of Gloucester Hall, Oxford, and vice-chancellor of the university in 1450. Both Thomas and Richard are credited by Pits with various other theological works, which are not known to be extant.
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Riollay, Francis

​RIOLLAY, FRANCIS, M.D. (1748–1797), physician, son of Christopher Riollay of Guingamp, France, was born in Brittany. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and there graduated B.A., devoting himself mainly to classical studies. He published at Oxford in 1776 a student's edition of the text with Reitzius's Latin version of Lucian's πῶς δεῖ ἱστορίαν συγγράφειν, dedicated to his friend, Thomas Winstanley. He was incorporated at Oxford on 13 Jan. 1777, proceeded M.A. on 29 April 1780, and began to practice medicine at Newbury. He published in 1778 in London ‘A Letter to Dr. Hardy on the Hints he has given concerning the Origin of Gout,’ in which he makes the ingenious suggestion that gout is a disease of the nervous system, but fails to support it by any anatomical evidence. Dr. Hardy published a reply in 1780. Riollay graduated M.B. at Oxford in March 1782, and M.D. on 13 July 1784. He moved to London, where he lived in Hart Street, Bloomsbury, and in 1783 published ‘The Doctrines and Practice of Hippocrates in Surgery and Physic,’ an abstract of the Hippocratic writings, with a complete translation of the aphorisms. He became a candidate or member of the College of Physicians on 9 Aug. 1784, and was elected a fellow on 15 Aug. 1785. In 1787 he delivered the Gulstonian lectures, three in number, on fever. They were published, with a Latin preface, in 1788, and contain a clear account of the classical, mediæval, and then existing doctrines as to fever, without any clinical illustrations or personal observations. He also gave the Harveian oration in 1787, and was Croonian lecturer in 1788, 1789, and 1790. He went to live at Margate in 1791, and there died in 1791.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rimmington, Samuel

​RIMMINGTON, SAMUEL (1755?–1826), lieutenant-general, royal artillery, was born about 1755, and was appointed second lieutenant in the royal artillery on 15 March 1771, first lieutenant 7 July 1779, captain 1 Dec. 1782, lieutenant-colonel 1 Jan. 1798, colonel 25 April 1808, major-general 4 June 1811, and lieutenant-general 19 July 1821. His name appears in the ‘Army Lists’ as Remington and Rimington. In April 1771 he embarked for Quebec, went thence to Montreal, and in August proceeded with a detachment to Niagara. In June 1773 he returned to Quebec and embarked for England. In December 1775 he went on the recruiting service. In March 1776 he sailed with four companies of artillery for Quebec, and was on the staff. He was present at the affair of the Three Rivers, Canada, under Lord Dorchester, on 4 June of the same year; and he commanded one of the gunboats at the attack on the American fleet on Lake Champlain on 11 Oct. In July 1777 he crossed the lake with the army under General Burgoyne, and was appointed commissary of horse by General Philips. He was present at Freeman's Farm on 19 Sept., as well as at the later actions, until the army surrendered as prisoners by convention. In 1781 he was transferred to the artillery at New York, and commanded a detachment of artillery at Poleshook and Kingsbridge until the peace took place, when in 1783 he received orders to dismantle these posts, and send the guns and ammunition on board the transports. In October of the same year he received a warrant from Lord Dorchester to proceed to Bermuda to inspect and disband the garrison battalion, which took place in May 1784. He then returned to England, but in 1787 left for Canada, where he remained till, in February 1791, he was appointed to command the artillery in Scotland. In 1802, owing to ill-health, he was allowed to retire to the invalid battalion of the royal artillery at Woolwich, where he died on 26 Jan. 1826.
[Army Lists; Gent. Mag. 1826, i. 274.]
B. H. S.