OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Bourchier, James David

​BOURCHIER, JAMES DAVID (1850-1920), correspondent of The Times in the Balkan Peninsula, was born at Baggotstown, Bruff, co. Limerick, 18 December 1850, the fourth son of John Bourchier, of Baggotstown, a property which had descended from father to son since 1651; his mother was Sarah Aher, of La Rive, Castlecomer, co. Kilkenny. Bourchier was an exhibitioner at Trinity College, Dublin, and took his degree there (1873), with a gold medal for classics. He subsequently won a scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge, and was placed seventh in the first class of the classical tripos (1876). In 1888, after ten years as a master at Eton, where his deafness proved a handicap, Bourchier went to Roumania and Bulgaria on a mission for The Times, definitely joining its staff in 1892. For fifteen years he made his headquarters at Athens, afterwards at Sofia. Active in mind and body, a linguist and a musician, and, in spite of his deafness, excellent company, Bourchier knew every one of note in the Balkans and was behind the scenes of Balkan politics for a generation. He wrote excellently on archaeology and travel, as well as on politics. His sympathy with patriots and with the oppressed, together with his honesty of purpose, fearlessness, and power of identifying himself with a cause, won for him a unique place in the Balkan Peninsula. He often served as intermediary between the Cretan insurgents and the Greek authorities, and he acted unofficially as confidential adviser to Prince George of Greece when, in 1898, the latter became high commissioner of Crete. When the Bulgarian peasants in Macedonia rose against the Turks in 1903, Bourchier brought their sufferings and the justice of their cause before the public with great insistence and ability. In 1911-1912 he was entrusted by King George of Greece and M. Venizelos on one side, and by King Ferdinand of Bulgaria and M. Gueshov on the other, with many of the secret negotiations preceding the Balkan alliance. Bourchier regarded this alliance as the only remedy for Balkan troubles. Much as he deplored the part played by Bulgaria in the second Balkan War and in the European War, he did not withdraw his sympathy from the Bulgars, whose national character he warmly admired.
In 1915 Bourchier went to Roumania and later to Odessa and Petrograd, reaching England early in 1918. He then retired from The Times, and devoted himself to the forlorn attempt to secure what seemed to him a just and final settlement in the Balkans. He died at Sofia 30 December 1920, and was buried with high honours at Rilo monastery. He was unmarried.
[Bourchier’s diaries and papers; his contributions to The Times, 1888-1920, and to the Quarterly, Fortnightly, and other Reviews; his articles on Balkan subjects in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th edition); Lady Grogan, Life of J. D. Bourchier, 1924; private information; personal knowledge.]
E. F. B. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Braddon, Mary Elizabeth

​BRADDON, MARY ELIZABETH (1887-1915), novelist. [See Maxwell, Mary Elizabeth.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Treveris, Peter

​TREVERIS, PETER (fl. 1525), printer, is known only from having issued books from 1522 to 1532. His surname was supposed by Ames to show that he was a native of the city of Treves or Treveris. It has been maintained, however, that he was a member of the Cornish family of Treffry, a name sometimes spelt Treveris. A Sir John Treffry fought at Poictiers, and took as supporters to his arms a wild man and woman. These were retained by Peter Treveris in his trade device (Notes and Queries, 4th ser. xii. 374), but they were not uncommon in the devices of other printers of the period. A Peter Trevers was, on 4 Aug. 1461, appointed keeper of the chancery rolls in Ireland (Cal. Patent Rolls, 1461–7, p. 26).
Treveris's printing office was in Southwark at the sign of the ‘Wodows.’ His first dated book was an edition of the ‘Syntaxis’ of Robert Whitinton, issued in 1522. Several earlier works are quoted by bibliographers, but the dates ascribed to them are either supposititious, or else refer to the writing rather than the printing. Treveris issued in all between thirty and forty books, and more than half of these were small grammatical tracts. Perhaps the most important book which came from his press was the handsome edition of Trevisa's translation of Higden's ‘Polychronicon,’ issued in 1527, and printed at the expense of John Reynes. This, the ‘Great Herball,’ and the two works of Hieronymus Braunschweig, ‘The noble Experyence of the virtuous Handy-worke of Surgeri’ and ‘The vertuouse Book of the Dystillacion of the Waters,’ are the only important books which he printed.
It has been stated that Treveris printed for a while at Oxford, but there is no evidence that such was the case (cf. Madan, Early Oxford Press, pp. 10, 273). One book of his, however, an edition of the ‘Opus Insolubilium’ for use at Oxford, was printed for ‘I. T.,’ probably John Dorne or Thorne, the Oxford bookseller.
Some of the printing material which had belonged to Treveris found its way, on the cessation of his press, into Scotland, and was there used by Thomas Davidson, who, like Treveris, used as his device a shield, bearing his mark and initials, suspended from a tree, and supported by two savages or ‘wodows.’
[Ames's Typogr. Antiq. ed. Herbert, iii. 1441–1446.]
E. G. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Yorke, Charles (1790-1880)

​YORKE, Sir CHARLES (1790–1880), field-marshal, born 7 Dec. 1790, was the son of Colonel John Yorke, deputy-lieutenant of the Tower from 1795 till his death, 26 Jan. 1826, by Juliana, daughter of John Dodd of Swallowfield, Berkshire.
He was commissioned as ensign in the 35th foot on 22 Jan. 1807, became lieutenant on 18 Feb. 1808, and on the 25th exchanged to the 52nd foot. He served with that distinguished regiment throughout the Penin​sular war, being present at Vimiero, Fuentes de Onoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, the battles of the Pyrenees, the Nivelle and Nìve, and at Orthes, where he was severely wounded. He was also wounded at Badajoz and the Nivelle. He afterwards received the Peninsular silver medal with ten clasps. He was promoted captain on 24 Dec. 1813.
At Waterloo he was extra aide-de-camp to Major General Adam, who commanded the brigade of which the 52nd formed part. He received the medal. He was placed on half-pay on 25 Feb. 1816, but was appointed to the 13th foot on 7 Aug. 1817, and exchanged back to the 52nd on 2 July 1818. On 9 June 1825 he was given an unattached majority, and again went on half-pay. On 30 Nov. 1826 he was made lieutenant-colonel and inspecting field officer of militia. He became colonel on 23 Nov. 1841, and was assistant quartermaster-general, first at Cork and afterwards at Manchester from 1842 to 1851.
On 11 Nov. 1851 he was promoted major-general. He was sent to the Cape, and served in the Kaffir war of 1852 as second in command under General (afterwards Sir George) Cathcart [q. v.] On 20 June 1852 a Hottentot camp near the source of the Buffalo was surprised by his ‘judicious arrangements and the indefatigable exertions of Lieutenant-colonel Eyre and his troops’ (Cathcart, p. 195). When Cathcart crossed the Keï, Yorke was left in command in British Kaffraria, and hunted out the Kaffirs still lurking there. He was given a reward for distinguished service on 13 July 1853, and in May 1854 he succeeded Colonel (afterwards Lord) Airey as military secretary at headquarters.
He was made colonel of the 33rd foot on 27 Feb. 1855, and K.C.B. on 5 Feb. 1856. He became lieutenant-general on 13 Feb. 1859, and received the G.C.B. on 29 June 1860, when he ceased to be military secretary. In that office it is said that as Lord Fitzroy Somerset had ‘softened the asperity of the Iron Duke, Sir C. Yorke neutralised the exuberant kindness of the Duke of Cambridge’ (Stoqueler, Personal History of the Horse Guards, p. 250). He was made colonel-commandant of the 2nd battalion of the rifle brigade on 1 April 1863, and became general on 5 Sept. 1865. On 5 April 1875 he was appointed constable of the Tower of London, and on 2 June 1877 he was made field-marshal. He died in South Street, Grosvenor Square, on 20 Nov. 1880, and was buried on the 24th at Kensal Green.
E. M. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/York and Albany, Dukes of

​YORK and ALBANY, Dukes of. [See Ernest Augustus, 1674–1728; Frederick Augustus, 1763–1827.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/York, Laurence

​YORK, LAURENCE (1687–1770), Roman catholic prelate, born in London in 1687, joined the Benedictine order and made his ​solemn profession as a monk at St. Gregory's College, Douay, on 28 Dec. 1705, and was ordained priest in 1711. He was prior of St. Edmund's, Paris (1721–5), and afterwards prior at St. Gregory's (1725–9). His services were required for the mission at Bath in 1730. In 1741 he was consecrated bishop of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, and nominated coadjutor to Bishop Pritchard, vicar-apostolic of the western district. He succeeded to that vicariate in 1750, resigned it in 1764, and died at St. Gregory's College, Douay, on 14 April 1770. His portrait hangs in the refectory at Downside.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/York, William of

​YORK, WILLIAM of (d. 1256), bishop of Salisbury. [See William.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/York, Dukes of

​YORK, Dukes of. [See Langley, Edmund de, 1314–1402; 'Plantagenet', Edward, 1373?–1415; Richard, 1411–1460; Richard, 1472–1483; James II, King of England, 1633–1701.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/York, Rowland

​YORK or YORKE, ROWLAND (d. 1588), soldier of fortune, is conjectured to have been one of the ten sons of Sir John York [q. v.], whose ninth son bore the name of Rowland (Visit. of Yorkshire, ed. Foster, p. 382). Being of an adventurous disposition, he volunteered for the Netherlands under Captain Thomas Morgan (d. 1595) [q. v.] in 1572. He embarked at Gravesend on 19 March that year with his two companions, Gascoigne and Herle, but the ship in which they sailed was nearly lost on the coast of Holland owing to the incompetence of the Dutch pilot (Brydges, Censura Literaria, i. 111). But reaching the English camp in safety, he took part in August that year in the attack on Goes under Captain (afterwards Sir) Humphrey Gilbert [q. v.] and 't Zereets (Markham, Fighting Veres, p. 46). Opinions differed about him. By some he was held ‘bolde of courage, provident in direction, industrious in labour, and quick in execution’ (Blandy, The Castle, p. 26). But his profligacy and the fact that he was a Roman catholic caused him from the first to be distrusted by the states (Meteeren, Hist. Belg. lib. xiv. 430). In October 1580 he was reported by Herle to Walsingham to have been arrested on a charge of felony (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–80, p. 684). Four years later he was detected in a plot with John Van Imbyss to betray Ghent to the Duke of Parma (Grimestone, Hist. of the Netherlands, p. 827). Contrary to the advice of the Prince of Orange, who would have preferred a more summary punishment, he was clapped in prison in Brussels, whence he was released when the city fell into Parma's hands in 1586. He served at the siege of Antwerp, but by the intercession of his friends he was allowed to return to England. Joining the expedition under the Earl of Leicester that year, he succeeded in ingratiating himself with Sir Philip Sidney (Meteeren, Hist. Belg. l.c.), and being by Leicester appointed to the command of Zutphen sconce, he, according to Camden, took the opportunity thus offered him of paying back a grudge he had against the earl by surrendering the sconce to the Spaniards and inducing Sir William Stanley (1548–1630) [q. v.] to do the same for Deventer. He was appointed captain of a troop of lancers in the Spanish service; but his treachery not being, as he thought, sufficiently rewarded, and he being known to be a bold and determined villain (Tozen, i. 357), it is said the Spaniards took precaution to prevent any double treachery by causing him to be poisoned. He died on a Sunday in February 1588, having first ‘received sacraments, unction, and all’ (Bertie, Five Generations of a Loyal House, p. 120; but cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1581–90, p. 466, where he is said to have died of the smallpox). Three years afterwards his body was exhumed and gibbeted by order of the states. His heir was Edmund Yorke, who was executed at Tyburn in 1595 for attempting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth.
R. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/York, Richard of

​YORK, RICHARD of, Earl of Cambridge (d. 1415). [See Richard.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smyth, Patrick James

​SMYTH, PATRICK JAMES (1826–1885), Irish politician, was born in 1826, in Dublin, where his father, James Smyth, a native of Cavan, was a prosperous tanner. His mother, Anne, was daughter of Maurice Bruton of Portane, co. Meath. Patrick received his education at Clongoweswood College, where he made the acquaintance of Thomas Francis Meagher [q. v.] The two became fast friends, and in 1844 both joined the Repeal Association. In the cleavage between ‘Old Ireland’ and ‘Young Ireland,’ Smyth, like Meagher, sided with the latter, and became one of the active members of that body. After the failure of the abortive insurrection of 1848 he managed to escape to America disguised as a drover. He supported himself by journalism for some years, becoming prominently identified with the Irish national movement in America. In 1854 he visited Tasmania, and planned and carried out the escape of John Mitchel [q. v.] from his Tasmanian prison (cf. Mitchel, Jail Journal). In 1855 he married Miss Jeanie Myers of Hobart Town, Tasmania, and in 1856 returned to Ireland and began to study for the bar. He was called in 1858, but never practised. For a short time, about 1860, he was proprietor of the ‘Irishman,’ an advanced nationalist newspaper.
Smyth was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour on 29 Aug. 1871 in recognition of ​his services to France in organising the Irish ambulance aid to that country during the Franco-German war.
In 1870 Smyth made an unsuccessful attempt to enter parliament as a member of Isaac Butt's home-rule party. In June of the following year he was returned as M.P. for Westmeath, and sat for the constituency uninterruptedly till 1880, when he became M.P. for Tipperary. In parliament Smyth's oratorical gifts were highly appreciated. A speech delivered by him on home rule on 30 June 1876 was published; but he disapproved of the extreme policy of Charles Stewart Parnell [q. v.], and became an unsparing and bitter enemy of the land league, which he described as a ‘League of Hell.’ His popularity in Ireland consequently waned, and he retired from parliament in 1882. At the close of 1884 he was appointed secretary of the Irish Loan Reproductive Fund, but survived his appointment only a few weeks. He died at Belgrave Square, Rathmines, Dublin, on 12 Jan. 1885, leaving his widow and family in straitened circumstances. A fund was raised for their support. Smyth published:
* ‘Australasia,’ a lecture; 2nd edit. Dublin, 8vo, 1861.
* ‘France and European Neutrality,’ a lecture, Dublin, 1870.
* ‘The Part taken by the Irish Boy in the Fight at Dame Europa's School;’ 3rd edit. Dublin, 1871.
* ‘A Plea for a Peasant Proprietary in Ireland,’ Dublin, 1871.
* ‘Materialism,’ a lecture, Dublin, 1876.
* ‘The Priest in Politics, by the late P. J. Smyth,’ 4to edit. Dublin, 1885.
[Mitchel's Jail Journal; Pigott's Reminiscences of an Irish National Journalist; Duffy's Four Years of Irish History; Freeman's Journal, 13 Jan. 1885; Evening Mail (Dublin), 14 Jan. 1885; information from Mr. John O'Leary, Dublin.]
D. J. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smythe, David

​SMYTHE, DAVID, Lord Methven (1746–1806), Scottish judge, son of David Smythe of Methven, and Mary, daughter of James Graham of Braco, was born on 17 Jan. 1746. Having studied for the law, he was admitted advocate on 4 Aug. 1769. Smythe was raised to the bench, in succession to Francis Garden of Gardenstone, on 15 Nov. 1793, taking the title of Lord Methven. He was appointed a commissioner of justiciary on the death of Lord Abercromby, 11 March 1796, but resigned that office in 1804. He died at Edinburgh on 30 Jan. 1806. Lord Methven was credited with the highest integrity as a judge and an excellent understanding.
He married, first, on 8 April 1772, Elizabeth, only daughter of Sir Robert Murray, bart., of Hillhead; she died on 30 June, 1785, leaving three sons and four daughters. By his second wife, Euphemia, daughter of Mungo Murray of Lintrose, who was reckoned one of the beauties of her time and was the subject of one of Burns's songs, he had two sons and two daughters. Smythe was succeeded in the estate by Robert Smythe, only surviving son of his first marriage; but as Robert died in 1847 without issue, the succession fell to the elder son of the second marriage, William Smythe (1805–1895) of Methven Castle.
A. H. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smyth, Richard

1904 Errata appended.
​SMYTH, RICHARD, D.D. (1826–1878), Irish divine and politician, son of Hugh Smyth of Bushmills, co. Antrim, by Sarah Anne, daughter of J. Wray, was born at Dervock, co. Antrim, on 4 Oct. 1826. He was educated at the university of Bonn and at the university of Glasgow, where he graduated M.A. in 1850, and received the honorary D.D. and LL.D. degrees in 1867. For eight years he was assistant-collegiate minister of the first presbyterian church of Londonderry, and in 1865 was appointed professor of oriental languages and biblical literature in Magee College, Londonderry. In 1870 he became Dill professor of theology in the same college. He was a supporter of Mr. Gladstone's policy of disestablishment in Ireland, and in 1869 was raised to the moderatorship of the general assembly of the presbyterian church. In 1870 he was re-elected moderator, and took an active part in settling the financial affairs of the church in connection with the withdrawal of the regium donum. He was one of the trustees incorporated by royal charter under the Presbyterian Church Act for administering the commutation fund. He supported the Irish University Bill of 1873, and, as a liberal, was elected member of parliament for co. Londonderry on 16 Feb. 1874 to support the general policy of Mr. Gladstone's administration, especially with respect to land tenure and grand jury reform. He sat until his death, which took place at Antrim road, Belfast, on 4 Dec. 1878. He was buried at Dervock on 6 Dec.
Besides numerous pamphlets, he was the author of:
* ‘Philanthropy, Proselytism, and Crime: a Review of the Irish Reformatory System,’ London, 1861, 8vo.
* ‘The Bartholomew Expulsion in 1662,’ Londonderry, 1862, 18mo.
[Men of the Time, 1875, p. 912; Debrett's House of Commons. 1875, p. 220; Illustrated London News, 1874, lxv. 52; Belfast News Letter, 5 Dec. 1878 pp. 1, 5, 7 Dec. p. 8.]
G. C. B.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.254 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 189 | i | 45 | Smyth, Richard: for politician read divine and politician |
| | | 50-51 | omit B.A. in 1847 |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smyth, Robert Brough

​SMYTH, ROBERT BROUGH (1830–1889), mining surveyor, son of Edward Smyth, a mining engineer, was born at Carville, near Newcastle, Northumberland, in 1830. He was educated at Whickham in the county of Durham. Soon turning his attention to natural science, especially to chemistry and geology, he began work about 1846 as an assistant at the Derwent Ironworks. There he remained over five years. In 1852 he emigrated to Victoria, Australia. After some experience on the goldfields, he entered the survey department as draughtsman under Captain (afterwards Sir Andrew) Clarke, R.E. Subsequently he acted for a brief period as chief draughtsman, and in 1854 was appointed to take charge of the meteorological observations. In 1858 he was appointed secretary to the board of science, which included the charge of the mining surveys of the colony. In 1860 he was appointed secretary for mines, with a salary of 750l., and acted for some time as chief inspector of mines and reorganised the geological survey, of which he became director. At the beginning of 1876, owing to the result of an inquiry into his treatment of his subordinates, he resigned all his offices. He subsequently went to India, where he helped to promote the disastrous ‘boom’ in Indian gold-mines. He died on 10 Oct. 1889. He had been elected a fellow of the ​Geological Society in 1856 and of the Linnean in November 1874; he was also a member of the Société Géologique de France, of the Society of Arts and Sciences at Utrecht, and an honorary corresponding member of the Boston Society of Natural History.
Besides many official reports and various lists and statistics for different international exhibitions, Smyth was author of:
* ‘The Prospectors' Handbook,’ 8vo, Melbourne, 1863.
* ‘The Gold Fields and Mineral Districts of Victoria,’ 4to, Melbourne, 1869.
* ‘Hints for the Guidance of Surveyors,’ 8vo, Melbourne, 1871.
* ‘The Aborigines of Victoria,’ 2 vols. 4to, Melbourne, 1878.
He also contributed papers on mineralogical and geological subjects to scientific journals between 1855 and 1872.
[Mennell's Dict. Australian Biogr.; Colonial Office Lists, 1858–76; Lists of the Linnean and Geological Societies; Reports of the Mines Department of Victoria; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Royal Soc. Cat. of Scientific Papers.]
B. B. W.