OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reid, John (1809-1849)

​REID, JOHN (1809–1849), anatomist, sixth child of Henry Reid, farmer, was born at Bathgate, West Lothian, on 9 April 1809. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University, taking his diploma on 12 July 1830, and being admitted a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, on 4 Oct. 1836. He was appointed assistant physician in the clinical wards of Edinburgh Infirmary in 1830, and in the succeeding year went to Paris to pursue his medical studies. Returning in 1832, he was sent, with three other Edinburgh physicians, to Dumfries during the outbreak of cholera there, and remained for several months actively engaged in arresting the progress of the epidemic. He subsequently became one of the most skilful demonstrators in the school of anatomy established at Old Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh, and won further distinction by the publication of essays on subjects connected with his profession. In 1836 he was appointed lecturer on physiology at the Edinburgh Extra-Academical Medical School, and in 1838 pathologist to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. On the death of Dr. Robert Briggs in 1841, Reid was appointed to the Chandos chair of anatomy in the university of St. Andrews, where he began a course of lectures on comparative anatomy and physiology, in addition to the regular work of the professorship. He also conducted systematic researches into the natural history of the marine fauna of the Fife coast, and in 1848 published a collection of papers on the subject, entitled ‘Physiological, Anatomical, and Pathological Researches,’ a volume remarkable for originality and accuracy of observation. He died, after protracted suffering, from cancer of the tongue in 1849.
[A biography of Reid was published by Dr. George Wilson, Edinburgh. See also Conolly's Eminent Men of Fife, p. 377, Statutes, Charter, &c. of the Royal Coll. of Physicians, Edinburgh; Chambers's Eminent Scotsmen.]
A. H. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reid, Robert (1773-1865)

​REID, ROBERT (1773–1865), topographer and antiquary, youngest son of John Reid, mahogany dealer and cabinet-maker in Glasgow, was born there on 27 Jan. 1773. He was educated at the grammar school and the university of Glasgow. In 1793 he commenced business as a muslin manufacturer, and in 1800 became a partner with his brother John as a wholesale mahogany dealer. On his brother's death he took over the business, adding to it that of cabinet-making and upholstery. In 1832 he sold off his stock-in-trade and retired from business. Devoting himself to literature, under the pseudonym of ‘Senex,’ he contributed for many years attractive and well-informed articles on local memorabilia to the ‘Glasgow Herald.’ These papers were afterwards collected and published, as ‘Glasgow Past and Present,’ in three volumes. Two volumes appeared in 1851 and the third in 1856. Reid's ‘Glasgow and its Environs’ was issued in 1864, and both works, with additions by other writers, were reprinted in three quarto volumes at Glasgow in 1884. The third volume, written entirely by Reid, contains his portrait and a short autobiography.
During the last years of his life Reid resided at Strahoun Lodge in the island of Cumbrae, where he died on 7 June 1865. Reid married, in 1809, a daughter of Robert Ewing, a merchant of London. She died in 1826. By her he had three sons. Reid was also author of: ‘Fragments regarding the Ancient History of the Hebrides,’ 12mo, Glasgow, 1850.
[Obituary notice in Glasgow Herald; autobiography, reprinted 1865.]
G. S-h.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reid, John (1776-1822)

​REID, JOHN, M.D. (1776–1822), physician, was born at Leicester in 1776, and after education at the school of Mr. Holland, a dissenting minister, went to the Hackney nonconformist academy for five years. He then studied medicine at Edinburgh, and there graduated M.D. on 12 Sept. 1798, reading a thesis ‘De Insania.’ He became a licentiate of the College of Physicians of London on 25 June 1804. He published in 1801 a translation from the French, ‘An Account of the Savage Youth of Avignon;’ in 1806 ‘A Treatise of Consumption,’ in which he states his belief that tubercles are inflammatory products, and have no real resemblance to caseous disease of lymphatic glands; and in 1816 ‘Essays on Insanity,’ of which an enlarged edition appeared in 1821 as ‘Essays on Hypochondriasis and other Nervous Affections.’ He generally writes with good sense, and relates a few interesting cases of mental disease, but has added nothing to medical knowledge. He was a contributor of medical reports to the ‘Old Monthly Magazine,’ gave lectures on the theory and practice of medicine, and was physician to the Finsbury Dispensary. His house was in Grenville Street, Brunswick Square, and he died there on 2 July 1822.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. iii. 14; Works.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reid, John (1808-1841?)

​REID, JOHN (1808–1841?), compiler of ‘Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica,’ born at Paisley on 2 April 1808, was the second son of John Reid, M.D., by Jean M'Gavin, sister to William M'Gavin [q. v.] of Glasgow. After receiving an education mostly from his father, he was apprenticed to a firm of booksellers in Glasgow. At the end of his apprenticeship he went to London, and entered the service of Messrs. Black & Young, foreign publishers. In a few years he again returned to Glasgow, where he started as bookseller and publisher on his own account. While studying Gaelic in 1825, a friend asked Reid to catalogue his Gaelic books for him. This led to the compilation of the ‘Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica,’ the manuscript of which accidentally fell into the hands of Sir John Sinclair, bart. [q. v.], in 1827. By him it was brought under the notice of the Highland Society of London, from which it received a premium in 1831. It was published in Glasgow by Reid himself in 1832.
While in Glasgow Reid took considerable interest in social reform and politics. He was a particular friend to the Polish exiles then in this country, and he was one of those active politicians who desired the Earl of Durham to lead a reconstructed radical party in parliament. With this end in view he published in 1835 a sketch of the earl's political career. Owing to his interest in public affairs he had a wide circle of friends, including Lord Dudley Stuart, Sir Daniel Macnee [q. v.] the painter, William Weir, who was latterly editor of the ‘Daily News,’ and William Motherwell [q. v.] the poet.
Reid was fond of travelling, and knew the continent well. In 1838 he went to Turkey on a prolonged visit, and in 1840 published his impressions of the country in ‘Turkey and the Turks, being the Present State of the Ottoman Empire,’ London, 1840. That year he gave up his publishing business in Glasgow and went to Hong Kong to edit an English journal and prepare a Chinese dictionary. He died at Hong Kong in either 1841 or 1842. He married, in 1836, Anne, daughter of Captain John McLaren, High Laws, Berwick, by whom he had one daughter.
Besides the works noticed and contributions to periodical literature, Reid published ‘Illustrations of Social Depravity,’ a series ​of booklets, Glasgow, 1834; and he prefixed a memoir of William McGavin to the latter's ‘Posthumous Works,’ 1834.
[Preface to Bibl. Scoto-Celtica; information kindly supplied by the Rev. William Reid, D.D., brother to the subject of the memoir.]
J. R. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reid, Robert (1776-1856)

​REID, ROBERT (1776–1856), of Lowood, architect, was born in 1776. He competed for the laying out of Moray Park, Edinburgh, and the lower part of the new town, begun early in the 19th century. In 1806 he designed the bank of Scotland; 1808–10, the new courts of justice, embracing three sides of Parliament Square, and the upper library of the Society of Writers to the Signet; 1810, the lunatic asylum, Morning Side; 1811–14, St. George's Church, the custom-house at Leith, and several other public buildings. He exhibited architectural designs at the Royal Academy, 1818–20. In 1820 he designed St. Salvator's College, St. Andrews, the east wing of which was completed in 1831 at a cost of about 10,000l. About the same time he made considerable additions to St. Mary's College. He was the last master of the king's works, or king's architect, in Scotland, an office abolished on 5 April 1840. He died at Edinburgh, 20 March 1856, and was buried in the Dean cemetery.
[Dictionary of Architecture; Graves's Dict of Artists; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists, s.v. Reed; Gent. Mag. 1856, i. 547.]
C. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Molyneux, Thomas (1531-1597)

​MOLYNEUX or MOLINEL, Sir THOMAS (1531–1597), chancellor of exchequer in Ireland, was born at Calais in 1531. His parents, of whom he was the only child, died while he was young, and he was brought up by John Brishin, an alderman of Calais. When that town was taken from the English by the Duke of Guise in 1558, Molyneux was made prisoner. Having ransomed himself by payment of five hundred crowns, he removed to Bruges, and there married Catherine Stabeort, daughter of an opulent burgomaster, portraits of both of whom are in the possession of Molyneux's descendants. On account of Alva's persecutions Molyneux removed to London in 1568, and in 1576 settled in Dublin (extract from 'Memoranda,' Roll of Excheq. of Ireland, p. 4). In 1578 he received a grant in connection with the town of Swords near that city, and was employed as surveyor of victuals for the army in Ireland and as deputy to the collector of customs on wines there. He was appointed chancellor of the exchequer in Ireland in 1590, and in the succeeding year obtained the office of receiver of customs and imposts on wines. At this time he contributed 40l. towards the building of Trinity College, Dublin. In consequence of an impugnment of the legality of Molyneux's official employment under the queen, on the allegation that he was an alien, an inquiry was instituted in the court of exchequer at Dublin in 1594. Witnesses examined there, before the attorney-general, deposed that Molyneux was an Englishman, born in Calais, while that town was under the crown of England; that he was a true and loyal subject, 'of Christian religion, using sermons and other goodly exercises' (ib. p. 4). Molyneux died at Dublin on 24 Jan. 1596-7, and was buried there in the cathedral of Christ Church. He left two daughters and two sons, Samuel and Daniel, both of whom sat in the Irish parliament of 1613; Samuel became surveyor-general of buildings and works in Ireland, and Daniel (1568-1632) was Ulster king-of-arms, and by Jane, daughter of Sir William Usher, had eight children, of whom the third, Samuel, was father of William and Sir Thomas, who are noticed separately.
[Chancery and Exchequer Records, Dublin; Extract from the Memoranda Roll of the Exchequer of Ireland, privately printed at Evesham, 1850 (?), 4to; Account of Sir T. Molyneux, 1820; Carew MSS. 1589-1600, p. 255; Cal. State Papers, Ireland, 1592-6; Lascelles, Liber Munerum, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 48.]
J. T. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Molyns, John

​MOLYNS, JOHN (d. 1591), divine, born in Somerset, was made probationary fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, 1541, and proceeded B.A. 1541, M.A. 1545, D.D. 1565-6. In Queen Mary's reign he left for Zurich, after Bishop Gardiner's visitation of his college, and at Frankfort was reader in Greek to the exiled English. He returned to England in Elizabeth's reign, and was appointed in 1559 canon of St. Paul's and archdeacon of London. In February 1561 he was collated to the rectory of Theydon Gernon, Essex, and in May 1577 to the rectory of Bocking, Essex. He was made dean of Bocking in October 1583, along with Dr. Still. He died in June 1591, and was buried in the north aisle of St. Paul's Cathedral. By his will he left 200l. to purchase lands to endow an exhibition for two scholars at Magdalen College. He is said to have published several books and sermons, but there is extant only 'Carmina Latina et Graeca in Mortem duorum fratrum Suffolciensium, Henrici et Caroli Brandon,' 1552, 4to.
[Strype's Works, passim, vide Index, sub ‘Mullings;’ Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 581, ii. 8, 34; Tanner's Bibliotheca, p. 530; Register of the University of Oxford (Boase), i. 200; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 63, 171, 309, 687, ii. 68–9, 584; Dugdale's Hist. of St. Paul's, p. 105.]
R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Monamy, Peter

​MONAMY, PETER (1670?–1749), marine painter, born of poor parents about 1670, was a native of Jersey. He was sent to London when a boy, and apprenticed to an ordinary house-painter on London Bridge, but having a real aptitude for painting he devoted himself to drawing the shipping and other similar subjects on the Thames. He based his manner on those of the two William Van de Veldes, and soon became known to the seafaring community. His pictures were marked not only by good execution, but by close and accurate acquaintance with all the minor details of shipping. His colour was, however, somewhat tame and ineffective. There are two pictures by him at Hampton Court, and a large sea-piece by him is in the hall of the Painter-Stainers' Company, to which it was presented by the painter in 1726. Monamy painted parts of the decorative paintings at Vauxhall, including some representing Admiral Vernon's victories. He also decorated a carriage for the ill-fated Admiral Byng. He resided during the latter part of his life on the riverside in Westminster, where he died early in February 1749 in poor circumstances, as most of his work was done for dealers. His portrait, painted by H. Stubly, was engraved in mezzotint by J. Faber, junior, in 1731, another, engraved by Bretherton, is in Walpole's 'Painters.' An interesting picture of Monamy showing a picture to a patron, Thomas Walker, is in the possession of the Earl of Derby, and was formerly at Strawberry Hill; the figures were painted by William Hogarth, and the sea-piece by Monamy. Monamy also executed a few etchings.
[Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum; Vertue's MSS. (Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 23074 f. 1, 23076 f. 13; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Catalogue of a Century of British Art (Grosvenor Gallery, 1887-8).]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert Pullen

​ROBERT Pullen, Pullus, or le Poule (d. 1147?), cardinal. [See Pullen.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert de Beaufeu

​ROBERT de Beaufeu (fl. 1190), writer. [See Beaufeu.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert of Bellême

​ROBERT of Bellême or Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury (fl. 1098). [See Bellême.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert of Bridlington

​ROBERT of Bridlington (fl. 1170), or Robert the Scribe, theologian, was a canon regular of Bridlington priory in Yorkshire, and became fourth prior of that house about 1160. He died before 1181. Leland says that he was buried in the cloister of his monastery before the doors of the chapter-house, his tomb bearing the inscription ‘Robertus cognomento Scriba quartus prior.’ He owed his name of Scribe to his many writings. His works were chiefly commentaries on various portions of the Bible; Leland says that he saw the manuscripts of them in the library at Bridlington. The following appear to be extant: 1. ‘Expositio in Pentateuchum,’ inc. ‘Post collectam quæstionum de operibus sex dierum’ (MS. Trinity Coll. Oxon. 70), where Robert is wrongly called a Cistercian. 2. ‘Super Prophetas duodecim minores,’ inc. ‘Teste beato Jeronimo’ (MS. St. John's Coll. Oxon. 46). 3. ‘Expositio super Psalmos Davidis,’ inc. ‘A quibusdam fratribus diu rogatus’ (MS. Laud. Misc. 454 in the Bodleian). 4. ‘In Cantica Canticorum,’ inc. ‘Tres sunt qui testimonia’ (MS. Balliol Coll. 19, where, in Coxe's ‘Catalogue,’ it is suggested that this is really by John Whethamstede. In York Cathedral MS. 9 there is a copy of Frater Robertus ‘In Cantica’). 5. ‘Prophetiæ’ (Bodl. MS. 2157). Leland says he saw a copy of Robert's commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul at Queens' College, Cambridge (Collectanea, iii. 10). Robert is also credited with ‘Dialogus de Corpore et Sanguine Domini;’ a treatise, ‘De Ecclesia Catholica;’ sermons; and some other commentaries.
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert Rich

​ROBERT Rich (fl. 1240), biographer of St. Edmund. [See Rich.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert de Beaumont

​ROBERT de Beaumont, Count of Meulan (d. 1118). [See Beaumont.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert of Avesbury

​ROBERT of Avesbury (fl. 1350), historian, describes himself in the title of his work as ‘Keeper of the Registry of the Court of Canterbury’ (p. 279). Beyond this fact nothing is known of him. He compiled a history of the ‘mirabilia gesta’ of Edward III down to 1356; his chief interest is in military history, and especially in the French war. To ecclesiastical and civil affairs he pays little attention. His work opens with a short sketch of the reign of Edward II, and the wars with Scotland are told with comparative brevity. The continental wars from 1339 to 1356 occupy nine-tenths of his narrative. Robert is no more than a painstaking chronicler, but his history has special importance because he incorporated in his text original documents and letters, including those of Michael de Northburgh [q. v.] There are three manuscripts: Harleian MS. 200 in the British Museum, Douce MS. 128 in the Bodleian Library, and Trinity College (Cambridge) MS. R v. 32; the first is the archetype, the two latter are derived from it through an intermediate copy. Robert of Avesbury's chronicle (‘Historia de Mirabilibus Gestis Edwardi III’) was published by Thomas Hearne, Oxford, 1720. It has been re-edited by Sir E. Maunde Thompson, with the chronicle of Adam Murimuth, in the Rolls Series, 1889.
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Skynner, John

​SKYNNER, Sir JOHN (1724?–1805), judge, son of John and Elizabeth Skynner of Great Milton, Oxfordshire, was born in London about 1724, and was educated at Westminster school, where at the age of fourteen he became a king's scholar, and was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, at Whitsuntide 1742. He matriculated at Oxford on 19 June 1742, and graduated B.C.L. on 27 Jan. 1751. He was admitted a member of Lincoln's Inn on 21 Nov. 1739, and, having been called to the bar in Michaelmas term 1748, joined the Oxford circuit. In Hilary term 1771 he was made a king's counsel, and appointed attorney-general of the duchy of Lancaster. In the same year he became a bencher of his inn. He was returned to the House of Commons for Woodstock at a by-election in January 1771, and continued to represent that borough until his appointment to the exchequer. He opposed the introduction of the Church Nullum Tempus Bill on 17 Feb. 1772 (Parl. Hist. xvii. 303–4), and on 3 April following was appointed second judge on the Chester circuit. He took part on 29 April 1774 in the discussion of the bill for the impartial administration of justice in Massachusetts Bay when he protested against the introduction of appeal for murder into America, and eulogised Blackstone's ‘Commentaries’ as one of the best books ever written upon the laws of this constitution (ib. xvii. 1294–5, 1296). On 12 April 1776 he was elected recorder of Oxford and presented with the freedom of that city. He contributed to the funds of the Bodleian Library (Wood, Hist. and Antiq. of the Univ. of Oxford, 1796, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 949), and (1789) presented a piece of plate to the Oxford corporation.
Skynner was appointed lord chief baron of the exchequer in the place of Sir Sidney Stafford Smythe [q. v.], and received the honour of knighthood on 23 Nov. 1777. On the 27th of the same month he was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law, and was sworn in as lord chief baron (Sir W. Blackstone, Reports, ii. 1178). After presiding in his court with much learning and ability for rather more than nine years, Skynner was compelled to resign, owing to ill-health, in the Christmas vacation of 1786–7 (Durnford and East, Term Reports, i. 551). He was admitted a member of the privy council on 23 March 1787, and retired into the country, living at Great Milton House, which he had inherited from his mother. He died at Bath on 26 Nov. 1805, and was buried in the south aisle of Great Milton church. Skynner married Martha, daughter of Edward Burn and Martha Davie. His wife died on 4 Dec. 1797. Their only child, Martha Frederica, was married, on 1 Aug. 1799, to the Right Hon. Richard Ryder, third son of Nathaniel, first baron Harrowby, and died on 8 Aug. 1821.
​A portrait, by Gainsborough, was bequeathed in 1832 to Lincoln's Inn by Francis Burton, K.C.; a replica hangs in the hall of Christ Church, Oxford. A letter written by Skynner to Thomas James Mathias, from Bath, and dated 28 Feb. 1799, is among the Add. MSS. in the British Museum (22976, f. 208).
G. F. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Slack, Henry James

​SLACK, HENRY JAMES (1818–1896), author, the son of Joseph Slack, a prosperous cloth merchant, was born in London on 23 Oct. 1818, and educated at North End, Hampstead. He exchanged a business life for journalism in 1846, and worked upon the ‘North Devon Journal’ and other provincial papers until, in 1852, he became proprietor and editor of the ‘Atlas.’ He also wrote much for the ‘Weekly Times,’ under the signature ‘Little John.’ From 1862 he edited the ‘Intellectual Observer,’ a development of a journal called ‘Recreative Science,’ founded in 1859. From 1868 to 1871 this was continued as ‘The Student.’ Meanwhile, in 1850, Slack published ‘The Ministry of the Beautiful’ (London, 8vo), a dialogue upon æsthetic subjects, and in 1860 an optimistic treatise upon ‘The Philosophy of Progress in Human Affairs.’ The ideas which he advocated through life both by precept and example were those of advanced liberalism. Such causes as that of anti-slavery, the abolition of the paper duties, and the higher education of women had in him a strenuous ally; he was a Cobdenite, a forward member of the national education league, and a warm friend of Kossuth and Mazzini. When specially moved, as in his defence of Orsini at Exeter Hall in 1856, Slack was an eloquent speaker. But the propaganda with which he was most closely identified were those of the Sunday League. He was president of the league in 1879, and inaugurated the popular lectures for Sunday evenings. He was no less zealous in the cause of the Sunday opening of museums and picture-galleries, to promote which the Sunday Society was formed in 1875.
In his leisure hours Slack was an ardent microscopist, and he was successively secretary and, in 1878, president of the Royal Microscopical Society. At odd moments during 1860 he composed ‘The Marvels of Pond Life,’ an attractive and essentially popular introduction to microscopical study (London, 1861, 8vo; 3rd edit. illustrated, 1878). Most of the ponds to which he refers ​have now been obliterated by the builder. Slack was a regular contributor to ‘Knowledge,’ and forty-six papers are ascribed to his name in the ‘Royal Society's Scientific Catalogue’ (selected from the ‘Popular Science Monthly,’ the ‘Meteorological Journal,’ and similar periodicals). In religious problems he was chiefly influenced by the unitarian William Johnson Fox [q. v.], whose works he edited in a ‘Memorial Edition’ (London, 12 vols. 8vo, 1865–8), in collaboration with William Ballantyne Hodgson [q. v.] He died at his house, Forest Row, Sussex, on 16 June 1896. His wife, Charlotte Mary Walters, whom he married in 1840, survived him.
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Slade, William

​SLADE, WILLIAM (fl. 1380), philosopher, was a Cistercian monk of Buckfastleigh, Devonshire. One of his works on Aristotle's ‘De Anima’ was seen by Leland at Buckfastleigh, another on the ‘Sentences’ at Fountains. His ‘Questiones Ethicorum’ were formerly at Magdalen College, Oxford. Leland also attributes to him ‘Universalia super libros physicorum’ and ‘Flosculi moralium.’
M. B.