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

​SMITH, Sir MONTAGU EDWARD (1809–1891), judge, was the eldest son of Thomas Smith, solicitor and town clerk of Bideford, Devonshire, by his wife, Margaret Colville, daughter of M. Jenkyn of St. Mawes, Cornwall, commander in the royal navy. He was born at Bideford on 25 Dec. 1809, and was educated at the grammar school of his native town. He started in life as an attorney, but was admitted to Gray's Inn on 11 Nov. 1830, and was called to the bar on 18 Nov. 1835. Smith joined the western circuit, and on 11 May 1839 was admitted to the Middle Temple. He was appointed a queen's counsel in Trinity vacation 1853, and was elected a bencher of the Middle Temple on 22 Nov. in that year. After unsuccessfully contesting Truro in January 1849 and July 1852, he was returned for that constituency in the conservative interest at the general election in April 1859. He occasionally spoke in the house on legal topics, but took little part in the debates. In the session of 1861 he brought in a bill for the limitation of crown suits (Parl. Debates, 3rd ser. clxiii. 1584–6), which received the royal assent on 1 Aug. (24 & 25 Vict. cap. 62). In 1863, and again in 1864, he called the attention of the house to the insufficient accommodation in the law courts (Parl. Debates, 3rd ser. clxxii. 605–7, clxxvi. 363–6). He served as the treasurer of the Middle Temple in 1863. He was appointed a justice of the common pleas by Lord Westbury on 7 Feb. 1865, and duly received the order of the coif. He was knighted on 18 May following. After sitting in the common pleas for six years and a half he was (November 1871) appointed, under the provisions of 34 & 35 Vict. cap. 91, a member of the judicial committee of the privy council, with a salary of 5,000l. a year. He was appointed a commissioner under the Courts of Justice Building Act, 1865, on 29 June in that year (Parl. Papers, 1871, vol. xx.), and a member of the universities committee of the privy council ​on 12 Dec. 1877 (London Gazette, 1877, ii. 7241). He resigned his judicial office on 12 Dec. 1881, and died, unmarried, at No. 32 Park Lane, London, on 3 May 1891.
Smith was a sound lawyer and a persuasive rather than an eloquent advocate. He excelled in clear analysis of facts and authorities, and made an accurate and painstaking judge.
[Ann. Reg. 1891, ii. 161; Men and Women of the Time, 13th edit. p. 832; Boase's Collect. Cornub. 1890, pp. 909–10; Foss's Biographia Juridica, 1870, p. 617; Foster's Register of Admissions to Gray's Inn, 1889, p. 441; Shaw's Inns of Court Calendar, 1878, p. 8; Foster's Men at the Bar, 1885, p. 434; Block's Table of Judges, &c., 1887, pp. 9, 16, 23; Times, 5 and 8 May 1891; McCalmont's Parliamentary Poll Book, 1879, p. 256; Dod's Parl. Companion, 1865, p. 290; Official Return of Lists of Members of Parliament, ii. 446; Haydn's Book of Dignities, 1890.]
G. F. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomlins, Frederick Guest

​TOMLINS, FREDERICK GUEST (1804–1867), journalist, was born in August 1804. He was originally in the employment of Whittaker & Co., publishers, London, as publishing clerk and literary assistant to George Byrom Whittaker [q. v.] Soon after Whittaker's death in 1847, he commenced business as a publisher in Southampton Street, Strand, London, and there issued a publication called ‘The Self-Educator.’ He next opened a shop for new and secondhand books in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, near the British Museum; but after a while he abandoned business for literary pursuits. In 1831 he was a contributor to Henry Hetherington's ‘Poor Man's Guardian,’ and afterwards to the ‘Weekly Times,’ in which he published the series of articles signed ‘Littlejohn.’ He was for some time sub-editor of ‘Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper,’ and was editorially connected with the ‘Weekly Times’ and with the ‘Leader.’
Tomlins was well acquainted with Shakespeare and Shakespearean literature, and he was the founder of the Shakespeare Society in 1840, and acted as the society's secretary. From 1850 to his death he was the dramatic and fine-art critic of the ‘Morning Advertiser.’ On the death of his uncle, in 1864, he succeeded him as clerk of the Painter-Stainers' Company, an office which had been held by his grandfather. His tragedy, ‘Garcia, or the Noble Error,’ was produced at Sadler's Wells on 12 Dec. 1849 (Sunday Times, 16 Dec. 1849). He died at the Painter-Stainers' Hall, Little Trinity Lane, London, on 21 Sept. 1867, and was buried at St. Peter's Church, Croydon, on 27 Sept.
He was the author of: 1. ‘A Universal Gazetteer, Ancient and Modern,’ 1836, 2 vols. 2. ‘The Past and Present State of Dramatic Art and Literature,’ 1839. 3. ‘A History of England from the Invasion of the Romans,’ 1839, 3 vols.; another edit. 1857, 3 vols. 4. ‘A Brief View of the English Drama, with suggestions for elevating the present condition of the art,’ 1840. 5. ‘The Nature and State of the English Drama,’ 1841. 6. ‘The Relative Value of the Acted and Unacted Drama,’ 1841.
[Bookseller, 30 Sept. 1867; Era, 29 Sept. 1867; Men of the Time, 1865.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tompson, Richard

​TOMPSON, RICHARD (d. 1693?), printseller, carried on business in London during the reign of Charles II, and was associated with Alexander Browne [q. v.] in the publication of the latter's ‘Ars Pictoria.’ Like Browne he issued a series of mezzotint portraits of royal and other notable persons of his time, none of which bear the engraver's name. It has been conjectured that these were scraped by Tompson himself, but it is clear that more than one hand was employed upon them; some are entirely in the manner of Paul van Somer [q. v.], while others much resemble that of G. Valck and J. Vandervaart. Tompson is stated to have died in 1693. There is a mezzotint portrait of him en​graved by F. Place from a picture by G. Zoest, and this has been copied by W. Bond as an illustration to Walpole's ‘Anecdotes of Painting.’
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Toms, Peter

​TOMS, PETER (d. 1777), painter, herald, and royal academician, was son of William Henry Toms, an engraver of note early in the eighteenth century, from whom John Boydell [q. v.], alderman and engraver, took lessons. Toms was a pupil of Thomas Hudson (1701–1779) [q. v.], and practised as a portrait-painter. He met, however, with little success except as a painter of drapery, in which he succeeded so well that about 1753 he was engaged by Sir Joshua Reynolds to paint draperies in his pictures. Subsequently he did similar work for Benjamin West and Francis Cotes. He had in 1746 been appointed Portcullis Pursuivant in the Heralds' College, a post which he held until his death. In 1763 he accompanied the Duke of Northumberland to Ireland as painter to the viceroy, but did not succeed in that country. In 1768 he was elected one of the foundation members of the Royal Academy, an honour due probably to his relations with Reynolds and West. After the death of Cotes, his principal employer, Toms became depressed in spirits, intemperate, and finally committed suicide on 1 Jan. 1777. He had but seldom contributed to the Royal Academy exhibitions.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Layfield, John

​LAYFIELD, JOHN, D.D. (d. 1617), divine, was admitted scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, 18 April 1578, and became minor fellow 2 Oct. 1583, major fellow 29 April 1585, lector linguæ Græciæ in 1598, and examinator grammaticæ in 1599. He was probably the 'chaplain and attendant' ​of George Clifford, third earl of Cumberland, during his expedition against the West Indies in 1598, and wrote 'A large relation of the Porto Ricco voiage . . . very much abbreviated.' which is printed in Purchas's 'Pilgrims.' iv. 1156, London, 1625, fol. He was appointed rector of St. Clement Danes, London, 23 March 1601, and appears to have resigned his fellowship at Trinity in 1603. In 1606 his name appears among the revisers of the Bible in the list of those divines who sat at Westminster, and revised Genesis to 2 Kings inclusive. 'Being skilled in architecture his judgment was much relied on for the fabric of the Tabernacle and Temple' (Collier, Ecclesiastical History, 1852, vii. 337). In 1610 he was created a fellow of the newly founded Chelsea College. He continued to be rector of St. Clement Danes till his death on 6 Nov. 1617.
[Information kindly supplied by Dr. W. Aldis Wright from the archives of Trinity College, Cambridge; Wood's Fasti Oxon. (ed. Bliss), i. 427 (but the suggestion that Edmund Layfleld wrote the 'Porto Ricco Voyage' is not to be accepted); Cardwell's Documentary Annals, ii. 106; Stow Survey of London.]
R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Layard, Daniel Peter

​LAYARD, DANIEL PETER (1721–1802), physician, born in 1721, was the son of Major Layard. On 9 March 1742 he graduated M.D. at Rheims. In April 1747 he was appointed physician-accoucheur to Middlesex Hospital, but resigned shortly afterwards on account of ill-health, and went abroad. In 1750 he settled at Huntingdon, and practised there for twelve years. On 3 July 1752 he was admitted a licentiate of ​the College of Physicians. About 1762 he returned to London and soon obtained an extensive practice as an accoucheur. He was physician to the Princess Dowager of Wales, fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Göttingen, and a vice-president of the British Lying-in Hospital, of which he had been one of the founders. On 20 June 1792 he had the honorary degree of D.C.L. conferred upon him at Oxford (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886, iii. 827). He died at Greenwich in February 1802 (Gent. Mag. vol. lxxii. pt. i. p. 281). His son, Charles Peter Layard (1748-1808), successively prebendary of Bangor, prebendary of Worcester (1793), and dean of Bristol (1800), was grandfather of Sir Austen Henry Layard.
Layard contributed some papers to the 'Philosophical Transactions,' and published: 1. 'An Essay on the Nature, Causes, and Cure of the Contagious Distemper among the Horned Cattle in these Kingdoms,' 8vo, London, 1757. 2. 'An Essay on the Bite of a Mad Dog,' 8vo, London, 1762. 3. 'An Account of the Somersham Water in the County of Huntingdon,' 8vo, London, 1767. 4. 'Pharmacopœia in usum Gravidarum Puerperarum,' &c., 8vo, London, 1776.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. 1878, ii. 181-2.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Myers, Thomas

​MYERS, THOMAS (1774–1834), mathematician and geographer, was born 13 Feb. 1774, at Hovingham, near York, of a family long settled in the county. In 1806 he was appointed professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He died 21 April 1834, at his residence in Lee Park, Blackheath. In 1807 he married Anna Maria, youngest daughter of John Hale, esq., by whom he had issue. His son Frederic Myers is separately noticed.
Myers wrote: 1. 'A Compendious System of Modern Geography, with Maps,' 1812, London, 8vo; re-edited ten years later in 2 vols. 4to. 2. 'A Statistical Chart of Europe,' 1813. 3. 'An Essay on Improving the Condition of the Poor, . . . with Hints on the Means of Employing those who are now Discharged from His Majesty's Service,' 1814. 4. 'A Practical Treatise on finding the Latitude and Longitude at Sea, with Tables, &c., translated from the French of M. de Rossel' [1815]. 5. 'Remarks on a Course of Education designed to prepare the Youthful Mind for a career of Honour, Patriotism, and Philanthropy,' 1818. In this the author, described as honorary member of the London Philosophical Society, recommends the study of mathematics, and especially of geometry, 'not only for checking the wanderings of a volatile disposition, . . . but for inspiring the mind with a love of truth.' The work was reprinted in the twelfth volume of the 'Pamphleteer.' Myers also wrote essays, chiefly on astronomical subjects, in various of the annual numbers of 'Time's Telescope' from 1811 onwards. The memoir of Captain Parry, introduced in one of these, and an 'Essay on Man' are highly praised in the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' 1823 p. 524, 1825 p. 541.
[Myers's Works; Gent. Mag. 1834, pt. i. p. 108; information from the family.]
J. H. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mykelfeld, William

​MYKELFELD, MAKELSFELD, MACLESFELD, or MASSET, WILLIAM (d. 1304), cardinal, was born, according to the 'Dictionnaire des Cardinaux,' at Coventry, during the pontificate of Innocent IV, that is to say, between 1243 and 1254. He is said by some to have been born at Canterbury; there is no evidence to show that he belonged either to the family of Macclesfield of Macclesfield in Cheshire (cf. Ancient Parish of Prestbury, Chetham Society, pp. 168 sq.), or to that of Watford (cf. Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani, Rolls Ser. i. 480). He became a friar-preacher at Coventry and completed his education in the 'gymnasium sanjacobeum' at Paris, where he proceeded B.D. Returning to England he was elected fellow of Merton College, Oxford, in 1291, and proceeded D.D. He lectured in Oxford and was a great authority on the Bible; mingling also in the controversies of the time and confuting the heresies of William Delamere. In clerical politics he was a disciplinarian, and probably was no friend to the laxity which prevailed under Boniface VIII. In 1303 he represented his order on the nomination, it is supposed, of Edward I, at the synod of Besançon. Benedict XI nominated him cardinal priest with the title of St. Sabina on 18 Dec. 1303, but it is doubtful whether the news reached him, as he died while on his way to England early in 1304 (Migne cannot be right in dating the appointment of his successor 1303). Walter Winterburn (d. 1305), confessor to the king and also a friar-preacher, was at once made cardinal of St. Sabina in his stead. The following works are attributed to Mykelfeld by Echard: 1. 'Postillæ in sacra Biblia.' 2. 'In Evangelium de decem Virginibus.' 3. 'Questiones de Angelis.' 4. 'Questiones Ordinariæ.' 5. 'Contra Henricum de Gandavo, in quibus impugnat S. Thomam de Aquino.' 6. 'Contra Corruptorem S.Thomseæ.' 7. 'De Unitate Formarum.' 8. ' De Comparatione Statuum.' 9. 'Orationes ad Clerum.' 10. 'Varia Problemata.'
[Echard's Scriptores Ord. Praed. i. 493-4; Brodrick's Memorials of Merton (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), p. 182; Folkstone Williams's Lives of the English Cardinals, i. 432-3; Migne's Dictionnaire des Cardinaux; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. (s.v. 'Massetus,' 518); Rishanger's Chron. (Rolls Ser.), p. 221.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Urswick, Thomas

​URSWICK, Sir THOMAS (d. 1479), judge, was apparently son of Thomas Urswick of Badsworth and Uprawcliff, and was related to Christopher Urswick [q. v.] He was educated in the study of law, but at what inn is not known. On 27 June 1453 he was appointed common serjeant of London, and on 3 Oct. 1455 became recorder. Like most London citizens, he sided with the Yorkists in the wars of the roses, and in July 1460, after the arrival of Warwick and Edward, earl of March (afterwards Edward IV), in London, Urswick was placed on a commission to try Lancastrian partisans at the Guildhall (Rot. Parl. vi. 19). Similarly, when Margaret of Anjou had won the second battle of St. Albans (17 Feb. 1460– ​1461), he was sent by the lord mayor to Barnet to excuse the delay of the citizens in sending her supplies. He was elected member for London to Edward IV's parliaments in 1461 and 1467. On 14 June 1461 he was placed on a commission for gaol delivery, and on 8 June 1463 on a commission of oyer and terminer for London. He frequently sat on similar commissions in the succeeding years (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1461–7 passim). In 1471, on Edward IV's return after Warwick's rebellion, Urswick secretly admitted him to the city of London (Warkworth, pp. 15, 21), and after the battle of Tewkesbury (4 May) vigorously opposed Fauconberg's attack on the city (Sharpe, London and the Kingdom, i. 298, 313, 316, 317). As a reward he was knighted on 14 June following, and on 22 May 1472 was appointed chief baron of the exchequer. The promotion was a recompense for political services, and Urswick's legal attainments appear to have been insignificant. His name does not occur in the year-books before his elevation to the bench, and only appears in the judgments of the exchequer in four terms during the eight years he held the chief-justiceship. He died in 1479, and was buried in the chancel of Dagenham church, Essex. By his first wife, whose maiden name was Needham, Urswick had issue one daughter, who became a nun. His second wife was Anne, daughter of Richard Rich (d. 1469), a rich merchant of London, and great-grandfather of Richard, first baron Rich [q. v.] By her Urswick had issue four sons and eight daughters, of whom all but five daughters predeceased him. His widow married in 1482 John Palmer of Otford, Kent.
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Urry, John (1666-1715)

​URRY, JOHN (1666–1715), editor of Chaucer, born in Dublin in 1666, was the son of William Urry, by his wife, Jane Scott. William Urry was appointed major of the royal guards in Scotland at the Restoration. He was of Scottish family, and his brother, Sir John Urry or Hurry [q. v.], was a prominent officer in the civil war. The younger John Urry matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 30 June 1682, was elected to a studentship, and graduated B.A. in 1686. He was a man of strong loyalist principles, and bore arms against Monmouth during the rising. On the accession of William III he refused the oath of supremacy and lost his studentship. About the end of 1711 a new edition of Chaucer was projected, and Urry, much against his inclination, was persuaded to undertake it, chiefly through the urgency of the dean of Christ Church, Francis Atterbury [q. v.], afterwards bishop of Rochester. On 25 July 1714 he obtained a patent for the exclusive right of printing Chaucer's works for fourteen years, and on 17 Dec. assigned it to Barnaby Bernard Lintot [q. v.], who issued proposals for publishing the undertaking in January 1714–15 (cf. Gent. Mag. 1779, p. 438). Before the work was completed, Urry died unmarried on 18 March 1714–15, and was buried in the cathedral at Oxford. After his death Thomas Ainsworth of Christ Church, who had already been employed under Urry in transcribing part of the text of Chaucer, was thought the best qualified to proceed with the edition. He died in August 1719, and the work was finally revised by Timothy Thomas, another graduate of Christ Church, and appeared in 1721 under the title ‘The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer compared with the former editions and many valuable MSS.’ (London, fol.). The life of Chaucer prefixed to the volume was the work of the Rev. John Dart, corrected and revised by Timothy Thomas. The glossary appended was also mainly compiled by Thomas. The text of the edition is probably the worst ever prepared on account of Urry's unpardonable habit of lengthening and shortening Chaucer's words, and even introducing words of his own to suit his views of the metre. Urry was a friend of Thomas Hearne, who styles him a ‘thorough pac'd scholar’ and a ‘truly worthy and virtuous, as well as ingenious, gentleman.’ A portrait of Urry, engraved by N. Pigné, is prefixed to the work.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Urquhart, Thomas (fl.1650?)

​URQUHART, THOMAS (fl. 1650?), violin-maker, was distinguished among old London makers by the beauty of his style, and especially by the excellence of his varnish. Some of Urquhart's instruments are small in ​size; all are said to have been pure and silvery in tone. A violin with the Urquhart label, dated 1666, is in Mr. Hill's collection.
There is in the possession of Mr. John Glen, Edinburgh, an old flute, stamped with Urquhart's name, and characteristically varnished, but it is not possible to decide that this instrument was made by the celebrated Urquhart.
[Grove's Dict. iv. 210, 283; Hart's The Violin, pp. 168, 202, 317; Pearce's Violin-makers, p. 85; Davidson's The Violin; Sandys and Forster's Hist. of the Violin, p. 249; Fleming's Old Violins; Fiddle Fancier's Guide, p. 124; information kindly given by Mr. Arthur Hill, Mr. John Glen, and Mr. Alfred Moffat.]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Poole, Sophia

​POOLE, SOPHIA (1804–1891), author of the ‘Englishwoman in Egypt,’ was the youngest child of the Rev. Theophilus Lane, D.C.L., prebendary of Hereford, where she was born on 16 Jan. 1804, and the sister of Edward William Lane [q. v.] In 1829 she married Edward Richard Poole, M.A. of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, barrister-at-law, but recently admitted to holy orders, a notable book-collector and bibliographer, an intimate of Thomas Frognall Dibdin [q. v.], and anonymous author of ‘The Classical Collector's Vade Mecum’ (1822). In 1842 Mrs. Poole and her two sons accompanied her brother to Egypt, and lived in Cairo for seven years, where she visited some of the harîms of Mohammad 'Ali's family, and obtained a considerable knowledge of domestic life in Mohammadan society, as yet but slightly modified by western influences. The results of her experiences were embodied in a series of letters, published, under the title of ‘The Englishwoman in Egypt,’ in Knight's weekly volumes (2 vols. 1844, and a second series forming vol. iii. 1846). The book supplies a true and simple picture of the life of the women of Egypt, together with historical notices of Cairo—these last were drawn from Lane's notes and revised by him. After Mrs. Poole's return to England with her brother in 1849, she collaborated with her younger son, Reginald Stuart Poole [q. v.], in a series of descriptions of Frith's ‘Photographic Views of Egypt, Sinai, and Palestine’ (1860–1). After the early education of her children, her life was mainly devoted to her brother, Edward Lane, up to his death in 1876; and her last years were spent in her younger son's house at the British Museum, where she died, 6 May 1891, at the age of eighty-seven.
The elder son, Edward Stanley Poole (1830–1867), was an Arabic scholar, and edited the new edition of his uncle Lane's ‘Thousand and One Nights’ (3 vols. 1859), and the fifth edition of ‘The Modern Egyptians’ (1860); he also wrote many articles for Smith's ‘Dictionary of the Bible,’ besides contributing to the eighth edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ and occasionally to periodical literature. He became chief clerk of the science and art department, and died prematurely on 12 March 1867, leaving two sons, Stanley Lane-Poole and Reginald L. Poole.
[Private information.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Poole, Joshua

​POOLE, JOSHUA (fl. 1640), was admitted a subsizar at Clare Hall, Cambridge, on 17 Jan. 1632, and was placed under the tuition of Barnabas Oley. He graduated M.A., and for some time had charge of a private school kept in the house of one Francis Atkinson at Hadley, near Barnet in ‘Middlesex,’ as he describes it in ‘The English Parnassus.’ Poole, who died before 1657, published: ‘The English Accidence, or a Short and Easy Way for the more Speedy Attaining to the Latine Tongue,’ 4to, 1646; reprinted 1655, and, with a slightly different title, 1670. ‘The English Parnassus, or a Helpe to English Poesie,’ 8vo, 1657 (reprinted 1677), though a posthumous publication, has a dedication to Francis Atkinson, in whose house it was compiled, signed by Poole, who has also prefixed ten pages of verse addressed to ‘the hopeful young gentlemen his scholars.’ ​He also wrote and prepared for publication a work on English rhetoric, but it does not appear to have been printed.
G. T. D.