OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sotheby, Samuel (1771-1842)

​SOTHEBY, SAMUEL (1771–1842), auctioneer and antiquary, born in 1771, was descended from the elder branch of a family settled at Pocklington and Birdsall in Yorkshire. William Sotheby [q. v.], the author, came from a younger branch. Samuel's uncle, John Sotheby (1740–1807), was partner and nephew of Samuel Baker (d. 1778) (see Nichols, Lit. Anecd. iii. 162–3; and Dibdin, Bibliograph. Decameron, iii. 445), who founded at York Street, Covent Garden, in 1744 the first sale-room instituted in this country exclusively for the disposal of books, manuscripts, and prints. In 1774 Baker took George Leigh into partnership, and from 1775 to 1777 the firm was styled S. Baker & G. Leigh. After 1778, when Baker died, Leigh carried on the business alone, but from 1780 to 1800 John Sotheby (Baker's nephew) was associated with him, and the firm was known as Leigh & Sotheby; it became Leigh, Sotheby, & Son in 1800, when John Sotheby's nephew Samuel joined it, and so continued till 1803. After 1803, and until the death of Leigh in 1815, the firm carried on their business at a new address, 145 Strand (Dibdin, op. cit. iii. 18, and Bibliography, a Poem, 1812). John Sotheby died in 1807, and on Leigh's death, eight years later, Samuel continued the concern by himself, moving to 3 Waterloo Street, Strand, about 1817. Soon ​afterwards he took his son, Samuel Leigh Sotheby [q. v.], into partnership, and in 1826 Messrs. Sotheby & Son printed a ‘Catalogue of the Collections sold by Messrs. Baker, Leigh, & Sotheby from 1744 to 1826.’ A set of the original catalogues, with the purchasers' names and prices, is in the British Museum. Samuel Sotheby conducted the dispersal of many famous libraries. He retired from business in 1827. The firm still flourishes as Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge at 13 Wellington Street, Strand.
Sotheby was much interested in the origin and progress of the art of printing. He began to trace facsimiles of such early printed books as passed through his hands in 1814. After a visit to Holland in 1824 to examine specimens at Haarlem for his friend William Young Ottley [q. v.], his attention was first specially directed to block books. His extensive collections were edited by his son as ‘The Typography of the Fifteenth Century,’ 1845, and ‘Principia Typographica,’ 1858, 3 vols. 4to.
Sotheby died at Chelsea on 4 Jan. 1842, in his seventy-first year. He first married, in 1803, Harriet Barton (1775–1808), by whom he had two sons and two daughters; the youngest son was Samuel Leigh Sotheby. His second wife was Laura Smith, married in 1817. She had no surviving children.
[Gent. Mag. April 1842, pp. 442–4; Nichols's Lit. Illustrations, viii. 514; Allibone's Dictionary, ii. 2177–8; Times, 6 Jan. 1842; List of the Principal Catalogues of Baker, Leigh, Sotheby, &c., London, 1826, 8vo; Notes and Queries, 9th ser. i. 323.]
H. R. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sorocold, Thomas

​SOROCOLD, THOMAS (1561–1617), divine, born at Manchester in 1561, and educated at the local grammar school, became a batler or student of Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1578, and matriculated on 18 July 1580. He graduated B.A. on 6 Feb. 1582–3, and M.A. on 8 July 1585, and after his ordination became a popular puritan preacher in his native county. In July 1587 he preached in the private chapel of Lord Derby at Lathom House. He was admitted to the rectory of St. Mildred's, Poultry, London, on 22 Oct. 1590, on the presentation of Queen Elizabeth. Sorocold was buried at St. Mildred's on 12 Dec. 1617. He was licensed on 4 Aug. 1592 to marry Susan, daughter of Robert Smith of Sherehog, London; she died in March 1604–5.
Sorocold's ‘Supplications of Saints: A Booke of Praiers and Prayses,’ apparently first published in 1608 (Arber, Stationers' Register, iii. 390), was long popular; at least forty-five editions were published up to 1754. Hearne relates that he remembered a very pious lady who used to give away great numbers yearly to the poor. Dean Hook published a selection from it in his ‘Devotional Library’ (1842).
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramsbotham, Francis Henry

​RAMSBOTHAM, FRANCIS HENRY, M.D. (1801–1868), medical writer, was born in 1801. His father, who was physician to the Royal Maternity Charity, enjoyed a large obstetric practice in East London. Francis received his medical education at the London Hospital, and at Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.D. in 1822. He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1822, and fellow in 1844. Eventually he succeeded to his father's business, and for many years was largely employed in consulting practice. He was appointed obstetric physician and lecturer on obstetric and forensic medicine at the London Hospital, and physician to the Royal Maternity Charity; he was also president of the Harveian and Hunterian societies, and vice-president of the Pathological Society. Ultimately he removed from New Broad Street to Portman Square, but his professional prospects were not improved. Ill-health obliged him to relinquish practice and retire to the country. He died at Woodend, Perth, the residence of his son, on 7 July 1868.
As a practitioner Ramsbotham's chief rival was David Daniel Davis, M.D. [q. v.], with whom he long sustained the chief honour of representing English midwifery abroad. As a lecturer he was dogmatic, but his teaching was sound and effective, while his splendid presence and enthusiasm made him a favourite with students. As an author Ramsbotham's reputation rests on ‘The Principles and Practice of Obstetric Medicine and Surgery,’ 8vo; 2nd edit. 1844; 4th edit. 1856; 5th edit. 1867; 5th American edit., Philadelphia, 1849. This was one of the first medical books brought out with expensive illustrations, and was very successful. He published also: 1. ‘Obstetric Tables,’ 1844. 2. ‘Suggestions in reference to the Means of advancing Medical Science,’ 8vo, London, 1857. To the ‘Medical Gazette’ for 1834 and 1835 he contributed lectures on midwifery; he wrote also papers in the ‘Medical Times and Gazette’ for 1852 and 1853, and in other medical journals.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramsey

​RAMSEY. [See Ramsay.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramsay, Thomas Kennedy

​RAMSAY, THOMAS KENNEDY (1826–1886), Canadian judge and jurist, born in Ayr on 2 Sept. 1826, was third son of David Ramsay of Grimmat in the parish of Straiton, Ayrshire, and Edinburgh, writer to the signet. His mother was a daughter of Thomas Kennedy of Kirkmechan House, Ayr; she died in 1878. His father died early, and his mother went to St. John's, Maryhill, where Ramsay began his education under private tutors; later he was trained at a school at St. Andrews, then at Ayr academy, and afterwards in France. In 1847 Ramsay, his mother, and brothers migrated to Canada, and settled on the estate of St. Hugues. After studying law in the office of Meredith, Bethune, & Dunkin, solicitors, he was admitted to the bar in 1852, and soon practised with success. He was also an active contributor to the press; for a time he aided in the management of ‘La Patrie,’ in which he fought the battle of the seigneurs (landed proprietors) with substantial success; later he conducted the ‘Evening Telegraph;’ he also edited the ‘Law Reporter,’ and aided in establishing the ‘Lower Canada Jurist.’ In 1859 he was appointed secretary of the commission for the codification of the civil law of Lower Canada, but in 1862 was superseded by the liberals, who complained that he took part in political meetings. In 1865 he published his ‘Index to Reported Cases,’ and soon afterwards he was appointed crown prosecutor at Montreal; in 1866 he prosecuted the fenian raiders at Sweetsburg. In 1867 he became Q.C., and unsuccessfully contested, for the second time, a seat in the Canadian House of Commons.
In 1870 Ramsay was appointed an assistant justice of the superior court, and in 1873 a puisne judge of the court of queen's bench for the Dominion. His industry was immense, and his devotion to work shortened his life. He spent great pains upon his judgments, invariably writing them out. He was especially well read in Roman law. He wrote various pamphlets on legal subjects, and left in manuscript a ‘Digest of the Decisions of the Court of Appeal.’ His only relaxation he sought in farming on his estate at St. Hugues. He died unmarried on 22 Dec. 1886, and was buried at the Mount Royal cemetery, Montreal.
C. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramsay, William (1806-1865)

​RAMSAY, WILLIAM (1806–1865), classical scholar, born in 1806, was the third son of Sir William Ramsay, the seventh baronet, by his wife Agnata Frances, daughter of Vincent Biscoe of Hookwood, Surrey. Sir George Ramsay [q. v.] was his elder brother. He was educated at Edinburgh and Glasgow, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1831 and M.A. in 1836 (Grad. Cantabr.) In 1831 he was elected professor of humanity in Glasgow University, and between 1833 and 1859 published several useful educational works. Among these the ‘Extracts from Tibullus and Ovid’ and the ‘Manual of Roman Antiquities’ went through several editions. In May 1863 Ramsay resigned his professorship through failing health, and spent the following winter in Rome, collating the most important manuscripts of Plautus, whose works had long engaged his attention. He died at San Remo on 12 Feb. 1865.
He married Catherine, daughter of Robert Davidson, LL.D., professor of civil law in Glasgow University, by whom he had a daughter, Catherine Lilias Harriet, who married Colonel James Wedderburn-Ogilvy. Ramsay was a sound classical scholar, a conservative, and an episcopalian. His principal publications are:
* Hutton's ‘Course of Mathematics, remodelled by W. R.’ 1833, 8vo.
* ‘An Elementary Treatise on Latin Prosody,’ Glasgow, 1837, 12mo; revised 1859, 8vo.
* ‘Elegiac Extracts from Tibullus and Ovid,’ with notes, 1840, 12mo, and other editions.
* ‘Cicero Pro Cluentio,’ edited with prolegomena, 1858, 8vo.
* ‘An Elementary Manual of Roman Antiquities,’ with illustrations, London and Glasgow, 1859, 8vo, and other editions.
* ‘The Mostellaria of Plautus,’ with notes, 1869, 8vo (posthumous).
Ramsay also wrote a ‘Manual of Roman Antiquities’ in the third division of the ‘Encyclopædia Metropolitana’ (1848, &c.), and contributed to William Smith's dictionaries of Classical ‘Antiquities,’ ‘Geography,’ and ‘Biography.’ His article on ‘Cicero’ in the last-named was especially noteworthy.
%#91;Gent. Mag. 1865, i. 652; Foster's Baronetage and Knightage; Glasgow Univ. Cal.; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
W. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramsay, William (fl.1356-1360)

​RAMSAY, WILLIAM, of Colluthie, Earl of Fife (fl. 1356–1360), was descended from a Fifeshire family who possessed the lands of Colluthie and Leuchars-Ramsay. On his marriage about 1356 to Isabel, countess of Fife, and daughter of Duncan Macduff, earl of Fife, he was invested with the earldom of Fife by the cinctus of the belt and sword. Either this Sir William Ramsay or possibly Sir William Ramsay of the house of Dalhousie accompanied the Earl of Douglas to France in 1356, and fought against the English under Edward the Black Prince at the battle of Poitiers on 19 Sept. 1356. Ramsay is stated to have succeeded in effecting the escape of Archibald de Douglas, brother of the knight of Liddesdale, who was taken prisoner at the battle, by pretending to rate him soundly for having killed his master and decked himself out in his clothes (Wyntoun, ed. Laing, ii. 496).
On 27 June 1358 a papal dispensation was granted for the marriage of David de Berclay to Elizabeth, countess of Fife. Burnett, in a preface to the ‘Exchequer Rolls of Scotland’ (vol. i. p. clvii), assumes that the lady here referred to was Isabel, Ramsay's wife, and suggests that her marriage with Ramsay must have been dissolved by divorce; but, if so dissolved, it does not seem to have been dissolved at so early a date, for he is mentioned as earl of Fife—a title which he bore in his wife's right—in March 1359–60 (Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, i. 602, 603, 606, 608). It is more probable that Countess Elizabeth was Ramsay's daughter by a former marriage (Complete Peerage, ed. G. E. C., sub ‘Fife’). Ramsay either died or was divorced some time about 1360; for in this year the Countess of Fife married a second husband. The Lord William Ramsay of Colluthie who subsequently appears in numerous entries in the ‘Exchequer Rolls,’ was doubtless Ramsay's son by a former marriage (Exchequer Rolls, i. 609). The line of the Ramsays of Colluthie ended in Eliza​beth Ramsay who married David Carnegie, who through her gained possession of the lands of Leuchars-Ramsay and Colluthie. Carnegie by a second marriage had two sons, John and David, who were raised to the peerage by the titles respectively of Earl of Northesk and Earl of Southesk.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mawson, Matthias

1904 Errata appended.
​MAWSON, MATTHIAS (1683–1770), bishop of Ely, was born in August 1683, his father being a prosperous brewer at Chiswick, Middlesex. He was educated at St. Paul's School, whence he was admitted in 1701 to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. 1704, M.A. 1708, B.D. 1716, D.D. 1725. and was elected a fellow of his society in 1707, and a moderator in the university in 1708. On 6 Oct. 1724 he was chosen master of his college, and held the office till 20 Feb. 1744. Soon after his appointment he was presented by Bishop Greene to the rectory of Conington in Cambridgeshire, and afterwards to that of Hadstock in Essex; the latter he held for many years. In 1730 and 1731 he was vice-chancellor of the university, and signalised his term of office by several useful reforms. Academic exercises were made more stringent and orderly; capricious migration from college to college was checked; and the practice of exhuming bodies from the ​neighbouring churchyard, for dissection by students of medicine, was prohibited.
After refusing the bishopric of Gloucester in 1734, Dr. Mawson was consecrated bishop of Llandaff, 18 Feb. 1738-9. This diocese he administered for two years, and in 1740 was translated to Chichester. Thence, on the death of Sir Thomas Gooch in 1754, he was translated to Ely, where he remained for the rest of his life. He died unmarried at his house in Kensington Square, 23 Nov. 1770, aged eighty-seven years and three months, having been 'active and healthy to a very little time before his death' (Cole MSS. xlvii. 86). He was buried in his cathedral of Ely, and a monument was erected to his memory by his chaplain and executor, Dr. Warren, under the second window of the north aisle of the choir. A drawing of it, with the inscription and arms (party per bend sinister, ermine and ermines, a lion rampant, or, impaling those of the diocese) is preserved by Cole (ib.)
Bishop Mawson's official income and his inheritance of the fortune made by his brother in the family business gave him great wealth, and Cole expatiates on his liberality. To King's College, Cambridge, he lent some 6,000l. or 7,000l. for their new buildings. At Ely he 'gave 1,000l. in money, with the painting of the east window, and intended to pave the choir with white marble at his own expense' (ib. xxiii. ff. 64-5). He also endowed his old college in 1754 with property sufficient to found twelve scholarships, amounting to 400l. per annum in all (Potts, Liber Scholasticus, 1843, p. 99.)
Mawson's published works consist only of single sermons, preached at anniversary gatherings, and the like, and a speech made before the gentlemen of Sussex, at Lewes, 11 Oct. 1745, on the occasion of the Jacobite rising.
J. H. L.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.197 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 111 | ii | 10 f.e. | Mawson, Matthias: for Greene read Green |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maxey, Anthony

​MAXEY, ANTHONY (d. 1618), dean of Windsor, apparently a native of Essex, was educated on the foundation at Westminster School (Welch, Alumni Westmon. ed. 1852, p. 54), whence he was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, on 18 April 1578 (College Admission Register), and graduated B.A. in 1581, M.A. in 1585, B.D. in 1594, and D.D. in 1608 (University Register), but he failed to obtain a fellowship at Trinity. James I, out of admiration for his florid pulpit eloquence and dislike of tobacco, made him his chaplain, and on 21 June 1612 appointed him dean of Windsor and registrar of the order of the Garter (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, iii. 375). Maxey was a simonist of the first water. He offered money to Sir Henry Hobart [q. v.] for preferment (letter in Tanner MS. cclxxxiii. 195), and two months before his death made the highest bid for the vacant see of Norwich (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1611-18, p. 532). He died on 3 May 1618, and was buried in the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, his wife having predeceased him without issue. By will he made liberal provision for his poor kinsfolk and servants, but 'unto Roger my cooke, beinge verye lewde in his tongue, and besides corrupting my clarke, Roberte Berrye, with tobacco and drinckinge,' he bequeathed nothing, 'neyther in money nor mourninge cloke.' He left his books, or as many as the authorities cared to take, to 'our publique library,' presumably that of the university of Cambridge (will registered in P. C. C. 47, Meade).
Maxey published three sermons preached before the king, with the title 'The Churches Sleepe' and 'The Golden Chaine of Mans Saluation, and the fearefull point of hardening,' 3 pts. 8vo, London, 1606; 3rd edit. 1607. Other editions, with additional sermons, were issued in 1610, 1614, 1619, and 1634.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maxfield, Thomas (d.1616)

​MAXFIELD, THOMAS (d. 1616), Roman catholic priest, born at Chesterton Hall, of an old Staffordshire family, was son of William Maxfield, mentioned in the 'Hatfield MSS.' (i. 576, iv. 272) as a recusant in Staffordshire who was at liberty in 1592; at the time of his birth his mother and father were both prisoners for recusancy. In early youth he was sent to the English seminary at Douay, where he arrived on 16 March 1603. He was compelled to return to England in 1610 on account of ill-health, but recovered, and in 1614 was again at Douay, where he was ordained on the presentation of Dr. Matthew Kellison [q. v.], the president of the college. He was sent on a. mission to England in 1615, but had not landed three months before he was arrested, on a visit to Gatehouse prison, where, after examination, he was confined for some months. On 24 June 1616 he ​attempted to escape by means of a cord from his window, but on reaching the ground was seized and placed in a more secure and disagreeable cell. On 26 June he was tried at Newgate, and offered pardon if he would take the oath of allegiance; he refused, and, in spite of the intercession of the Spanish ambassador, was executed on 1 July. A few days before his trial he wrote a letter to Dr. Kellison; it is still preserved in Douay College, and was printed in Challoner's 'Martyrs.'
Challoner supplies a somewhat fanciful picture of Maxfield in prison. Granger (i. 376) supposes him to be one of the 'Jesuits and priests in council' depicted in a print in the second volume of the 'Vox Populi' by Thomas Scott.
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maxwell, James (1708?-1762)

​MAXWELL, JAMES (1708?–1762), of Kirkconnel, Jacobite, born about 1708, was eldest son of William Maxwell of Kirkconnel, Kirkcudbrightshire, by Janet, daughter of George Maxwell of Carnsalloch, Dumfriesshire, and widow of Colonel John Douglas of Stenhouse. On 21 Aug. 1721 he entered the Catholic College of Douay, of which he was a specially distinguished student. After completing his studies he returned to Scotland in 1728. Like the majority of the Maxwells, the family were hereditary adherents of the Stuarts; and when the father heard in 1745 that his son had joined the Young Chevalier he expressed his supreme satisfaction, and added that if he lost his life in the cause it would be well spent. The only information obtainable regarding Maxwell's connection with the rebellion is that which may be gathered from references in his own 'Narrative of Charles Prince of Wales's Expedition to Scotland in the Year 1745,' written in France after his escape from the battle of Culloden, and printed by the Maitland Club in 1841. In it he states that he was in a position to know 'the most material things that were transacted in the council, though not a member of it,' and that he was an 'eye-witness of the greatest part of what happened in the field.' The probability is that he was attached in some capacity to the staff of the prince, or employed in some kind of secretarial duties. After his return to Scotland in 1750 he built, with bricks made on his estate, the modern portion of Kirkconnel House. The estate of Carnsalloch, which he inherited on the death of his mother in 1755, he sold to Alexander Johnstone, a merchant in London, and purchased the estate of Moble. He died 23 July 1762. By his wife Mary, youngest daughter of Thomas Riddle of Swinburne Castle, Northumberland, he had three sons: James, who succeeded him; William, and Thomas. William in September 1792 started a subscription in London for the French, citing the Corsica subscription as a precedent. His house being mobbed on the day the promoters were to meet, Maxwell slipped away unobserved, and Home Tooke received the arrivals in his own house, where money was raised and an order for arms sent to Birmingham. In December 1792 he joined the French revolutionary national guard, as a member of which he was present at the execution of Louis XVI in 1793. He afterwards settled as a physician in Dumfries, and died at Edinburgh on 13 Oct. 1834 (Alger, Englishmen in French Revolution, pp. 77-8).
T. F. H.