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

​SLADE, FELIX (1790–1868), virtuoso and art benefactor, born at Lambeth in August 1790, was the younger son of Robert Slade, for many years secretary of the Irish Society, who realised a fortune as a proctor in Doctors' Commons, and died at his house in Walcot Place, Lambeth, on 26 Aug. 1835, being then deputy-lieutenant for Surrey. Robert Slade married Eliza, daughter of Edward Foxcroft of Halsteads in the parish of Thornton-in-Lonsdale, Yorkshire, and on the death of his elder brother, William, on 10 Jan. 1858, the Halsteads property passed to Felix. The latter became known as a liberal purchaser of books, bindings, and engravings; but the ​most remarkable of his collections was one of glass, on which he spent 8,000l. An elaborate catalogue was prepared, under the editorship of Sir A. W. Franks, richly illustrated, and with a preliminary dissertation by Alexander Nesbitt (privately printed, London, 1871, large 4to). Slade was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1866. He frequently contributed to the exhibitions of the Archæological Institute, and some of the curious objects in his collections were illustrated and described in their journal. Slade died unmarried at Walcot Place on 29 March 1868, and his will was proved on 21 April. The personalty was sworn under 160,000l. Under the fifth codicil the testator bequeathed to the British Museum his valuable collection of ancient and modern glass, his Japanese carvings, and a selection of his pottery made by his friend and executor, Sir A. W. Franks. He bequeathed 3,000l. to be laid out upon additions to his collection of glass. A selection of his choice engravings and manuscripts, on which he had spent 16,000l., was also bequeathed to the museum, together with samples of his specimens of ancient binding. The testator then directed that 35,000l. should be expended upon the endowment of (Slade) professorships for promoting the study of the fine arts at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and at University College, London, with an additional endowment to the latter of six art scholarships of 50l. each per annum for students under nineteen. The first Slade professor in London was Sir Edward Poynter, whose inaugural lecture (giving some account of the disposition of Slade's bequest) was delivered at University College on 2 Oct. 1871 (Poynter, Lectures on Art, 1879). Mr. Ruskin was the first Slade professor at Oxford, and Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt at Cambridge. Slade's munificence to charitable institutions was scarcely less extensive.
A coloured chalk portrait by Mrs. Margaret Sarah Carpenter [q. v.], dated 1851, is in the print room at the British Museum.
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Slade, Matthew

Contains subarticle Matthew Slade (1628–1689)
​SLADE, MATTHEW (1569–1628?), divine, born at South Perrot, Dorset, in 1569, was second son of John Slade (d. 1574), rector of South Perrot, who married in 1567 Joan, daughter of John Owsley of Misterton, Somerset. The elder son, Samuel (1568–1612?), graduated B.A. at Oxford 1586, M.A. 1594, became vicar of Embleton, Northumberland, but resigned the living to travel in Europe and the east in search of manuscripts, and died in Zante before 1613 (Brodrick, Mem. of Merton Coll., Oxford Hist. Soc., p. 274).
Matthew matriculated at St. Alban Hall on 29 Oct. 1585, and graduated B.A. on 13 Jan. 1589 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714, iii. 1363). He taught a school in Devonshire, and married, on 20 Sept. 1593, Alethea (d. 1614), daughter of Richard Kirford, near Honiton. But about 1597 he went to Amsterdam, and became one of the first elders of the Brownist congregation there (Dexter, Congregationalism, p. 278). He seems to have given offence to the separatists [see under Smyth, John, (d. 1610)] by attending the Dutch church (Johnson, Discourse of some Troubles, Amsterdam, 1603, 4to, passim). About 1614 he was appointed rector of the academy or gymnasium there. He threw himself into the Arminian and Socinian controversy, and when, upon the death of Arminius in 1611, Conrad Vorstius was appointed his successor as theological professor at Leyden, Slade wrote ‘Cum Conrado Vorstio de Blasphemiis Hæresibus & Atheismis a rege Jacobo I in ejusdem Vorstii de Deo Tractatu & Exegesi apologeticâ nigro theta notatis, Scholasticæ Disceptationis Pars Prima,’ Amsterdam, 1612, 4to (Bodleian Library); Pars Altera, Amsterdam, 1614 (Brit. Mus. and Bodl.). Vorstius was compelled by the States, at James I's instigation, to quit Leyden in 1612.
Slade was a good scholar; Wood calls him ‘a walking library.’ He was on intimate terms with Isaac Casaubon [q. v.], Gerard Vossius, Scaliger, and the savants of the time. He corresponded with Sibrand Lubbertus, the professor of Franeker University from 1611 to 20 Aug. 1620, and with Sir Dudley Carleton [q. v.], ambassador at the Hague. He wrote on 20 Jan. 1618 that he sent to Carleton a work on the Arminian controversy which he had completed in fourteen days and nights. He died about 1628.
His son Cornelius, born at Amsterdam on 14 Oct. 1599, was professor of Hebrew and other languages there, and became rector of the academy on 9 May 1628, perhaps following his father. He married Gertrude, daughter of Luke Ambrose, an English preacher there, and was father of
Matthew Slade (1628–1689), born 9 June 1628 in England, who became a doctor of physic. Under the anagram of Theodorus ‘Aldes,’ Matthew wrote ‘Dissertatio epistolica de Generatione Animalium contra Harveium’ (Amsterdam, 1666, 12mo; reprinted twice at Frankfurt in 1668, 4to), and was author of several learned medical treatises. Matthew died, while travelling in a stage-coach, on Shotover Hill, near Oxford, on 20 Dec. 1689, and was buried at St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford, on the 22nd.
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Skynner, Lancelot

​SKYNNER, LANCELOT (1766?–1799), captain in the navy, eldest son of John Skynner, B.D. (1725–1805), rector of Easton in Northamptonshire, and presumably nephew of Captain Lancelot Skynner—who, in command of the Bideford frigate, was killed in action with the French frigate Malicieuse, on 4 April 1760—entered the navy under the patronage of Captain John Ford on board the Brilliant in October 1779. He afterwards served in the Nymph on the East India station, and in the Pégase and Thisbe on the home station. He passed his examination on 3 Oct. 1787, being then, by his certificate, ‘more than 21.’ On 12 Nov. 1790 he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Cygnet, from which, in the following July, he was discharged to half-pay. In February 1793 he was appointed to the Aimable, in February 1794 to the Theseus, and in July to the Boyne, flagship of Sir John Jervis [q. v.] (afterwards Earl of St. Vincent) in the West Indies. On 1 Nov. 1794 he was promoted to the command of the Zebra sloop, and, remaining in the West Indies, was posted on 16 Sept. to the Pique, from which he was, within a few weeks, moved to the Beaulieu of forty guns, one of the squadron which in April–May 1796 reduced the island of Saint Lucia. In the summer of 1799 he was appointed to the 32-gun frigate Lutine, attached to the fleet in the North Sea, and in her sailed from Yarmouth for the Texel on 9 Oct. with several passengers and treasure, stated to amount to six hundred thousand dollars, belonging to various ‘commercial houses in Hamburg.’ The same night, in a heavy gale from the N.N.W., with a strong lee-tide, she was driven on shore and utterly lost. Skynner and the whole of the crew, except one, perished. At different times attempts have been made by private speculators to recover the treasure, but without any success.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simpson

​SIMPSON. [See also Simson.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simpson, David

1904 Errata appended.
​SIMPSON, DAVID (1745–1799), divine, was the son of Ralph Simpson, farmer at Ingleby Arncliffe, near Northallerton, Yorkshire, where he was born on 12 Oct. 1745. After education at Northallerton, and then at Scorton grammar school under the Rev. John Noble, he proceeded in October 1765 to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1769 and M.A. in 1772. In 1767 he made the acquaintance of the Rev. Theophilus Lindsey [q. v.], by whom he was ‘converted.’ His first curacy was at Ramsden Bellhouse, Essex, under his friend William Cawthorne Unwin. At the end of two years he became curate of Buckingham, where he remained twelve months, leaving on account of opposition excited by his over-earnest preaching. Then he went to Macclesfield, Cheshire, and was appointed assistant curate of St. Michael's Church on 1 June 1772. Here after some little time the ‘methodistical’ earnestness of his preaching caused him to be brought to the notice of Dr. Markham, bishop of Chester, who deprived him of his curacy. On the death of Thomas Hewson, prime curate of Macclesfield, in 1778, he was nominated by the mayor as his successor; but this appointment was so strongly opposed, on the ground that he was a methodist, that he refused it. On the consecration of Christ Church, however, in 1779 he was appointed the first incumbent, and he remained there for the rest of his life. John Wesley was a warm friend of Simpson, and often preached at his church. For some time he added to his income by keeping a school. He also carried on an evening charity school, and this was succeeded by a Sunday school, opened in 1796. He died on 24 March 1799, and was buried at Christ Church. He was twice married—first, about 1773, to Ann Waldy of Yarm, Yorkshire, who died on 16 Sept. 1774, leaving a daughter. His second wife, Elizabeth Davy, by whom he had three children, predeceased him a few days.
Simpson's works comprise: 1. ‘Collection of Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs,’ 1776; curious from its quotations from Shakespeare, Spenser, and other poets (see Notes and Queries, 5th ser. x. 469, xi. 75). 2. ‘Sacred Literature, shewing the Holy Scriptures to be superior to the most celebrated Writings of Antiquity,’ &c., 4 vols. 1788–90. 3. ‘Portraits of Human Characters,’ 1790. 4. ‘The Excellency and Greatness of a Religious Mind,’ 1790. 5. ‘Discourses on Dreams and Night Visions,’ 1791. 6. ‘Essay on the Authenticity of the New Testament,’ 1793. 7. ‘Key to the Prophecies,’ 1795; 3rd edit. 1812. 8. ‘A Plea for Religion and the Sacred Writings,’ 1797; often reprinted; an edition ​of 1802 has a memoir by John Gaulter, and one in 1837 a memoir by Sir John B. Williams. 9. ‘An Apology for the Doctrine of the Trinity,’ 1798; reprinted in 1812, with memoir by Edward Parsons.
C. W. S.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.250 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 268 | ii | 20 f.e. | Simpson, David: for Shropshire read Yorkshire |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simpson, Elspeth

​SIMPSON, ELSPETH (1738–1791), founder of Buchanites. [See Buchan.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simon of Faversham

​SIMON of Faversham (fl. 1300), philosophical writer, studied theology at Oxford, but afterwards turned to philosophy. He was ordained sub-deacon at Croydon in September 1289 (Regist. Epist. Peckham, Arch. Cant., iii. 1051, Rolls Ser.), and deacon probably in the September of the following year at Bocking (ib. p. 1053). In the same year he was presented by Archbishop John Peckham [q. v.] to the church of Preston, near Faversham (ib. p. 1011), and probably at a later period was rector of Burton, also in Kent (Bale, Script. Illustr. Brit. Cat. i. 471). In 1303, as prebendary of Hereford, he was attached to the church of Hampton Bishop (Le Neve, Fasti Eccles. Angl. i. 505, ed. Hardy), and about 1304 was chancellor of Oxford (Wood, Fasti, App. p. 17). In September 1305 he was made archdeacon of Canterbury (Le Neve, l. c. p. 39), but in November the pope appointed Bernard de Eyci to this office, and Simon was ousted.
Several philosophical treatises are very doubtfully attributed to him. Among them is one on the ethics of Aristotle, extant in Balliol College Library, Oxford (Tanner, Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 673).
A. M. C.-e.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simons, Joseph

​SIMONS, JOSEPH (1594–1671), jesuit. [See Simeon.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simon of Montfort

​SIMON of Montfort, Earl of Leicester (1208?–1265). [See Montfort.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simon the Anchorite

Simon Appulby in the ODNB.
​SIMON the Anchorite (fl. 1512–1529), was author of a quaint little treatise of devotion, illustrated with woodcuts and printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1514, second edition 1530. The book consists of prayers and meditations upon our Saviour's life and death, and is entitled ‘The Fruyte of Redemcyon.’ It concludes as follows: ‘O all ye servantes of God … of your charitie praye for the Anker of London wall wretched Symon, that … hath compyled this mater in englysshe for your ghostly conforte that understande no latyn.’ Both editions are in the British Museum.
An account-book of the churchwardens of Allhallows on London Wall, covering the period (with several breaks) between 1456 and 1536, mentions Simon as one of a succession of anchorites or ‘ankers’ who occupied an apartment in the church, probably on the site of the present vestry, which is a semicircular chamber built on and forming part of the old London Wall. Simon and his predecessors enjoyed a great reputation for sanctity, and the offerings and gifts which they received must have been considerable. The anchorites appear throughout these accounts as liberal donors both to the regular expenses and the extraordinary necessities of the church of Allhallows. Simon's name first appears in the account for 1512, when he held ‘in redy money for the chorche, 25s.’ In the following year the churchwardens ‘receyved of the ankyr Syr Symon of the gaynes of a stande of ale whiche he gave to the cherche iiijs vjd. ob’ [i.e. 4s. 6½d.].
In a list of moneys lent by principal parishioners ‘Master Anker’ comes first with 32s. and is followed by ‘master parson,’ who lends 40s. The relations of the ‘Anker’ with the regular clergy and the parish at large were most amicable, and doubtless of mutual benefit. In 1529 Simon gave 32s. towards the new aisle then being built in the church. An inventory of the church goods records the gift by the ‘Anker’ of a great pax with three images of silver and a chalice given by ‘Sr. Symon Anker’ in 1522. The volume breaks off before the mention of Simon's death.
C. W-h.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simon the Little

​SIMON the Little (1530?–1606), Welsh bard. [See Simwnt.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simpson, Edward

​SIMPSON or SIMSON, EDWARD (1578–1651), divine, son of Edward Simpson, rector of Tottenham, was born at Tottenham on 9 May 1578. In 1592 he gained a queen's scholarship at Westminster school, and in 1596 was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1600, M.A. in 1603, and B.D. in 1610. In 1601 he was elected a fellow of Trinity, a position which he retained till 1628. In 1611 he became chaplain to Sir Moyle Finch of Eastwell in Kent, and remained there till the death of his patron four years later. In 1618, by the interest of Viscountess Maidstone, widow of Sir Moyle Finch, he was presented to the rectory of Eastling in Kent, and in the same year received the degree of D.D. In 1628 he was appointed prebendary of Coringham in the diocese of Lincoln, of which he was afterwards deprived by the sequestrators, and became rector of Pluckley in Kent, a living which he retained till 1649, when he resigned it to his son-in-law, Israel Tonge [q. v.] He died in 1651, having been twice married. By his first wife, the daughter of Richard Barham of Kent, he had an only daughter Jane, married to Israel Tonge, his successor at Pluckley. Simson's portrait is prefixed to Wesseling's edition of his ‘Chronicon.’
Simpson published: 1. ‘Chronicon Historiam Catholicam complectens, pars prima,’ Cambridge, 1636, 4to; published complete in two parts, Oxford, 1652, fol.; ed. Peter Wesseling, Leyden, 1729, fol. He is also credited by his biographer with 2. ‘Positive Divinity.’ 3. ‘Knowledge of Christ.’ 4. ‘God's Providence in regard to Evil or Sin.’ 5. ‘Notæ Selectiores in Horatium.’ 6. ‘Prælectiones in Persii Satyras.’ 7. ‘Anglicanæ Linguæ Vocabularium Etymologicum.’ 8. ‘Sanctæ Linguæ Soboles.’ 9. ‘Dii Gentium.’
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Monteage, Stephen

​MONTEAGE, STEPHEN (1623?–1687), merchant and accountant, born about 1623, was son of Stephen Monteage of Buckingham and of his wife Jane (d. 1670), daughter of Edward Deane of Pinnock in Gloucestershire. He was apprenticed to James Houblon, merchant, of London (Addit. MS. 29559, f. 175), with whose family he remained on terms of friendship all his life [see Houblon, Sir John]. Monteage did much towards bringing into general use the method of keeping accounts by double entry. In 1670 he was residing in Broad Street, London (ib. 29552, f. 406), and in 1677 in Winchester Street. He was agent to Christopher Hatton, first viscount Hatton (1632–1706) [q. v.], and his letters in that capacity are now in the British Museum. Monteage was as zealous in small matters as large; his letters are as precise in detail whether they refer to the extra yard or two of velvet which he saved by personally superintending the cutting-out of Lord Hatton's robe for the coronation of James II (ib. 29561, ff. 91–132), or to the large sums required for the payment of the troops in Guernsey. Monteage died on 21 Oct. 1687, and was buried in the church of All Hallows-on-the-Wall (parish register). He left several children. His eldest son, Dean Monteage, succeeded him as agent to Lord Hatton, and was accomptant-general to the commissioners of excise. Another son, John, who had been 'very chargeable in his education and travels abroad,' was in business as a merchant in January 1687, and was residing in Bond's Court, Walbrook, in 1694. Monteage also left two daughters. His grandson, Stephen Monteage (born 5 July 1681, son of Dean Monteage), was in 1735 stock accountant to the York Buildings Company of which company he was also a 'proprietor.' He was in 1738 employed on the accounts of the South Sea Company, and later on in the customs.
Monteage published: 1. 'Debtor and Creditor,' London, 1675, to which his portrait, engraved by E. le Davis, is prefixed. 2. 'Instructions for Rent-gatherers' Accompts, &c., made easie,' London, 1683.
[Granger's Biographical History of England, iv. 101; London Directory, 1677 (reprint of 1878); Browne Willis's Hist, of Buckingham, pp. 68, 72; P. C. C., 140, Foot; Political State, March 1735, p. 223; List of the Corporation of the York Buildings Company, 1735; Addit. MSS. 29555-64, passim; Diary of Stephen Monteage the younger, MS. 205 in the Guildhall Library.]
B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Monteath, George Cunningham

​MONTEATH, GEORGE CUNNINGHAM (1788–1828), physician and oculist, son of John Monteath, minister of the parish of Neilston, was born there on 4 Dec. 1788. He attended the medical classes in Glasgow, and afterwards studied under Sir Astley Cooper in London, where he was licensed as a practitioner by the Royal College of Surgeons. From 1809 to 1813 he acted as surgeon to the Northumberland regiment of militia, and then established himself in Glasgow as a physician and oculist. His practice increased rapidly. He was the first specialist in cases of eye disease to practise in Glasgow, and every case of difficulty in the west of Scotland came under his treatment. In 1821 he published a 'Manual of the Diseases of the Human Eye,' 2 vols. 8vo, which was long a standard book. Monteath died from a chill in Glasgow on 25 Jan. 1828.
[Chambers's Biog. Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen; Anderson's Popular Scotish Biography.]
G. S-h.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Montalba, Henrietta Skerrett

​MONTALBA, HENRIETTA SKERRETT (1856–1893), sculptor, born in London in 1856, was the youngest of the four daughters of Anthony Rubens and Emeline Montalba, all of whom, especially the eldest, Miss Clara Montalba, attained high repute as artists. Miss Montalba, who adopted sculpture for her branch of art, studied first at South Kensington, and then in the school of the Belle Arti at Venice. Later she became a pupil of M. Jules Dalou, the eminent French sculptor, during his residence in London. Miss Montalba first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1876, and her work was often seen at the Grosvenor Gallery, the New Gallery, and elsewhere. She mainly devoted herself to portrait or fancy busts; some executed in marble, like those, of Doctor Mezger of Amsterdam (Grosvenor Gallery, 1886), and Dr. Schollander, the Scandinavian artist; others in bronze, like that of the Marquis of Lorne; but the greater part of her work was executed in terra-cotta, as in the case of her bust of Robert Browning (Grosvenor Gallery, 1883). Other works worthy of note were 'A Dalecarlian Peasant Woman' and 'The Raven,' representing a raven seated on a bust of Pallas, from the poem by E. A. Poe. Her last work was of a more ambitious nature, being a life-size figure of 'A Venetian Boy catching a Crab,' executed in bronze, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1893, and at the International Exhibition, Chicago, in the same year. Miss Montalba was never separated from her family, residing in later days chiefly at Venice, and making ​frequent visits with them in Italy, Sweden, and elsewhere. Her pleasing and attractive personality gained her numerous friends. Besides her artistic gifts she possessed great linguistic talent. In 1892 her health began to fail her, and after a lingering illness she died at the Palazzo Trevisan, Zattere, Venice, on 14 Sept. 1893, and was buried near her father in the neighbouring cemetery of S. Michele. Miss Montalba was on terms of friendship with the Princess Louise (Marchioness of Lorne), who painted a portrait of her and presented it to the Academy of Ottawa in Canada (see The Queen, 7 Oct. 1893). Other portraits of her, by her sisters, Hilda and Ellen Montalba, remain in the possession of her family.
[The Queen, 7 Oct. 1893; private information; personal knowledge.]
L. C.