OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Brigida (5), abbess of Kildare

​Brigida (5), V., abbess of Kildare—Feb. 1, 523. The designation "Fiery Dart" seems peculiarly appropriate for "the Mary of Ireland," who, although her fame on the continent is eclipsed by the greater reputation there of her namesake the widow-saint of Sweden, yet stands forth in history with a very marked individuality, though the histories that have come down to us are mainly devoted to a narrative of the signs and wonders which God wrought by her. As to her Acts, Colgan has published six Lives in his Trias Thaumaturga, and the Bollandists five. It is more difficult to trace the historical points in St. Bridget's life than to recount the legendary accretions which testify to a basis of fact, could we but find it after so many centuries. In the legend there is no little beauty, and in almost all we find an undercurrent of true human feeling and deep Christian discernment. (See some of them given at length in Bp. Forbes's Kal. Scott. Saints, 288 seq., from Boëce, Breviary of Aberdeen, and Colgan's Tr. Thaum. For a full and critical account of her life, see Lanigan, Eccl. Hist. Ir. i. 68, 335, and chaps. viii. and ix. passim; Todd, Book of Hymns, i. 65 seq.; O'Hanlon, Ir. Saints, ii. 1 seq.; Baring-Gould, Lives of the Saints, ii. 14 seq.) Her chief residence was the monastery of Kildare, "cella quercus," which she founded; but affiliated houses of both men and women ("de utroque sexu") were raised all over the country, she being abbess above all other abbesses, and the bishop with her at Kildare being similarly above all bishops in her other monasteries. Montalembert (Monks of the West, Edin. ii. 393‒395) gives an account of St. Brigida and her monasteries, and places her birth at A.D. 467 and her death at A.D. 525. He says, "There are still 18 parishes in Ireland which bear the name of Kilbride or the Church of Bridget" (ib. ii. p. 395, n.). The Irish annals, however, vary as to the date of her death, but the most probable, and resting on highest authority, is A.D. 523 (O'Conor, Rer. Hib. Scrip. iv. 13; Bp. Forbes, Kal. Scott. Saints, 287). In Scotland the cultus of this saint was very extensive, her dedications being chiefly found in the parts nearest to Ireland and under Irish influence. (For a short list see Bp. Forbes, Kal. Scott. Saints, 290‒291.)
[A.P.F.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/C

* Caecilia (1), St.
* Caecilianus (2), archdeacon and bishop of Carthage
* Caesarius (2), St., of Nazianzus
* Caesarius (3), St., bishop of Arles
* Caesarius (7)
* Cainites
* Caius (2), ecclesiastical writer
* Caius (3), pope
* Calandio or Calendio, bishop of Antioch
* Calligonus
* Callistus (1), pope
* Caprasius (2), St., presbyter at Lérins
* Capreolus
* Caracalla
* Caritas
* Carpocrates
* Cassianus (2) Julius
* Cassianus (6), bishop of Autun
* Cassianus (11) Johannes
* Cassiodorus (or rather, Cassiodorius) Magnus Aurelius
* Catharine (Catharina, Catherine, etc.), St.
* Caulacau
* Celsus (1)
* Cerdo (1)
* Cerinthus
* Christopher, St.
* Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia
* Chrysippus
* Chrysogonus (1), martyr
* Chrysologus, Petrus
* Chrysostom, John
* Claudius (1), emperor
* Clemens (1), Flavius
* Clemens Romanus
* Clement of Alexandria
* Clementine Literature
* Cletus or Anacletus
* Clovis
* Coelestinus, commonly called Celestine
* Coelestius
* Coelicolae
* Colluthus (2), presbyter and sect founder
* Collyridians
* Columba (1) Columcille
* Columbanus, abbat of Luxeuil and Bobbio
* Comgall
* Commodianus
* Commodus
* Constans I.
* Constantinus I.
* Constantinus II., eldest son of Constantine the Great
* Constantius I. Flavius Valerius, surnamed Chlorus
* Constantius II., son of Constantius the Great
* Cornelius (2), bishop of Rome
* Cosmas (1) and Damianus
* Cosmas (3), surnamed Indicopleustes
* Cyprianus (1) Thascius Caecilius
* Cyra
* Cyriacus (19), patriarch of Constantinople
* Cyrillus (2), bishop of Jerusalem
* Cyrillus (7), St., archbishop of Alexandria
* Cyrillus (13), of Scythopolis
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Bonifacius II.

​Bonifacius II., pope, successor to Felix IV., of Roman birth but Gothic parentage, son of Sigisbald or Sigismund, was elected bp. of Rome on Sept. 17, 530, and consecrated five days later in the basilica of Julius (Jaffé, Regesta Pont.). At the same time a rival party in the basilica of Constantine elected and consecrated Dioscorus. The Roman church was saved from schism by the death of Dioscorus a few weeks afterwards; but Boniface carried his enmity beyond the grave, and anathematized his dead rival for simony (cf. Cassiodorus, Var. 9, Ep. 5). This anathema was subsequently removed by Agapetus I. It has been conjectured (by Baronius, Labbe, Cave, etc.) that the double election was brought about by Athalaric the Gothic king, that he might have an opportunity to intervene after the example of Theodoric, and place a partisan of his own upon the papal throne. [ Theodoricus (3); Felix III. (cf. Gieseler, Eccl. Hist. i. § 115, p. 340 Eng. trans. and reff.).] The pontificate of Boniface is chiefly remarkable for the bold measure proposed and carried by him at a council at St. Peter's, by which he was empowered to nominate his own successor. Accordingly he nominated the deacon Vigilius (subsequently pope, 537), and obtained the consent of the clergy thereto. Shortly afterwards, however, another council met and annulled the previous decree as contrary to the canons. Boniface acknowledged his error and publicly burned the document with his own hands. Some (e.g. Bianchi-Giovini, Storia dei Papi, ii. 165) have conjectured that Boniface acted throughout as the tool of the unprincipled Vigilius; others (e.g. Baronius, Milman, etc.) that the object of Boniface was to prevent for the future the interference of the Gothic king, and that it was the Gothic king that compelled him to rescind the decree. It would have been equally difficult, however, to have brought the clergy and people of Rome to tolerate such a scheme. Of the pontificate of Boniface there is little else to record. A petition was presented to him (in which he is styled "Universal Bishop") by Stephen, archbp. of Larissa, metropolitan of Thessaly, complaining of the encroachments of the patriarch of Constantinople, who had suspended Stephen from his office. The result of the council held is unknown, but there can be little doubt that Boniface followed the policy of his predecessors in this matter and asserted the authority of the Roman see over the whole of the province of Illyria (see documents in Labbe, Conc. iv. 1690 seq., also Bonifacius I.). He died in Oct. 532, and was buried on the 17th in St. Peter's. He was succeeded by John II. (see generally Anastasius, Lib. Pont.; Labbe, Conc. iv. 1682 sqq.; Baronius, sub annis; Migne, Patr. lxv.).
[T.R.B.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ellis, Edwin

​ ​to the 'Era' of 10 Nov. the same year, Charles Reade paid a cordial tribute to the memory of this 'dramatic musician and amiable man,' recalling to the mind of the playgoing public the vigilant delicacy with which Ellis accompanied a mixed scene of action and dialogue. His published compositions consisted of selections for small orchestra from Flotow's 'Alessandro Stradella,' Thomas's 'Caïd,' and Offenbach's 'Belle Hélène,' besides a few songs to words by Mr. Blanchard and others.
[Athenæum, 1878, ii. 697; Era, 1878, 41, 2094; printed music in the British Museum Library; private information.]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elliott, William Henry

​ELLIOTT, Sir WILLIAM HENRY (1792–1874), general, son of Captain John Elliott, R.N., one of the comrades of Captain Cook in his second and third voyages, was born in 1792. He entered the army as an ensign in the 51st King's Own light infantry on 6 Dec. 1809. In January 1811 the 5lst joined Lord Wellington's army while encamped within the lines of Torres Vedras, and Elliott's first battle was Fuentes de Onoro. He was present at the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo and of Badajoz, and at the battle of Salamanca, and was promoted lieutenant on 13 Aug. 1812. During the retreat from Burgos he acted as aide-de-camp to Colonel Mitchell, commanding the first brigade of the seventh division, and was wounded in conveying despatches under fire. In June 1813 he was appointed acting aide-de-camp to Major-general Inglis, and served with him at the battles of the Pyrenees, when he was again wounded, and at the Nivelle and Orthes. He was then appointed brigade-major to the first brigade, seventh division, in which capacity he served until the end of the war. Elliott was next present with the 51st at the battle of Waterloo, and he had charge of the scaling-ladders at the siege of Cambrai. He was pro-noted captain on 9 Nov. 1820. From 1821 to 1834 the 51st was stationed in the Ionian Islands, and Elliott, who never left his regiment, was promoted major on 12 July 1831. On 27 June 1838 he was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and he commanded the 51st in Australia, Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, and at Bangalore, until 1852. In that year his regiment was ordered for service in the second Burmese war, and Elliott was detailed to command the Madras brigade in the first campaign. Under the superintendence of General Godwin, Elliott's brigade led the way in the fierce fighting of 10, 11, and 12 April 1852, in which Rangoon was captured, and in the storm of the Shwe-Dagon pagoda on 14 April. In the second campaign, which began in September 1852, Elliott again had command of a brigade, consisting of his own regiment and two battalions of Madras native infantry, and he co-operated successfully in the capture of Donabyú, the stronghold of the outlaw Myat-toon, who had but a short time before defeated Captain Loch. For these services he received a medal and clasp, was made a C.B., and made commandant at Rangoon. While there he discovered and suppressed on 20 Nov. 1853 a plot which had for its aim the destruction of all the English in Rangoon, and thus saved the city. In 1855 he gave up the colonelcy of the regiment which he had so long commanded, and on 20 Jan. 1857 he was promoted major-general. He never again went on active service, but he was made a K.C.B. in 1862, and appointed colonel of the 51st on 1 June in that year; he was promoted lieutenant-general on 27 July 1863, made a G.C.B. in 1870, and promoted general on 25 Oct. 1871. He died at his house, 20 Cambridge Square, London, on 27 Feb. 1874.
H. M. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ellis, Charles Rose

​ELLIS, CHARLES ROSE, first Lord Seaford (1771–1845), was the second son of John Ellis, who was himself second son of George Ellis, sometime chief justice of Jamaica, and descendant of Colonel John Ellis, who settled in that island in 1665, and founded a family there. He was born on 19 Dec. 1771, and, having inherited a large West India property, entered the House of Commons in March 1793, when barely of age, as M.P. for Heytesbury. He was not a brilliant speaker, but through his cousin, George Ellis [q.v.], who was Canning's intimate friend, he became acquainted with that statesman, of whom he remained a consistent follower until the end of his parliamentary career. In 1796 he was elected both for Wareham and Seaford, but preferred to sit for the latter place, and on 2 Aug. 1798 he married Elizabeth Catherine Clifton, only daughter and heiress of John, lord Hervey. About the same period he purchased the estate of Claremont in Surrey, where he exercised a large hospitality, and he was re-elected for Seaford in 1802. His wife died on 21 Jan. 1803, and on 8 July of that year his infant son, Charles Augustus Ellis, succeeded his maternal great-grand-father, Frederick Hervey, earl of Bristol and bishop of Derry, in the ancient barony of Howard de Walden (see Foster, Peerage). He lost his seat in 1806, but was elected for East Grinstead in 1807. He was re-elected for Seaford in 1812, and continued to represent that place until his elevation to the peerage in 1826. His importance in the House of Commons rested in his being the acknowledged head of what was known as the West Indian interest, and Canning often found his assistance of great value to him, though his chosen intimate was George Ellis, who was one of the recognised wits of the time, and whose untimely death in 1815 was universally lamented. In 1820 Canning was allowed to nominate a friend for a peerage, and he nominated Ellis, to the surprise of everyone, according to Greville, and he was accordingly created Lord Seaford on 16 July 1826. Seaford died on 1 July 1845 at Wood End, near Chichester, and was succeeded in his peerage by his elder son, Lord Howard de Walden, a well-known diplomatist.
[Gent. Mag. October 1845.]
H. M. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ellis, Francis Whyte

​ELLIS, FRANCIS WHYTE (d. 1819), orientalist, became a writer in the East India Company's service at Madras in 1796. He was promoted to the offices of assistant-under secretary, deputy-secretary, and secretary to the board of revenue in 1798, 1801, and 1802 respectively. In 1806 he was appointed judge of the zillah of Masulipatam; in 1809 collector of land customs in the Madras presidency, and in 1810 collector of Madras. He died at Ramnad of cholera on 10 March 1819. Ellis made his reputation as a Tamil and Sanskrit scholar. About 1816 he printed at Madras a small portion of 'The Sacred Kurral of Tiruvalluva-Nâyanâr,' with an English translation and elaborate commentary (304 pp.) The Rev. Dr. G. U. Pope, who issued a new edition of the 'Sacred Kurral' in 1886, and reprinted Ellis's as well as Beschi's versions, described Ellis as 'an oriental scholar of extraordinary ability.' To the 'Asiatic Researches' (vol. xiv. Calcutta) Ellis contributed an account of a large collection of Sanskrit manuscripts found at Pondicherry. These were shown to be compositions of Jesuit missionaries, who had embodied under the title of 'Vedas' their religious doctrines and much legendary history in classical Sanskrit verse, with a view to palming them off on the natives of the Dekhan as the work of the Rishis and Munis, the inspired authors of their scriptures. According to Professor Wilson Ellis also wrote 'three valuable dissertations on the Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalim languages.' The Telugu dissertation was printed in A. D. Campbell's 'Telugu Grammar' (1816?). Manuscript notes survive to show that in early life Ellis tried to trace analogies between the South Indian and Hebrew languages. Among his papers is a marvellously skilful explanation of the Travancore inscription, the oldest specimen of the Tamil language in existence.
Ellis was deeply interested in the history and social condition of the natives of India, and was an expert on both subjects. 'A reply [by Ellis] to the first seventeen questions stated in a letter from the secretary to government in the revenue department, dated 2 Aug. 1814, relative to Mirâsi right,' is one of the three treatises on Mirâsi right printed by Charles Philip Brown [q. v.] in his volume on the subject issued in 1852. In 1828 Ellis drew up a paper entitled 'Desiderata and Enquiries connected with the Presidency of Madras,' which was widely circulated after it had been translated into all the vernaculars. It dealt with the collection of information on all subjects, from 'language and literature' to arts, manufactures, and natural history. Ellis left his papers—philological and political—to Sir Walter Elliot, on whose death they passed to Dr. Pope. Dr. Pope has placed them in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
[Prinsep's Madras Civilians, 1886; Rev. G. U. Pope's Sacred Kurral, 1886; Brit. Mus. Cat; Prof. H. H. Wilson in Imp. Dict. of Biog.; Athenæum, 1875, i. 489; information from the Rev. Dr. Pope of Oxford.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ellis, Barrow Helbert

​ELLIS, Sir BARROW HELBERT (1823–1887), Anglo-Indian, born in London 24 Jan. 1823, was son of S. Helbert Ellis, a prominent member of the Jewish community in London, by his wife, Fanny, daughter of Samuel Lyons de Symons. Educated at University College School, he matriculated at London University in 1839 and went to Haileybury. There he distinguished himself in all branches of study, and left in 1843 as senior student to enter the civil service of ​Bombay. His first appointment in India was as third assistant-collector and magistrate of Ratnagiri; he was promoted to the post of second assistant in 1847, and in 1848 was made commissioner for investigating certain claims upon the Nizam's government. In 1851 he arrived in Sindh as assistant-commissioner, and from 1855 to 1857 was in charge of the offices of chief commissioner during the absence in England of Sir Bartle Frere. He was made special commissioner for jagirs or alienated lands in the province before leaving Sindh in 1858. In 1859 he was collector and magistrate at Broach, and, after serving as chief secretary of the Bombay government, was nominated an additional member in 1862 and an ordinary member in 1865 of the Bombay council. Five years later he was promoted to the viceroy's council. In 1875 he returned to England, and was made not only K.C.S.I. but a member of the Indian council in London. He retired in due course from the council, on whose deliberations he exerted much influence, in 1885. Ellis died at Evian-les-Bains, Savoy, on 20 June 1887, and was buried in the Jewish cemetery at Willesden, Middlesex, on 28 June following. He was an excellent revenue and settlement officer — 'one of the ablest revenue officers of the Bombay Presidency,' in the words of Sir George Birdwood. While at Bombay Ellis was exceptionally popular with all classes of native Indians. He was at all times accessible to them, both in India and England, and the native newspapers eulogised him unstintedly at the time of his death. He left a sum of 2,500l. in trust for the poor of Ratnajiri, his first official charge. He was not married. On his retirement from India he took a prominent part in the affairs of the Jewish community of London, being vice-president of the Anglo-Jewish Association and of the Jews' College, where a portrait has been placed. Ellis published a report on education in Sindh (Bombay, 1856), and edited George Stack's `Dictionary of Sindhi and English' (Bombay, 1855). He was an active member of the Royal Asiatic Society, which he joined in 1876. He founded a prize in Bombay University, and a scholarship there was established in his honour in 1875.
[Memoir by Sir George Birdwood in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, new ser. xix. 688; Times, 24 June 1887; Allen's Indian Mail, 28 June 1887; Jewish Chronicle (London), 24 June and 1 July 1887; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Times of India, 27 June 1887.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ellis, Arthur Ayres

​ELLIS, ARTHUR AYRES (1830–1887), Greek Testament critic, son of Charles Ellis of Birmingham, was born in 1830 at Birmingham, and educated at King Edward's School, under Dr. Lee. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, as a subsizar in 1848, graduated as ninth in the first class of the classical tripos in 1852, was elected fellow in 1854, and took the degree of M.A. in 1855. He was ordained soon afterwards, and filled the office of junior dean of his college, and that of divinity lecturer at Christ's College. In 1860 he was presented by Trinity College to the vicarage of Stotfold in Bedfordshire, where he remained till his death on 22 March 1887. While resident in college he gave a great deal of attention to Bentley's preparations for his edition of the Greek Testament, and in 1862 he published at Cambridge the volume entitled 'Bentleii Critica Sacra,' which contains a considerable portion of Bentley's notes extracted from his manuscripts in Trinity College Library', with the Abbé Rulotta's collation of the Vatican Codex (B), an edition of the 'Epistle to the Galatians,' given as a specimen of Bentley's intended edition, and an account of his collations.
H. R. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dowling, Vincent George

​DOWLING, VINCENT GEORGE (1785–1852), journalist, elder brother of Sir James Dowling [q. v.], was born in London in 1785, and received his earlier education in Ireland. He returned to London with his father after the union in 1801, and occasionally assisted him in his duties in connection with the ‘Times.’ Soon after he engaged with the ‘Star,’ and in 1809 transferred his services to the ‘Day’ newspaper. In 1804 he became a contributor to the ‘Observer,’ thus commencing his acquaintance with William Innell Clement [q. v.], which continued until Clement's death, 24 Jan. 1852. Dowling was appointed editor of ‘Bell's Life’ in August 1824, in which position he continued till his death. He was present in the lobby of the House of Commons when Bellingham shot Spencer Perceval, on 11 May 1812, and was one of the first persons to seize the murderer, from whose pocket he took a loaded pistol (William Jerdan, Autobiography, 1852, i. 133–41). He at times used extraordinary efforts to obtain early news for the ‘Observer.’ When Queen Caroline was about to return from the continent, after the accession of George IV in June 1820, Dowling proceeded to France to record her progress, and being entrusted with her majesty's despatches, he crossed the Channel in an open boat during a stormy night, and was the first to arrive in London with the news. He claimed to be the author of the plan on which the new police system was organised; even the names of the officers, inspectors, sergeants, &c., were published in ‘Bell's Life’ nearly two years before Sir Robert Peel spoke on the subject in 1829. In 1840 he wrote ‘ Fistiana, or the Oracle of the Ring,’ a work which he continued annually as long as he lived. He was also the writer of the article on ‘Boxing’ in Blaine's ‘Cyclopædia of Rural Sports’ in 1852 (reprinted 1870).
He was active in London parochial affairs; was constantly named stakeholder and referee in important sporting contests; and was anxious to make the ring a means of maintaining a manly love of fair play.
He died from disease of the heart, paralysis, and dropsy, at Stanmore Lodge, Kilburn, 25 Oct. 1852.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dowling, Alfred Septimus

​DOWLING, ALFRED SEPTIMUS (1805–1868), law reporter, brother of Sir James Dowling [q. v.], was called to the bar at Gray's Inn 18 June 1828, and became a special pleader in the common law courts, and also went the home circuit. He was admitted a member of Serjeants' Inn 12 Nov. 1842, and made a judge of county courts, circuit No. 15, Yorkshire, by Lord-chancellor Cottenham, on 9 Nov. 1849. On 20 Aug. 1853 he was gazetted one of the commissioners for inquiring into the state and practice of the county courts. He died of an internal cancer at his residence, 34 Acacia Road, St. John's Wood, London, 3 March 1868, aged 63. His widow, Bertha Eliza, died 25 March 1880, aged 67.
He was the author of the following works: 1. ‘A Collection of Statutes passed 11 George IV and 1 William IV,’ 1830–2, 2 vols. 2. ‘A Collection of Statutes passed 2 William IV and 3 William IV,’ 1833. 3. ‘Reports of Cases in the King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer,’ 1833–8, 9 vols. 4. ‘Reports of Cases in Continuation of the above, by A. Dowling and Vincent Dowling,’ 1843–4, 2 vols. 5. ‘Reports of Cases in Continuation of the above, by A. S. Dowling and John James Lowndes,’ 1845–51, 7 vols. On some of the title-pages only the name A. Dowling is found.
[Gent. Mag. April 1868, p. 547; Solicitors Journal, 14 March 1868, p. 410.]
G. C. B.