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

​BAKER, HUMPHREY (fl. 1562–1587), writer on arithmetic and astrology, was a Londoner. In 1562 he published 'The Wellspring of Sciences,' said by Henry Phillippes, who edited and enlarged the work in 1670, to have been one of the first and 'one of the best books on arithmetic which had appeared up to that date in this country.' Phillippes does not name Cocker, who had given to the world his celebrated book two years previously, but he can hardly have considered Baker's work superior or even on a par with it. Baker was an enthusiast for his science. In the dedication of his edition of 1574 'to the Governor, Consuls, Asistentes, &c. of the Company of Merchentes Adventurers,' he excuses himself for not entering fully into the merits of arithmetic, on the ground that 'where good wine is to sell, there neede no garlande be hāged out.' He nevertheless proceeds to state that it is well known 'that the skil hereof immediately flowed from the wisdome of God into the harte of man, whome he coulde not conceave to remayne in the most secrete misterie of Trinitie in Unitie, were it not by the benifite of most Devine skill in Numbers. … Take away Arithmetick, wherein differeth the Shepparde frō the sheepe, or the horse keeper from the Asse? It is the key and entrance into all other artes and learninge, as well approved Pythagoras, who caused this inscription to be written (upon his schoole doore where hee taught Philosophy) in greate letters, "Nemo Arithmeticæ ignanarus hic ingrediatur."' He calls the rule of three 'the golden rule.' Phillippes added considerably to Baker's book in his edition, giving us, among other things, a chapter 'Of Sports and Pastime done by numbers. To know what number any one thinketh,' &c. In the library of the British Museum there are six different editions of Baker's work, from 1574 to 1655, besides Phillippes's edition of 1670.
Baker also translated from the French and published in London in 1587 a little book in black letter entitled 'The Rules, &c. touching the use and practice of the common almanacs which are named Ephemerides, a brief and short instruction upon the Judicial ​Astrologie for to prognosticate of things to come by the help of the same Ephemerides, with a treatise added hereunto touching the conjunction of the Planets and of their Prognostications,' &c. Among the prognostications are such as these: 'If the moon be in conjunction with Jupiter, it is good to let blood,' 'If Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the moon be found conjoined in the sign of Leo, men shall be grieved with pains of the stomach.'
P. B. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Baker, John Wynn

​BAKER, JOHN WYNN (d. 1775), agricultural and rural economist, was from 1764 until the time of his death officially connected with the Dublin Society, of which he had previously been an honorary member. His enlightened schemes for the improvement of agriculture received liberal support from the society. Under its patronage he was enabled to establish at Laughlinstown, in the county of Kildare, a factory for making all kinds of implements of husbandiy, to maintain apprentices, and to open classes for practical instruction in the science. His 'Experiments in Agriculture,' published at intervals from 1766 to 1773, gained for their author a wide reputation. Baker died at Wynn's Field, co. Kildare, on 24 Aug. 1775. In his short life he probably did more for the advancement of agriculture in Ireland than any of his predecessors. The Royal Society had recogmsed his merits by electing him a fellow in 1771.
Baker also published: 1. 'Considerations upon the Exportation of Corn' (which was written at the request of the Dublin Society), 8vo, Dublin, 1771. 2. 'A Short Description and List, with the Prices, of the Instruments of Husbandry made in the Factory at Laughlinstown,' 8vo, Dublin, 1767 (3rd ed. 1769).
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Baker, John (d.1558)

1904 Errata appended.
​BAKER, Sir JOHN (d. 1558), chancellor of the exchequer, is said to have been of a Kentish family; but, as Lodge says, 'his pedigree at the College of Arms begins with his own name' (Illust. of English History, 2nd edition, i. 60). He was bred for the law. In 1526 he was joined with Henry Standish, bishop of St. Asaph, in an embassy sent to Denmark. Not long afterwards he was elected speaker of the House of Commons, and subsequently appointed attorney-general and a member of the privy council. In 1545 he was made chancellor of the exchequer. Lodge states that Baker was distinguished by being the only privy councillor who refused to put his name to the 'Device for the Succession,' which Edward VI drew up when on his death-bed, and which was designed to exclude the princesses Mary and Elizabeth from the succession. This statement is refuted by the fact that Baker's name appears at the foot both of this document and of the 'Letters patent for the limitation of the Crown' which were subsequently issued (see the publication of both by Mr. J. G. Nichols in his Queen Jane and Queen Mary, Camden Soc.). Baker continued in his office until his death in December 1558. Almost his last employment in the service of the state was upon a commission appointed in March 1558 to see to the defences of the country. He married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Thomas Dinely, and widow of George Barret, Esq.; he had an estate at Sisinghurst, Kent; and was grandfather of the chronicler, Sir Richard Baker [q. v.]
C. F. K.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.13 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 12 | i | 21 | Baker, Sir John (d. 1558): after law insert on 12 May 1520 he was made under sheriff and judge of the Sheriff's Court of London (Letter Book N, fo. 136 b). That post he held until he was appointed recorder of London in Nov. 1526 (ib. O, fo. 168 b). |
| | | 23 | after Denmark insert In 1529 he was elected to parliament for both Bedford and City of London and sat for the latter constituency till 1536. He was subsequently M.P. for Guildford 1542-4, Lancaster 1545-7, Huntingdonshire 1547-52, Bramber 1553, and Kent from 1554 till his death. |
| | | | for Not long afterwards read In July 1535, when he resigned the recordership |
| | | 24, 25 | omit elected speaker . . . . subsequently |
| | | 27 | after exchequer insert Two years later, 1547, he was elected Speaker. |
| | | 19 f.e. | after office insert of chancellor of the exchequer |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Baker, John (d.1745)

​BAKER, JOHN, D.D. (d. 1745), vice-master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was admitted to Westminster School, on the foundation, in 1691, and thence elected to Trinity College in 1695 (B.A. 1698, M.A. 1702, B.D. 1709, D.D. comitiis regiis 1717). He was elected a minor fellow of Trinity 2 Oct. 1701, and a major fellow 17 April 1702 (Addit. MS. 5846 f. 123 b). In 1722 he was appointed vice-master of the college, and in 1731 rector of Dickleburgh in Norfolk. He also held the perpetual curacy of St. Mary's, Cambridge. Baker was the unscrupulous supporter of Dr. Hichard Bentley in all his measures, and rendered the master of Trinity great service by obtaining signatures in favour of the compromise between Bentley and Serjeant Miller in 1719. His subserviency to Bentley is ridiculed, in 'The Trinity College Triumph:'—
But Baker alone to the lodge was admitted.
Where he bow'd and he cring'd, and he smil'd and he prated.
He died 30 Oct, 1745, in Neville's Court in Trinity College, where, owing to pecuniary misfortunes, he had ceased to be vice-master, and was buried at All Saints' Church, Cambridge, according to directions given by him a few days before his death. His living of Dickleburgh had been sequestrated for the payment of his debts. 'He had been a great beau,' says Cole, the Cambridge antiquary, 'but latterly was as much the reverse of it, wearing four or five nightcaps under his wig and square cap, and a black cloak over his cloath gown and cassock, under which were various waistcoats, in the hottest weather' (Addit. MS. 5804, f. 81).
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Baker, John (d.1771)

​BAKER, JOHN, R.A. (d. 1771), flowerpainter, is said to have been mainly employed in the decoration of coaches. His biographer, Mr. Edward Edwards, remarks sententiously upon the caprice of fashion in this modest department of art, and tells us that Baker's floral enrichments were thought in their day to be of the first order. On the foundation of the Royal Academy John Baker was elected a member. He died in 1771.
E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bernard, Charles

​BERNARD, CHARLES (1650–1711), surgeon, was elected surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital 26 Aug. 1686, upon the special command of the king (MS. Journal St. Bartholomew's Hospital). He attained the chief surgical practice in London of his time, and became sergeant-surgeon to Queen Anne in the first year of her reign. He was famous for his skill in operating, and his desire never to operate unnecessarily. When other surgeons maintained that Hoadly, tutor of Catharine Hall, must lose his leg, Bernard undertook to save it and succeeded; so that delighted students of the Bangorian controversy owe whatever pleasure they feel in threading its mazes to the skill of Bernard who preserved Hoadly's leg in sufficiently canonical entirety to permit of his ordination the following year (Hoadly, Works, i. p. viii). Bernard has left no professional works behind him, but a contemporary essay (The Present State of Chyrurgery, London, 1703) shows that he had, in advance of his time, formed from observation a true opinion as to the frequency of a fatal recurrence after the removal of malignant growths. He was master of the Barber Surgeons' Company in 1703, ​and a fine portrait of him hangs in their hall. The sheriff of London having neglected to deliver the bodies of criminals for dissection, Bernard, while master, proceeded against him and obtained his dismissal (manuscript copy of record at Barbers' Hall). His library, which he collected with regard to the beauty as well as the intrinsic merit of the books, was sold after his death (Bibliotheca Bernardiana). Swift, who was one of his friends, expresses in the 'Journal to Stella' a wish to go and look at the library before it was sold, and afterwards tells how he attended the sale and bought nothing. Bernard, perhaps owing to the dying regrets of his colleague, Dr. Francis Bernard [q. v.], made notes on the blank leaves as to the author or edition of his books, and, unlike the physician, paid great attention to their condition and binding. Books were his relaxation and delight, and no surgeon in England before his time had been so learned as he. He had a great practice, and was respected in his profession. Bernard was a tory and high churchman. His daughter married Dr. William Wagstaffe, afterwards physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
[Preface to Wagstaffe's Works.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bernard, John Peter

​BERNARD, JOHN PETER (d. 1750), biographer, was the son of James Bernard, a French protestant minister, well known in his day as a man of letters. He received his education at Leyden, where he took degrees in arts and philosophy. In 1733 he was settled in London, and gaining a livelihood by preaching, giving lessons in literature and mathematics, and compiling for the booksellers. He is remembered by having contributed largely to the 'General Dictionary, Historical and Critical,' 10 vols, folio, London, 1734–41. Some idea of the share he had in this laborious undertaking may be gathered from his letters to the editor, Dr. Thomas Birch, preserved at the British Museum in the Additional (Birch) MS. 4301. Bernard died in the parish of St. Marylebone, Middlesex, 6 April 1760.
He had been admitted a fellow of the Royal Society in January 1737-8.
[MS. Addit.430],ff. 1-99; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, v. 287 n., Gent. Mag. xx. 188; Letters of Administration in P. C. C. granted 30 May 1760.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bernard, Herman Hedwig

​BERNARD, HERMAN HEDWIG (1785–1857), Hebraist, for many years Hebrew teacher in the university of Cambridge, died on 15 Nov. 1857, aged 72. He was the author of 1. 'The main principles of the Creed and Ethics of the Jews exhibited in selections from the Yad Hachazakah of Maimonides, with a literal English translation, copious illustrations from the Talmud, &c., and a collection of the abbreviations commonly used in Rabbinical writings,' Cambridge, 1832, 8vo. 2. 'The Guide of the Hebrew Student, containing an Epitome of Sacred History,' London, 1839, 8vo. 3. 'Cambridge Free Thoughts and Letters on Bibliolatry,' translated from the German of Lessing, Cambridge, 1862, 8vo, edited by J. Bernard, 4. 'The, Book of Job, as expounded to his Cambridge pupils, edited, with a translation and additional notes, by F. Chance,' London, 1864, 1884, 8vo.
[Gent. Mag. cii. (ii.) 62, cciv. 112; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser., v. 205; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bernard, Francis (1627-1698)

​BERNARD, FRANCIS (1627–1698), physician, was incorporated M.D. at Cambridge in 1678, having received his degree earlier in the same year from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He became a fellow of the College of Physicians in 1687, having been nominated by James II's charter, and he had been elected an honorary fellow seven years earlier (Munk, Coll. of Phys. i. 449). He was elected assistant-physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital 20 Nov. 1678 (MS. Journal St. Bartholomew's Hospital), was appointed physician-in-ordinary to James II, and died 9 Feb. 1698 (monument in St. Botolph, Aldersgate). His house was in Little Britain, near St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and it contained a great library. Besides the learned languages, Dr. Bernard knew French, Spanish, and Italian, and it was said that he had read through all the volumes of his vast collection. Bernard's memory was extraordinary, and his friends were often astonished at his full, ready, and exact replies to abstruse questions of literature. His books were collected for use, and he had no care for gilt backs and wide margins. The medical part of his library was reputed to be the largest collection of books on physic ever made in England. Though of delicate constitution, he never allowed ill-health to prevent his studies, and continued them to the end of his life. In his last illness he expressed regret that he had not made notes in some of his books to indicate the grounds on which he valued them, or the particular and little-known passages some of them contained. His wife put up a monument to his memory in their parish church of St. Botolph, Aldersgate. Among the Sloane MSS. is one of his casebooks. It is made out of an old vellum manuscript, and in addition to notes of visits to patients contains several Greek and Latin mottoes. It shows that Sir Robert Walpole's father was one of his patients.
As Dr. Francis Bernard and Sergeant Charles Bernard [q. v.] were for ten years contemporaries on the staff of St. Bartholomew's, and as they had the same tastes and the same political connections, it is not improbable that they were akin, but no record of the relationship has been discovered.
[Catalogue of the Library of the late learned Dr. Francis Bernard, London, 1698.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bernard, John (d.1567?)

According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Bernard died in 1554.
​BERNARD, JOHN (d. 1567?), author, received his education at Queens' College, Cambridge, proceeded B.A. in 1543-4, became Trotter's priest in that college about 1544, and a fellow shortly afterwards, probably in 1545. He commenced M.A. in 1547, and was bursar of his college for the years 1550-1 and 1551-2. At the beginning of Queen Mary's reign he either resigned or was deprived of his fellowship. During the troubles of the protestants he composed 'Oratio pia, religiosa, et solatii plena, de vera animi tranquillitate.' This was found in the author's study, after his premature death, and published at London, 1568, 4to, with a dedication to Peter Osborn, lord-treasurer's remembrancer of the exchequer, by his brother Thomas Bernard, M.A. A ​translation into English by Anthony Marten, gent., sewer of the queen's chamber, was published under the title of 'The Tranquillitie of the mind: an excellent Oration directing every man and woman to the true tranquillity and quietness of the minde,' London, 1570, 8vo. Bernard's brother and editor, Thomas, was born at Castle Morton, Worcestershire; elected from Eton to King's College, Cambridge, 1524; proceeded B.A. 1529-80; M.A. 1533, and B.D. (at Oxford) 22 March 1566-7; became canon of Christchurch, Oxford, 4 Nov. 1546, and vicar of Pirton, Oxfordshire; was chaplain of archbishop Cranmer in 1547; was deprived of his preferments by Queen Mary 'for being a protestant and married man;' was restored by Elizabeth, and, dying 30 Nov. 1582, was buried at Pirton. Thomas's son, Daniel Bernard, graduated B.A. at Christchurch, Oxford, 25 June 1566, and D.D. June, 1585; became canon of Christchurch in 1577; was chaplain to Sir Thomas Bromley; vice-chancellor of Oxford, 1586; died Sept. 1588, and was buried in Christchurch Cathedral. He was the author of a Latin sermon 'de obedientia erga principes et præfectos,' published 1587.
[MS. Addit. 5863, f. 49b; Ames's Typogr. Antiq. ed. Herbert, 699, 878; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy), ii. 619, 628-9; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 171, 172. 232, 235; Cooper's Athenæ Cantab, i. 250, 459; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Challice, John

​CHALLICE, JOHN (1815–1863), physician, was born at Horsham, Sussex, in 1815. He became a physician in London, and besides attaining some eminence in his profession was an active liberal politician, and an intimate friend of Sir W. Molesworth, Admiral Sir Charles Napier, and other representatives of Southwark. He was one of the first medical officers of health for Bermondsey, in which capacity he published various reports in 1856 and subsequent years. He also wrote 'Should the Cholera come, what ought to be done?' (1848); a cheap tract 'How to avoid the Cholera,' of which many thousands were sold; 'Medical Advice to Mothers' (1851); 'Letter to Lord Palmerston on Sanitary Reform' (1854); and 'How do People hasten Death?' (1851). He was M.D. and F.R.C.P. Edin. He died suddenly, 11 May 1863.
His wife, Annie Emma Challice, whose maiden name was Armstrong, was born in London in 1821, and died there in 1875. She was remarkable for wit and graceful manners, and was the author of: 1. 'The Village School Fête,' 1847. 2. 'The Laurel and the Palm,' 1852. 3. 'The Sister of Charity,' 1857. 4. 'The Wife's Temptation,' 1859. 5. 'The Secret History of the Court of France under Louis XV,' 1861 (anonymous). 6. 'Heroes, Philosophers, and Courtiers of the time of Louis XVI,' 1863. 7. 'French Authors at Home,' 1864. 8. 'Memories of French Palaces,' 1871. 9. 'Illustrious Women of France,' 1873. She also edited 'Recollections of Society in France and England,' by Lady Clementina Davies, in 1873.
[Information from Mr. W. B. Challice.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chalmers, George (d.1791)

​CHALMERS, Sir GEORGE (d. 1791), portrait painter, was born in Edinburgh. The fortunes of his family had been forfeited owing to a connection with the exiled Stuarts, so that he inherited the bare title. He studied painting under Ramsey, and afterwards travelled, staying some time in Rome. On his return he settled first at Hull. Between 1775 and 1790 we find him exhibiting at the Royal Academy twenty-four portraits in all. One or two of his paintings have been engraved in mezzotint. He died in London, 1791.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chaigneau, William

​CHAIGNEAU, WILLIAM (1709–1781), novelist, was born in Ireland on 24 Jan. 1709, son of John Chaigneau, of Huguenot extraction (Notes and Queries, 3rd series, v. 507–8). He lived at Dublin, being, as Tate Wilkinson describes him, ‘principal agent to most of the regiments on the Irish establishment’ (Wilkinson, Memoirs, i. 162); and having served in the army in Flanders he was familiarly called ‘Colonel.’ About 1740 he married, probably for the second time, and had an only child, a daughter, to whom he was strongly attached; she died in 1749. In 1752 he published anonymously an Irish novel, ‘The History of Jack Connor,’ for which ‘he would not have any gratuity from his bookseller’ (Carter, Letters, ii. 86, and note, and 88). In 1757 Chaigneau lent a house to Tate Wilkinson during an engagement at Sheridan's theatre in Dublin; he also showed many other kindnesses to the actor, and in 1765 adapted a farce from the French, ‘Harlequin Soldier,’ which was performed at Edinburgh, on 22 March, at Wilkinson's benefit. In 1774 Chaigneau went to Montauban, France, but returning to Dublin in June 1775, he died there 1 Oct. 1781, aged 72.
[Notes and Queries, 3rd series, v. 11, 507–8; Gent. Mag. vol. lxvi. pt. ii. p. 611; Monthly Review, 1752, vi. 447–9; Wilkinson's Memoirs of his own Life, i. 13, 14, 155–70, 189–91, 198–9; iv. 6, 251–2, 262–3; Mrs. Carter's Letters, ii. 86, and note, and 88.]
J. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chalk, James Jell

​CHALK, Sir JAMES JELL (1803–1878), secretary to the ecclesiastical commission, second son of James Chalk of Queenborough in Kent, who married Mary, daughter of Edward Shove of the same place, was born there in 1803. He was educated at Wye College, Kent, and after passing several years of his early life in employments of a temporary character he entered, 4 Oct. 1836, into the service of the ecclesiastical commission, and in that position he spent the working years of life that were left to him. He was for some time the assistant secretary, but on the enforced resignation in 1849 of Mr. Charles Knight Murray, the secretary, Chalk succeeded to his place. In November 1839 he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple. On 4 Oct. 1871, having completed thirty-five years of service, he withdrew into private life, having a short time previously received the honour of knighthood. He died at 80 Warwick Square, Pimlico, 23 Sept. 1878. He was never married, but his old age was cheered by the company of his niece. His name is entered in the British Museum Catalogue, owing to the circumstance that many of the letters from the ecclesiastical commissioners to the corporation of London, which are printed in a volume entitled ‘ ​Bunhill Fields Burial Ground; Proceedings in reference to its Preservation, 1867,' bear his signature. For many years after the foundation of the commission its actions did not meet with the approval of the public, but for some time before Chalk's retirement the increased resources at its command and the improvement which ensued in the pecuniary condition of the clergy led to a change in opinion. His cautious and impassive demeanour was affected neither by censure nor by praise.
[Times, 27 Sept. 1878, p. 6; Dod's Peerage, 1872; personal information.]
W. P. C.