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

​POWELL, NATHANIEL (d. 1622), navigator and colonist, a native of England, was one of the earlier settlers of Virginia, where he arrived in April 1607. In the winter of 1607–8 he explored York River with Captain Newport, and between 24 July and 7 Sept. 1608 further explored Chesapeake Bay in company with Captain John Smith. He was apparently the author of the ‘Diarie of the Second Voyage in discovering the Bay,’ 1608, and of the sixth chapter of Smith's ‘Relation of the Countries and Nations’ (1608?), which bears Powell's signature. He probably compiled the map of the bays and rivers which accompanied this ‘Relation.’ He was for a short time in 1619 deputy-governor of Virginia, and a member of council from 1619 to 1622. He and his wife, a daughter of William Tracy, were murdered by Indians on 22 March 1622. He seems to have left some estate, as his relatives petitioned council for it in 1626.
C. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Powell, Robert

​POWELL, ROBERT (fl. 1636–1652), legal writer, was probably related to the Powells of Pengethley, Herefordshire. To that family belonged his client in 1638, Sir Edward Powell (d. 1653), a master of requests. Powell describes himself in 1634 as ‘of Wells, one of the Society of New Inn,’ and as having enjoyed for twenty-five years a good practice as a solicitor in Gloucestershire (Life of Alfred, ded.). As late as 1652 he was bailiff and deputy-sheriff of the county (State Papers, Dom. Jac. I. cliii. 17). He is perhaps the Robert Powell of Westminster who was licensed to marry Katherine Smith of St. Margaret's, Westminster, on 13 Aug. 1618 (Marriage Licenses, Harl. Soc. xxiii. 24).
Powell wrote: 1. ‘The Life of Alfred, or Alured; the first Instituter of Subordinate Government in this Kingdome and Refounder of the University of Oxford, together with a Parallel of our Sovereign Lord, King Charles, untill this Yeare 1634,’ London, 1634; dedicated to Walter Curle, bishop of Winchester. He says ‘I was first set on to this work by reading’ the ‘Regia Majestas,’ (1613), by Sir John Skene [q. v.] 2. ‘Depopulation arraigned, convicted, and condemned by the Lawes of God and Man,’ London, 1636; dedicated to Sir John Bankes [q. v.], attorney-general. At page 1 Powell says, ‘I have in another treatise handled the great offence of forestallers and ingrossers of corn.’ Of this treatise nothing is now known. 3. ‘A Treatise of the Antiquity, Authority, Uses, and Jurisdiction of the Ancient Courts of Leet or View of Franck Pledge and of Subordination of Government derived from the institution of Moses, and the first Imitation of him in the Island of Great Britaine by King Alfred, together with additions and alterations of the Modern Lawes and Statutes inquirable at those Courts until the present Year, 1643,’ London, 1642; dedicated to the members of the parliament, the speaker, and John Selden. The work was examined by Sir Edward Coke in 1634 and was referred by Coke to Thomas Tesdall, esq., of Gray's Inn, who perused it and sanctioned it on 13 July 1636. Its publication was delayed by the decree of the Star-chamber limiting the press. ​Another Robert Powell of Parkhall, Shropshire, born in 1599, was son of Thomas Powell, and matriculated from Hart Hall, Oxford, in October 1616. In 1644 (14 July) he came ‘with his family to Oswestry, to raise a regiment of horse’ in behalf of the parliament, and Colonel Mitton asked for a commission for him (Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. p. 368). On 10 Nov. 1646 parliament appointed him high sheriff of Shropshire (ib. vi. 139; Lords' Journals, viii. 560).
W. A. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Powell, Thomas (1766-1842?)

Dates 1776 to c.1863 in the ODNB.
​POWELL, THOMAS (1766–1842?), musician, was born in London in 1766. He studied composition and the violoncello, and in 1799 was elected a professional member of the Royal Society of Musicians. In 1811 he married, and settled for a time in Dublin as a teacher of music, afterwards migrating to Edinburgh, and eventually to London (1826), where he died between 1842 and 1845.
Powell was said to be a skilled artist on several musical instruments, and possessed a bass voice of exceptional compass. His compositions are numerous, and include arrangements of popular and classical airs for pianoforte, violin, and harp, as well as for the violoncello. A long list of his published and unpublished works is given in the ‘Dictionary of Musicians,’ 1827. The following pieces, among others, are in the library of the British Museum: 1. ‘Introduction and Fugue for the Organ as performed at the Cathedrals of Christchurch and St. Patrick at Dublin,’ 1825. 2. ‘Three Grand Sonatas for pianoforte, with obbligato accompaniment for violoncello,’ op. 15, about 1825.
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Powell, John (fl.1770-1785)

​POWELL, JOHN (fl. 1770–1785), portrait-painter, was a pupil and assistant of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and an inmate of his house, where he was frequently employed in making reduced copies of Reynolds's portraits. These he executed with great fidelity, and occasionally exhibited at the Royal Academy. The portrait of the Duke of Cumberland in the National Portrait Gallery, after Reynolds, is stated to be the work of Powell. Among the pictures by Reynolds which were copied by Powell was the great family group of the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough with their children, now at Blenheim Palace. This important picture, being left in Powell's charge, was seized by his creditors, and narrowly escaped being cut up to pay his debts. According to Northcote, Reynolds, on seeing Powell's copy, perceived some important errors in the composition which he subsequently corrected.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Powell, John (fl.1796-1829)

Joseph Powell in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​POWELL, JOHN (fl. 1796–1829), water-colour-painter, is stated to have been born about 1780. He painted at first in oils, but subsequently devoted himself almost entirely to water-colours. His subjects were landscapes, chiefly drawn from English scenery, but sometimes of a topographical nature. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the ‘Old’ Society of Painters in Water-colours at the time of its foundation. Powell was largely engaged as a teacher of painting in water-colours; Samuel Redgrave [q. v.] was among his numerous pupils. Powell was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy exhibitions from 1796 to 1829. He showed also considerable skill as an etcher, and published some etchings of trees for the use of his pupils, and some landscape etchings after the old masters. An etching of a landscape by Domenichino, now in the National Gallery, is executed with much force. He also published a few lithographs. There are water-colour drawings by him in the print-room at the British Museum, and at the South Kensington Museum. The date of his death has not been ascertained.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Powell, John Joseph

​POWELL, JOHN JOSEPH (1755?–1801), legal writer, born about 1755, only son of James Powell of Queen Street, Westminster, was admitted a student at the Middle Temple on 25 April 1775. He practised as a conveyancer, and was probably a pupil of Charles Fearne [q. v.], whose classical essay on ‘Contingent Remainders’ he edited in 1795. He died at his residence in Guilford Place, Russell Square, on 21 June 1801. Powell was author of: 1. ‘A Treatise upon the Law of Mortgages,’ London, 1758, 8vo; 3rd edit. 1791, 2 vols. 8vo; 6th edit., by Coventry, 1826, 8vo. 2. ‘An Essay upon the Learning of Devises,’ London, 1788, 8vo; 3rd edit., by Jarman, 1827, 2 vols. 8vo. 3. ‘An Essay upon the Learning respecting the Creation and Execution of Powers,’ London, 1787; 2nd edit. 1799, 8vo. 4. ‘Essay upon the Law of Contracts and Agreements,’ London, 1790, 2 vols. 8vo. Powell's works were in high repute in their day, both in England and America, where they have been frequently re-edited.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rich, Richard (fl.1610)

​RICH, RICHARD (fl. 1610), author of ‘Newes from Virginia,’ was possibly the Richard Rich, illegitimate son of Richard, first baron Rich [q. v.], and father of Sir Nathaniel Rich [q. v.] He is said to be related to Barnabe Rich [q. v.], and was a ​soldier and adventurer, who sailed on 2 June 1609 from Plymouth for Virginia in the Sea Venture, which was commanded by Captain Christopher Newport [q. v.] In the same vessel were the three commissioners, Sir Thomas Gates [q. v.], Lord de la Warr, and Sir George Somers [q. v.], who were directed to colonise the new country. The fleet consisted of nine vessels. A violent storm separated the Sea Venture from the other ships, and drove her on to the rocks of the Bermudas, where her crew and passengers were forced to remain for forty-two weeks. During that time they built two pinnaces of cedarwood, in which they ultimately proceeded to Virginia.
Rich reached England in 1610, and published, on 1 Oct., a poem, entitled ‘Nevves from Virginia. The lost Flocke Triumphant. With the happy Arriual of that famous and worthy knight Sr Thomas Gates; and the well reputed and valiant captaine Mr. Christopher Newporte, and others, into England. With the manner of their distresse in the Iland of Deuils (otherwise called Bermoothawes), where they remayned 42 weekes, and builded two Pynaces, in which they returned into Virginia, by R. Rich, gent., one of the voyage, London, Printed by Edw. Allde, and are to be solde by John Wright, at Christ Church dore, 1610,’ 4to. The poem consists of twenty-two eight-line verses, to which is added a brief and bluntly humorous preface. His object was to ‘spread the truth’ about the new colony, and he announced his intention of returning with Captain Newport next year to Virginia. The only known copy is in the Huth Library. It was formerly included in Lord Charlemont's collection, where it was found in 1864 by James Orchard Halliwell[-Phillipps], who reprinted it in 1865 in a limited edition of only ten copies. Twenty-five copies were reprinted by Quaritch for private circulation (London, 1874). Both reprints lack the woodcut of a ship, which is in the original.
The narratives by Rich and others of the Bermudas adventure—Rich spells the word ‘Bermoothawes,’ Shakespeare spells it ‘Bermoothes’—doubtless suggested to Shakespeare some of the scenes in his ‘Tempest’ (cf. arts. Newport, Christopher; Gates, Sir Thomas; and Jourdain, Silvester; and Malone, Account of the Incidents from which Shakespeare's ‘Tempest’ was derived, London, 1808).
Rich speaks in his preface of another work on Virginia, to be ready in ‘a few daies.’ An entry in the ‘Stationers' Register’ gives under the same date (1610) ‘Good Speed to Virginia.’ But no second book by Rich has been discovered.
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rich, Nathaniel (1585?-1636)

​RICH, Sir NATHANIEL (1585?–1636), merchant adventurer, born about 1585, was probably eldest son of Richard Rich, an illegitimate son of Richard, first baron Rich [q. v.] His mother was daughter of John Machell, sheriff of London. He had a legal training, and was admitted a member of Gray's Inn on 2 Feb. 1609–10; but he devoted himself first to political life, and later to the rôle of a mercantile pioneer. He entered parliament as member for Totnes in 1614, represented East Retford in 1621, sat on a royal commission in Ireland in 1622 (Brown, Genesis of the United States, ii. 980), and was member for Harwich in 1624–5, Newport (Isle of Wight) in 1625, and Harwich again from 1626 to 1629. On 8 Nov. 1617 he was knighted at Hatton House.
Rich was connected with the Bermudas Company in 1616, and bought shares in the Virginia Company in 1619. Of the latter company he became a prominent member, and when, in April 1623, there occurred the great split between two factions in the company, he took a leading part on the side of his connection, Robert Rich, second earl of Warwick [q. v.] In May 1624, when the matter came before the House of Commons, he was specially attacked by the opposing faction, but he sat on the Virginia commission of July 1624.
In 1629 Rich, with the Earl of Warwick and others, found the funds for the first voyage of discovery to Providence Island, off the north-east of Yucatan. On 4 Dec. 1630 they received the patent forming the governor and company of adventurers for the plantation of Providence and Henrietta. To this company Rich seems henceforth to have devoted his best efforts. Many matters of importance, especially regulations and affairs requiring legal handling, were left to him. When fresh funds were required he was always the first to respond. He evidently pursued a forward policy, for in 1635 we find him advocating the admission of all the adventurers to the benefits of the trade of the main. A little later, on his motion, the first local council of Providence was appointed. On 7 May 1635 he was appointed deputy governor of the company, and held the post for about a year. He died before 26 May 1636. It was rumoured that overdoses from an ‘antimonial cup’ from Massachusetts hastened his end (Collections of Mass. Hist. Soc. 4th ser. vol. vi. p. 125). In his will he named several of the Rich (Warwick) family; he also left money to schools in the Bermudas. He desired to be buried at Stondon, Essex, the manor of which he owned; he left it to a nephew, Nathaniel, probably Nathaniel Rich (d. 1701) [q. v.]
C. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Littledale, Joseph

​LITTLEDALE, Sir JOSEPH (1767–1842), judge, born in 1767, was eldest son of Henry Littledale of Eton House, Lancashire, who was of a Cumberland family. His mother was Mary, daughter of Isaac Wilkinson of Whitehaven. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, was senior wrangler and Smith's prizeman, and graduated B.A. in 1787 and M.A. in 1790. He entered at Gray's Inn, and practised as a special pleader until 1798, when he was called to the bar on 28 June. It was during this time that, being asked what his politics were, he gave the well-known answer, ‘My politics are the politics of a special pleader.’ He joined the northern circuit, and attended the Chester sessions. In 1813 he was appointed counsel to the university of Cambridge. He enjoyed a good practice. On 30 April 1824 he was appointed, in succession to Mr. Justice Best, to a judgeship in the court of king's bench, though he had never been made a king's counsel or sat in parliament, or had any government recognition, beyond being appointed Hullock's colleague in managing the government prosecutions in Scotland in 1822. He took his seat on the first day of Easter term, 5 May 1824, and was knighted on 9 June. Consisting as it did of Abbott, Bayley, Holroyd, and Littledale, the court of king's bench at this time was one of the strongest ever constituted, and Lord Campbell speaks of this as the golden age of justice (Lives of the Chief Justices, iii. 291; Autobiography, i. 421). Littledale resigned owing to failing health on 31 Jan. 1841. He was sworn of the privy council, but died shortly after at his house in Bedford Square on 26 June 1842. He left 250,000l. His only daughter, Elizabeth, married Thomas Coventry, barrister-at-law. In character he was a lawyer, and little more—‘one of the most acute, learned, and simple-minded of men,’ according to Lord Campbell, but he was respected and even beloved by those who practised before him. He edited Skelton's ​‘Magnyfycence, an Interlude,’ for the Roxburghe Club in 1821.
[Foss's Judges of England; Arnold's Life of Lord Denman; Gent. Mag. new ser. xviii. 319; Times, 20 June 1842; Ann. Reg. 1842.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Liston, Henry

​LISTON, HENRY (1771–1836), writer on music, eldest son of Robert Liston, minister of Aberdour, Fifeshire, was born 30 June 1771. He studied for the ministry at Edinburgh University, and in 1793 was presented to the parish of Ecclesmachan, Linlithgowshire, where he remained till his sudden death at Merchiston Hall, Falkirk, on 24 Feb. 1836.
He was for many years clerk of the presbytery of Linlithgow, and became on 2 May 1820 conjunct clerk of the synod of Lothian and Tweeddale. By his wife Margaret, daughter of David Ireland, town clerk of Culross, whom he married 21 Oct. 1793, he was father of Robert Liston [q. v.] and of David Liston, professor of oriental languages at Edinburgh.
Liston had a natural bias for mechanics and music, and became widely known as the inventor of the 'Eucharmonic' organ, designed to give the diatonic scales in perfect tune. The instrument, which was exhibited in London in 1811, was admittedly ingenious; but as he was more of a theorist than a mechanician there were practical difficulties in playing it, which prevented its general use. Its harmony, however, was superior to that of the tempered organs (for technical details see Henry Ward Poole, On Perfect Intonation; Rees, Encyclopædia, art. 'Organ;' Philosophical Mag. xxxvii. 273, 328). Liston's 'Essay on Perfect Intonation' (4to, Edinburgh, 1812) was intended to explain his theory of acoustics and the construction of his organ. He wrote the article 'Music' in the 'Edinburgh Encyclopædia,' and edited 'Horatii Flacci Opera Selecta' (1819), and the sixth book of Cæsar for use in schools. Liston also invented an improved form of plough, which was used in his district.
[Scott's Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ (Synod of Lothian), pt. i. p. 185; Presbytery and Synod Registers in Edinburgh University Library; New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1843; H. B. McCall's Some Old Families, 1890, 4to; information kindly supplied by Mr. H. B. McCall of Charlesfield, Livingston.]
J. C. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sotheby, Samuel Leigh

​SOTHEBY, SAMUEL LEIGH (1805–1861), auctioneer and antiquary, younger son of Samuel Sotheby [q. v.], was born on 31 Aug. 1805, and entered the auctioneering business at an early age. In 1836 he compiled the ‘Exhibition Catalogue of Giovanni d'Athanasi's Collection of Egyptian Antiquities, Exeter Hall, Strand,’ 4to. The famous library of Dr. Kloss of Hamburg had been sent for sale in 1835, and Sotheby, who catalogued the collection, claimed that it included Melanchthon's own library. He published in 1840 a handsome quarto, describing his discoveries, and including the result of his researches in public and private libraries, entitled ‘Unpublished Documents, Marginal Notes, and Memoranda in the Autograph of Philip Melanchthon and of Martin Luther, with numerous facsimiles, accompanied with Observations upon the varieties of style in the Handwriting of those Illustrious Reformers.’
About a year after his father's death, in 1842, he took into partnership his chief accountant, John Wilkinson (1803–1894), who, after 1863, was the senior partner in the firm, now known as Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge, of 13 Wellington Street, Strand (Athenæum, 27 Jan. 1894, p. 115; Bookseller, 7 Feb. 1894, p. 123). Wilkinson became the salesman, while Sotheby superintended the cataloguing.
His chief literary work was to edit the materials collected by his father, which he supplemented and published as ‘The Typography of the Fifteenth Century: being Specimens of the Productions of the early Continental Printers, exemplified in a collection of Facsimiles from one hundred Works, together with their Water-marks,’ London, 1845, fol., and ‘Principia Typographica: the Block Books, or Xylographic Delineations of Scripture History issued in Holland, Flanders, and Germany during the Fifteenth Century, exemplified and considered in connection with the Origin of Printing, to which is added an attempt to elucidate the character of the Paper Marks of the period,’ London, 1858, 3 vols. 4to, 120 plates, of which 220 copies were sold by auction on 5 May 1858. A supplement was printed in 1859, not for sale, as ‘Memoranda relating to Block Books preserved in the Bibliothèque Impériale, Paris, made October 1858,’ 4to. The whole of the collections for these works, with many tracings, are bound up in 36 vols. folio, and are now in the British Museum.
Sotheby had a house, Woodlands, Norwood, where he possessed a gallery of cabinet paintings, and took a great interest in the management of the Crystal Palace, displayed in a couple of pamphlets, ‘A few Words by way of a Letter addressed to the Directors,’ 1855, and ‘A Postscript to the Letter,’ 1855. His last publication was ‘Ramblings in the Elucidation of the Autograph of Milton,’ London, 1861, 4to, with facsimiles and portraits.
He died at Buckfastleigh Abbey, Devonshire, on 19 June 1861, aged 55. He married, in 1842, Julia Emma, youngest daughter of Henry Jones Pitcher, by whom he had two daughters and one son.
[Gent. Mag. 1861, ii. 446–7; Allibone's Dictionary, ii. 2178.]
H. R. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Soone, William

​SOONE or ZOONE, WILLIAM (fl. 1540–1575), jurist and cartographer, was educated at Cambridge, where he graduated ​B.A. 1545, and proceeded M.A. 1549. He became doctor of civil and canon laws probably at some university on the continent. The bursars' accounts of Caius College show that he was resident at Gonville Hall, probably as a fellow, from 1548 to 1555. In 1561 he became regius professor of civil law, and in June of that year was admitted fellow of Trinity Hall. He would not conform to the protestant religion, and, leaving Cambridge, went abroad. His successor in the professorship, William Clerke, was appointed in 1563. Soone is said to have resided at Paris, Dol, Freiburg, and Padua, and to have been a professor of law for some time at Louvain (but cf. Andreas, Fasti Acad. Lovan.). From Louvain he went, in all probability, to Antwerp, where he seems to have acted as assistant to Abraham Ortelius [q. v.] In 1572 he was at Cologne, where he published ‘Gulielmi Sooni Vantesdeni Auditor sive Pomponius Mela disputator de Situ Orbis’ (British Museum). Part of this rare book, the ‘Novi incolæ orbis terrarum,’ is copied from that of Arnold Mylius and published by Ortelius in the 1570 edition of the ‘Theatrum.’ Accordingly Ortelius complained, and Soone offered somewhat jesuitical explanations dated from Cologne, 31 Aug. 1572. Soone also copied the map of Cambridge which Richard Lyne [q. v.] had drawn for Caius's ‘History of the University’ (1574), and published his copy in Braun and Hogenberg's ‘Civitates Orbis terrarum’ (1575?). With this map went a description of the university (cf. translation in Gent. Mag. xlvi. 201). From Cologne Soone is said to have passed to Rome, and while there the pope made him podestà, of what town is unknown.
W. A. J. A.