OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Murray, John (1729-1774)

​MURRAY, JOHN, third Duke of Atholl (1729–1774), eldest son of Lord George Murray [q. v.], by his wife Amelia, only surviving child and heiress of James Murray of Glencarse and Strowan, was born 6 May 1729. For some time he was captain in a company of Lord Loudoun's regiment of foot, afterwards the 54th. At the general election of 1761 he was chosen member of parliament for Perth. On the death of his uncle James, second duke of Atholl, 8 Jan. 1764, Murray, who, besides being nearest male heir, had married Lady Charlotte Murray, the duke's only surviving child, laid claim to the dukedom of Atholl. As, however, his father, Lord George Murray, had been forfeited, he deemed it advisable to petition the king that his claim to the dukedom might be allowed. The petition was referred by the king to the House of Lords, who on 7 Feb. 1764 resolved that he had a right to the title. His wife, on the death of her father, the second duke, succeeded to the sovereignty of the Isle of Man, and to the ancient English barony of Strange, of Knockyn, Wotton, Mohun, Burnel, Basset, and Lacy. For some time negotiations had been in progress with the English government for the union of the sovereignty to the English crown; and in 1765 an act of parliament was passed to give effect to a contract between the lords of the treasury and the Duke and Duchess of- Atholl for the purchase of the sovereignty of Man and its dependencies for 70,000l., the duke and duchess retaining their manorial rights, the patronage of the bishopric and other ecclesiastical benefices, the fisheries, minerals, &c. The arrangement rendered them very unpopular in Man, and the 42nd, or Black Watch, under Lord John Murray, had to be stationed in the island to maintain order. The money received by the duke and duchess was directed to be laid out and invested in the purchase of lands of inheritance in Scotland, to be inalienably entailed on a certain series of heirs. The duke and duchess had also a grant of an annuity of 2,000l. for their lives.
Atholl was chosen a representative peer in succession to the Earl of Sutherland, who died 21 Aug. 1764, and he was rechosen in 1768. In 1767 he was invested with the order of the Thistle. He died at Dunkeld on 5 Nov. 1774. By Lady Charlotte Murray he had seven sons and four daughters : John, fourth duke of Atholl, who in 1786 was created Earl Strange and Baron Murray of Stanley in the United Kingdom, and was the author of ' Observations on Larch,' London, ​1810; Lord James Murray; George, died an infant; Lord George [q. v.], who became bishop of St. Davids; Lord William; Lord Henry; Lord Charles, dean of Bocking, Essex; Lady Charlotte, died unmarried; Lady Amelia, married first to Thomas Ivie Cooke, an officer of the army, and secondly to Sir Richard Gamon of Minchenden, Middlesex; Jane, to John Groset Muirhead of Breachesholm, Lanarkshire; and Mary, to the Rev. George Martin.
[Train's History of the Isle of Man; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 153.]
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Sotheby, Edward Southwell

​SOTHEBY, Sir EDWARD SOUTHWELL (1813–1902), admiral, born at Clifton on 14 May 1813, was second son in a family of two sons and three daughters of Admiral Thomas Sotheby (1759–1831) by his second wife, Lady Mary Anne (d. 1830), fourth daughter of Joseph Deane Bourke, third earl of Mayo and archbishop of Tuam. William Sotheby [q. v.] was his uncle. After going through the course at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, Edward went to sea in 1828. He passed his examination in 1832, was promoted to lieutenant on 3 Oct. 1835, and in Dec. was appointed to the Caledonia, of 120 guns, flagship in the Mediterranean. In April 1837 he joined the Dido, corvette, as first lieutenant, and in her served during the war on the coast of Syria in 1840, for which he received the medal and, on 30 Oct. 1841, his promotion to commander. In June 1846 he was appointed to command the sloop Racehorse, in which he took part in the later operations of the first New Zealand war and served in China till 1848. He commissioned the Sealark for the west coast of Africa in June 1850, and was employed cruising for the suppression of the slave trade. On 6 Sept. 1852 Sotheby was promoted to captain, and in Dec. 1855 was appointed to the Pearl, corvette, which he commanded on the East Indies and China station until 1858. In July 1857 the Pearl, with the frigate Shannon, Capt. William Peel [q. v.], was sent from Hong Kong to Calcutta on the receipt of news of the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny. Sotheby himself took command of the Pearl's brigade, which was landed on 12 Sept., and for the following fifteen months formed part of the Goruckpore field force during the operations in Oudh. Sotheby and his brigade were thirteen times mentioned in despatches, and received the thanks of both houses of parliament, of the governor-general of India, of the admiralty, and of the naval and military commander in India (cf. Forrest's Hist. of Indian Mutiny, ii. 262). In addition to the medal Sotheby was made a C.B. and an extra aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria (1858–67). In 1863 he commanded the Portland coastguard division, after which he was not again actively employed. He reached flag rank on 1 Sept. 1867, and retired on 1 April 1870. He was advanced to vice-admiral on the retired list on 25 Aug. 1873, was awarded the K.C.B. in 1875, and became admiral on 15 June 1879. After leaving the sea Sotheby devoted himself to philanthropic work; in 1886 he was a commissioner for investigating and reporting on the condition of the blind, and was for many years chairman of the Blind Institute in Tottenham Court Road.
Sotheby died at 26 Green Street, London, W., on 6 Jan. 1902, and was buried at Ecton, Northamptonshire. He married in 1864 Lucy Elizabeth, daughter of Henry John Adeane, of Babraham, Cambridgeshire, and granddaughter of John Thomas, first Baron Stanley of Alderley, by whom he had issue three sons.
[O'Byrne's Naval Biogr. Dict.; The Times, 8 Jan. 1902; R.N. List; Burke's Landed Gentry; Sir J. W. Kaye, Sepoy War in India; G. B. Malleson, Hist. of Indian Mutiny.]
L. G. C. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, Robert Henry Soden

​SMITH, ROBERT HENRY SODEN (1822–1890), keeper of the Art Library, South Kensington, was born on 25 Feb. 1822. His father, Robert Smith of Dirleton, Haddingtonshire, was a captain in the 44th regiment, and served for some years in India. On his return he received the appointment of Athlone pursuivant-at-arms under Sir Bernard Burke, and settled in Dublin.
The son, Robert Henry, was brought up in Scotland, and then sent to Trinity College, Dublin, with a view to his ordination, but that design was not fulfilled. He became tutor to John Charles Pratt, earl of Brecknock (afterwards third Marquis Camden), and formed a lasting friendship with his pupil. On 1 March 1857 he was chosen a member of the staff at the South Kensington Museum, London, was appointed assistant keeper of the art museum and library on 25 June following, and became keeper of the national Art Library on 3 April 1868. The library was in an embryonic stage in 1857 when Smith entered on his work, and he was really the organiser of this branch of the ​museum, in which he gave a free rein to his keen instinct as a collector.
A lover of nature in every form, Smith made a special study of the freshwater shells. In antiquarian pursuits he was equally interested in English and oriental pottery, and of both he formed large collections. He also paid much attention to the history and forms of finger rings. As a juror he drew up the report on the porcelain at the exhibition of 1871. He also prepared the catalogue of the jewellery exhibited at South Kensington in 1872. He officially edited and partly compiled, for the use of students, several classified lists of books dealing with various arts and art industries, which are represented in the South Kensington Museum. He resided at 65 The Grove, Hammersmith, but died, unmarried, in a private nursing home near Cavendish Square, on 20 June 1890. With his friend Professor A. H. Church, Smith brought out in 1890 some poems entitled ‘Flower and Bird Posies.’
[The Academy, 5 July 1890, p. 16, signed δ, i.e. C. Drury E. Fortnum; Athenæum, 28 June 1890, p. 839; Times, 23 June 1890, p. 6; Illustrated London News, 12 July 1890, p. 53, with portrait; information from W. H. James Weale, esq.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, Robert (fl.1689-1729)

​SMITH, ROBERT (fl. 1689–1729), schoolmaster, was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen. At the time of the revolution John Murray, second marquis, and afterwards first duke of Atholl [q. v.], procured a small grant to endow a school at Kerrow, in Glenshee, in the parish of Kirkmichael, Perthshire, and Smith was chosen as master. The heritors, however, showed no zeal to provide him with a dwelling, and, after waiting in vain for some months, he showed his resentment by publishing ‘A Poem on the Building of the Schoolhouse of Glenshee,’ in which he roundly abused the lairds for their neglect. This provoked a reply from a whig poet, Jasper Craig, who, Smith insinuates, was a disappointed candidate for the post. Several poetical rejoinders were forthcoming on either side, but Smith surpassed his antagonist both in coarseness and bad verse. In 1729 Smith removed from Glenshee and was schoolmaster at Glamis in Forfar. He had a son, Robert Smith, schoolmaster at Kinnaird in Perthshire; some of his verses appear in Nicol's ‘Rural Muse,’ 1753, of which there is a copy in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh [see Nicol, Alexander].
Smith published:
* ‘Poems of Controversy betwixt Episcopacy and Presbytery: being the substance of what passed 'twixt him and several other Poets; As also, Several Poems and Merry Songs on other Subjects. With some Funeral Elegies on several Noblemen and Gentlemen, two Parts,’ 1714, 12mo. It contains two prefaces, one to the ‘World,’ the other to the ‘Reader.’ Copies are in the British Museum, in Sir Walter Scott's library, and in the library of the Free Church College, Edinburgh. The last contains in addition a printed address in verse to ‘William Seton, the younger, of Pitsmedden.’
* ‘The Assembly's Shorter Catechism in Metre. For the Use of young ones. By Mr. Robert Smith, Schoolmaster at Glammis,’ Edinburgh, 1829. It contains also the Lord's Prayer and the Creed in verse. Only one copy is known to be extant, which, in 1872, was in the possession of William Bonar, of St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, London.
Limited reprints of both works have been issued by Thomas George Stevenson—of the former in 1869 and of the latter in 1872.
[Stevenson's prefaces to Smith's works; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. iv. 321; Nicol's Rural Muse contains several curious particulars concerning Smith and Craig.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Williams, Alfred

​WILLIAMS, ALFRED (1832–1905), Alpine painter, born at Newark-on-Trent on 4 May 1832, was youngest of the three sons of Charles Williams [q. v.], a congregational minister, by his wife Mary Smeeton. Frederick Smeeton Williams [q. v.] was a brother. Alfred was educated ​firstly at a private school and subsequently at University College School, London. He learnt drawing at a private academy and landscape painting of William Bennett (1811–1871), water-colour artist. As a young man he supported himself by drawing on wood for book illustrations. From 1849 to 1856 he illustrated publications of the Religious Tract Society and of Messrs. Cassell & Company, as well as his brother Frederick's ‘Our Iron Roads’ (1852); he also for a time was assistant to Sir John Gilbert [q. v. Suppl. I].
From 1854, when he made an extended walking tour in Northern Italy and Switzerland, his interest in painting centred in mountain scenery. In 1861 he settled at Salisbury, and founding there the maltster's business afterwards known as Williams Brothers, was engaged in trade until his retirement in 1886. Meanwhile, during the summer months he travelled, chiefly in Switzerland, pursuing his art, which occupied him wholly after his retirement. In 1878 he was elected a member of the Alpine Club. His subjects were chiefly drawn from the Alps and the mountains of Scotland, but in 1900–1 he spent twelve months in India. At the Alpine Club, exhibitions of his water-colour drawings were held in March 1889, of his Indian paintings in 1902, and again of water-colours from 5 to 23 Dec. 1905. Between 1880 and 1890 he exhibited four works at the Royal Academy, one at the Royal Society of British Artists, and one at the New Gallery. He was skilful in rendering the effect of sunlight on distant snow and in giving an impression of the size of great mountains. One of his water-colour drawings, ‘Monte Rosa at Sunrise from above Alagna,’ is in the Victoria and Albert Museum; another belongs to the corporation of Salisbury, and two to the Alpine Club.
He died at the Grand Hôtel, Ste. Maxime-sur-Mer, Var, France, on 19 March 1905, and was buried at Ste. Maxime. He married twice: (1) in 1863 Sarah, daughter of George Gregory of Salisbury, by whom he had no issue; and (2) in 1866 Eliza (d. 1892), daughter of William Walker of Northampton, by whom he had one son and one daughter.
[Information from Mr. Sidney S. Williams; pref. to cat. of Exhibition at Alpine Club in 1905; Graves, Dict. of Artists; Cat. of Water-colours, Victoria and Albert Museum.]
B. S. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Will, John Shiress

​WILL, JOHN SHIRESS (1840–1910), legal writer, born in Dundee in 1840, only son of John Will, merchant, of Dundee, but described at the date of his son's admission to the Middle Temple—30 Oct. 1861—as ‘of the parish of Hanover, co. Cornwall, Jamaica,’ by his wife Mary, daughter of John Chambers. Educated first at Brechin grammar school, and afterwards at University College and King's College, London, Will was called to the bar by the Middle Temple on 6 June 1864, and obtained a large parliamentary practice, taking silk in 1883 and being made a bencher of his inn on 24 Jan. 1888. He discontinued his parliamentary practice in 1885 upon his election as liberal member for Montrose burghs, for which he was re-elected in 1886, in 1892, and in August 1895. He resigned the seat early in 1896, when Mr. John (afterwards Viscount) Morley, who had been recently defeated at Newcastle, was elected in his stead. Will then resumed his practice, becoming the principal authority on the law relating to lighting either by gas or electricity. He received tardy recognition of his ability and services by appointment in September 1906 as judge of the county court district (No. 7) of Liverpool. He died at Liverpool on 24 May 1910. He married in 1873 Mary Anne (d. 1912), daughter of William Shiress, solicitor, of Brechin, Forfarshire.
Will was author of: 1. ‘The Practice of the Referees Courts in Parliament in regard to Engineering Details … and Estimates and Water and Gas Bills,’ 1866. 2. ‘Changes in the Jurisdiction and Practice of the County Courts and Superior Courts effected by the County Courts Act, 1867, with notes,’ 1868. 3. ‘The Law relating to Electric Lighting,’ 1898; 3rd edit. 1903. He was joint author with W. H. Michael, a brother bencher of the Middle Temple, of a treatise on the law relating to gas and water, 1872, 5th edit. 1901, and was solely responsible for the later editions. He was also responsible for the fifth and sixth editions of ‘Wharton's Law Lexicon’ (1872, 1876).
[The Times, 25 May 1910, 16 Feb. 1912; Who's Who, 1909; Foster, Men at the Bar; Dod's Parl. Companion, 1895, N.P.; Law List, 1908; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
C. E. A. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Martin, Lady

​MARTIN, Lady (1810–1898), actress. [See Faucit, Helen.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Massie, Thomas Leeke

​MASSIE, THOMAS LEEKE (1802–1898), admiral, was born at Coddington Hall, Cheshire, on 20 Oct. 1802. He entered the navy in October 1818 on board the Rochefort, flagship in the Mediterranean of Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle [q. v.] and later on of Sir Graham Moore [q. v.] In different ships he continued serving in the Mediterranean; was wrecked in the Columbine brig on the coast of the Morea, 25 Jan. 1824; was in the Martin at the demonstration against Algiers [see Neale, Sir Harry Burrard]; was frequently engaged in boat affairs with Greek pirates, and was in the Asia at Navarino on 20 Oct. 1827. For this he was rewarded with promotion to lieutenant on a death vacancy, 11 Nov. 1827. As a lieutenant he served mostly in the Channel, North Sea, and Lisbon station; was for three years on the South American station with Captain Robert Smart in the Satellite, and for two years in the Mediterranean as first lieutenant of the Carysfort with Henry Byam Martin. On 28 June 1838—the queen's coronation—he was made commander; and in 1839 was, with some others, sent out to Constantinople to assist in organising the Turkish navy. They were, however, recalled after about six months; and in March 1840 Massie was appointed (as second captain) to the Thunderer with Maurice Frederick Fitzhardinge Berkeley, afterwards Lord Fitzhardinge [q. v.] In the Thunderer he took part in the operations on the coast of Syria in the summer and autumn of 1840, culminating in the capture of Acre, for which he was promoted to be captain on 17 March 1841. In April 1849 he was appointed to the Cleopatra, which he commanded in the East Indies and China and during the Burmese war. In September 1854 he commissioned the Powerful, which during the latter part of 1855 and 1856 was on the North American station. He had no further service, but became rear-admiral on 7 Nov. 1860, vice-admiral on 2 April 1866, and admiral on 20 Oct. 1872. He died at Chester on 20 July 1898.
[O'Byrne's Naval Biogr. Dict.; Times, 21 July 1898; Navy Lists.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Maynard, Walter

​MAYNARD, WALTER, pseudonym. [See Beale, Thomas Willert, 1828–1894.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Marshall, William Calder

​MARSHALL, WILLIAM CALDER (1813–1894), sculptor, born at Gilmour Place, Edinburgh, on 18 March 1813, was eldest son of William Marshall, goldsmith, and Annie Calder, his wife. Educated at the high school and university, he commenced his art studies at the Trustees' Academy in 1830, and four years later went to London, where he worked under Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey [q. v.] and Edward Hodges Baily [q. v.], and in the schools of the Royal Academy, where he gained a silver medal in 1835. He then spent two years (1836-8) in Rome, and in 1839 he settled permanently in London. In 1835, two years after he had exhibited first in the Royal Scottish Academy, he exhibited in London, and in 1844 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1852 an academician. He had been elected A.R.S.A. in 1840, but resigning when he received the London honour, he was made an honorary member at a later date. In recognition of his services as a British commissioner at the Paris Exposition of 1878 he was appointed chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He retired from the Royal Academy in 1890, exhibited there for the last time in the following year, and, having completed his last work in 1893, died in London on 16 June 1894.
He was a hard worker, and during his long career produced a great number of works. These were principally poetic and ideal in intention, and were very popular. He executed a number of commissions for the Art Union of London, and engravings of many of his sculptures are to be found in ​the 'Art Journal.' Classic and mythological subjects, such as 'Thetis and Achilles,' or 'Ajax praying for Light,' and 'Zephyr and Aurora' or 'Hebe,' and motives derived from the Bible or Shakespeare, were favourites with him. These often took the form of groups, and one of his best-known pieces is the group symbolic of 'Agriculture' on the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park. In 1857 he was awarded the first premium (700l.) in the competition for the Wellington Memorial, but fortunately the design of Alfred Stevens [q.v.] was afterwards adopted. He also produced a number of memorial statues, of which the marbles of Lords Clarendon and Somers, in the houses of parliament at Westminster, and of Sir George Grey, in Cape Town, and the bronze of Sir Robert Peel, in Manchester, may be named.
His style was of its time, and pseudo-classicism in his hands was informed by no richness of fancy or real power of technique. A certain elegance of design and type and conscientiousness of execution are the greatest merits his art possesses. An exhibition of his works was held in his studio in Ebury Street, London, after his death; and his executors presented the original models of his more important pieces to museums and galleries throughout the kingdom.
He was twice married: first, in 1842, to Marianne, daughter of Dr. Lawrie, Edinburgh, who died the same year; and secondly, in 1845, to Margaret, daughter of Joseph Calder of Burnhouse, Mid-Calder, by whom he had four sons and two daughters.
J. L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Portal, Abraham

​PORTAL, ABRAHAM (fl. 1790), dramatist, was the son of a clergyman, who may be identified with Andrew Portal, a member ​of an ancient family of Huguenot origin, which migrated to England in 1686 (cf. Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1888; Gent. Mag. 1768, p. 447). Andrew Portal matriculated at Oxford from Exeter College in 1748, became vicar of St. Helen's, Abingdon, in 1759, proceeded M.A. in 1761, and died on 13 Sept. 1768. The dramatist started in life as a goldsmith and jeweller on Ludgate Hill, but lost money both in this trade and that of bookselling, and finished his career as a box-keeper at Drury Lane Theatre. It appears from his ‘Poems’ that Portal was a close friend of Dr. John Langhorne [q. v.], the translator of Plutarch. Portal's writings include: 1. ‘Olindo and Sophronia: a Tragedy,’ the story taken from Tasso, two editions, 1758, London, 8vo. 2. ‘The Indiscreet Lover: a Comedy,’ performed at the Haymarket for the benefit of the British Lying-in Hospital in Brownlow Street; dedicated to the Duke of Portland; two editions, London, 1768, 8vo. Baker remarks of this piece that ‘charity covereth a multitude of failings.’ Genest, however, finds two of the characters, Old and Young Reynard, ‘excellent.’ To the printed copies is appended a list of ‘errata,’ in which the reader is requested to substitute polite periphrases for coarse expressions in the text. 3. ‘Songs, Duets, and Finale,’ from Portal's comic opera ‘The Cady of Bagdad,’ London, 1778, 8vo. The opera, which was given at Drury Lane on 19 Feb. 1778, was not printed. 4. ‘Poems,’ 1781, 8vo. The volume includes dedicatory verses to R. B. Sheridan, and two bombastic poems, ‘War: an Ode,’ and ‘Innocence: a Poetical Essay,’ which had previously been issued separately. 5. ‘Vortimer, or the True Patriot: a Tragedy,’ London, 1796, 8vo. Among the dramatis personæ are Vortimer's father, Vortigern, his mother Rowena, Hengist, and Horsa. Ireland's ‘Vortigern’ had appeared in March 1795. Neither ‘Vortimer’ nor ‘Olindo and Sophronia’ was acted. In the spring of 1796 Portal seems to have been living in Castle Street, Holborn, but the date of his death is not known.
T. S.