OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knowles, Richard Brinsley

​KNOWLES, RICHARD BRINSLEY (1820–1882), journalist, son of James Sheridan Knowles [q. v.], dramatist, was born at Glasgow on 17 Jan. 1820, and about 1838 held an appointment in the registrar-general's office, Somerset House, London. He was admitted a student of the Middle Temple on 14 Nov. 1839, and called to the bar 26 May 1843. His tastes, however, inclined towards literature, and on 19 Nov. 1845 he produced at the Haymarket Theatre a comedy, ‘The Maiden Aunt,’ which, aided ​by the acting of William Farren and Mrs. Glover, had a run of thirty nights. In 1849 he joined the church of Rome, and became editor of the ‘Catholic Standard,’ a publication which was subsequently purchased by Henry Wilberforce, and re-named the ‘Weekly Register.’ From 1853 to 1855 he edited the ‘Illustrated London Magazine,’ a series of five volumes. He was one of the chief writers on the ‘Standard’ from 1857 to 1860, but some display of religious intolerance on the part of the proprietors led to an abrupt termination of his engagement. Professor John Sherren Brewer [q. v.], who was then conducting the paper, indignant at the treatment of his colleague, at once relinquished his editorship. Knowles was afterwards editor of the ‘London Review,’ but in later years his chief engagement was on the ‘Morning Post,’ until ill-health obliged him to resign his connection with that paper. He edited the ‘Chronicles of John of Oxenedes,’ a manuscript copy of which was found in the Duke of Newcastle's collection; and his edition was published in 1859 in the ‘Rolls Series.’ In 1871 he was engaged under the royal commission on historical manuscripts, and described many valuable collections of family muniments, chiefly belonging to Roman catholic families. Among these were the collections of the Marquis of Bute, the Earl of Denbigh, the Earl of Ashburnham, and Colonel Towneley. He was the author in 1872 of ‘The Life of James Sheridan Knowles,’ an edition of twenty-five copies for private circulation. He died suddenly at 29 North Bank, Regent's Park, London, 28 Jan. 1882, having married on 25 Oct. 1845 Eliza Mary, youngest child of Peter and Elizabeth Crowley of Dublin, and sister of Nicholas Joseph Crowley (1819–1857) [q. v.], painter.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knowles, Thomas

​KNOWLES, THOMAS, D.D. (1723–1802), divine, born at Ely in 1723, was son of one of the vergers and master of the works of Ely Cathedral. He received his education in Ely grammar school and Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1743 and M.A. in 1747. He was elected a fellow of his college on 2 March 1748–9. On 10 Jan. 1748 he was instituted to the rectories of Ickworth and Chedburgh, Suffolk. He was also chaplain to Lady Hervey, baroness dowager of Ickworth. In 1752 he had a dispensation to hold with Ickworth the living of Feversham, Cambridgeshire. He was made D.D. by Archbishop Secker in 1753. From about 1771 till his death he was lecturer of St. Mary's, Bury, and on 10 Oct. 1779 he was collated to a prebend at Ely (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, i. 362). In 1791 he became rector of Winston, Suffolk. He died on 6 Oct. 1802, and was buried in his church of Chedburgh. One of his daughters married Benjamin Underwood, rector of Great Barnet, and the other, Eliza, married Sir Edmund Lacon, afterwards baronet.
His principal publications are: 1. ‘The Existence and Attributes of God not demonstrable a priori, in Answer to the Argument of … Dr. Clarke and his Followers, and more particularly to a late Pamphlet, entitled “The Argument a priori, &c., stated and considered,”’ Cambridge, 1746, 8vo. This elicited ‘Some Thoughts concerning the Argument a priori,’ anon., London, 1748, 8vo. 2. ‘The Scripture Doctrine of the Existence and Attributes of God, as manifested by the Works of Creation and Providence. In twelve Sermons.’ With a preface, in answer to the pamphlet, entitled ‘Some Thoughts,’ &c., Cambridge, 1750, 8vo. 3. ‘An Answer to an Essay on Spirit,’ London, 1753, 8vo. 4. ‘Observations on the Divine Mission and Administration of Moses,’ London, 1762, 8vo. 5. ‘A preparatory Discourse on Confirmation,’ 6th edit. Ipswich, 1770, 8vo; 10th edit. Ipswich, 1784, 8vo. 6. ‘Letters between Lord Hervey and Dr. Middleton concerning the Roman Senate. Published from the original manuscripts,’ London, 1778, 4to. 7. ‘The Passion; or a Description of Christ's Sufferings,’ London, 1780, 12mo; 2nd edit. London, 1796, 12mo; a new edit., with additions by the Rev. Henry Hasted, M.A., London, 1830, 8vo. 8. ‘Primitive Christianity,’ London, 1789, 8vo. Capel Lofft wrote ‘Observations’ on the first part of this work, 1789, and James Edward Hamilton published ‘Strictures’ upon it, 1790. 9. ‘Advice to a young Clergyman upon his entering into Priest's Orders. In six Pastoral Letters,’ 2nd edit. London, 1797, 8vo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knox, Alexander Andrew

​KNOX, ALEXANDER ANDREW (1818–1891), journalist and police magistrate, son of George Knox, landed proprietor in Jamaica, was born in London 5 Feb. 1818. He was educated at Blundell's school, Tiverton, whence he proceeded with a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge. In June 1842 he was ordered to the south for his health, and he travelled with Mrs. Shelley (the widow of the poet) and her son Percy, his college friend. The party was joined by another of Knox's Cambridge friends, Robert Leslie Ellis [q. v.], and during this interesting experience of Italian travel Knox met Trelawny, the friend of Byron and of Shelley. Owing to ill-health Knox was unable to compete for honours, but graduated B.A. in 1844 and M.A. in 1847. He was called to the bar as member of Lincoln's Inn in 1844. In 1846 he became a writer of leading articles on the staff of the ‘Times,’ and continued to write for that paper till 1860, when he accepted Sir George Cornewall Lewis's offer of the office of police magistrate at Worship Street. In 1862 he was transferred to the Marlborough Street court, and remained there till 1878, when a paralytic seizure compelled him to retire. On three occasions he received the special thanks of the home office for his magisterial services.
Knox was a man of wide culture, a good linguist, and a brilliant talker. He was a frequent guest of Dr. Paris, at whose house in London he met Faraday, Sir B. Brodie, Babbage, and other men of science. Among his intimate friends were Rajah Brooke, Admiral Sherard Osborn, Kinglake, Sir Spencer St. John, Kingsley, Thomas Mozley, Wingrove Cooke, and Miss Marianne North. He died in London 5 Oct. 1891. In 1857 he married Susan, daughter of James Armstrong, esq., of the Bengal civil service. Knox published ‘The New Playground, or Wanderings in Algeria,’ in 1881. Besides his work on the ‘Times,’ he contributed articles to the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ ‘Blackwood,’ and many other periodicals.
[Article by the present writer, ‘Alexander Knox and his Friends,’ in Temple Bar, April 1892.]
C. A. H. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flexmore, Richard

​ FLEXMORE, RICHARD (1824–1860), pantomimist, whose real name was Richard Flexmore Geatter, son of Richard Flexmore Geatter, a well-known dancer, who died at an early age, was born at Kennington, London, 15 Sept. 1824. At the age of eight he commenced his theatrical career at the Victoria Theatre, where his juvenile drollery soon attracted attention. In 1835 he appeared at a small theatre which then existed in Chelsea in a fantastic piece called ‘The Man in the Moon,’ and danced very effectively a burlesque shadow dance. He subsequently became a pupil of Mr. Frampton, and showed great aptitude for stage business in his own peculiar line. As a grotesque dancer his services soon became in request at various theatres, and in 1844 he appeared as clown at the Grecian Saloon. The winter following he made his first great hit when taking the part of clown at the Olympic Theatre, which was then under the management of T. D. Davenport. His wonderful activity and abundant flow of animal spirits became quickly recognised, and he was then engaged for the Princess's Theatre, where he remained for several seasons. On 28 July 1849 he married, at St. Mary's parish church, Lambeth, Francisca Christophosa, daughter of Jean Baptiste Auriol, the famous French clown, and with her acted with great success in the chief cities of the continent. He afterwards appeared at the Strand, the Adelphi, and Covent Garden theatres, and more recently at Drury Lane, where he performed in the pantomime ‘Jack-in-the-Box’ at Christmas 1859. He was especially noted for his close and natural imitation of the leading dancers of the day, such as Perrot, Carlotta Grisi, Taglioni, Cerito, and others; but although chiefly known as a dancing clown, he could when required also take the part of clown à la Grimaldi in a very efficient manner, and was one of the most diverting pantomimists who ever delighted a holiday audience. His physical strength and activity were remarkable; but he overtaxed his powers to obtain the applause of the public, and brought on a consumption, of which he died at 66 Hercules Buildings, Lambeth, London, 20 Aug. 1860, and was buried at Kensal Green on 27 Aug. His widow, who married her cousin, Monsieur Auriol, died in Paris 3 Sept. 1862. His mother, Ann Flexmore Geatter, whom he had supported for many years, died 26 Dec. 1869, aged 88.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fliccius, Gerbarus

​ FLICCIUS or FLICCUS, GERBARUS, GERLACHUS or GERBICUS (fl. 1546-1554), a native of Germany, was the painter of the interesting portrait of Archbishop Cranmer which was presented to the British Museum in 1776 by John Michell, M.P., of Bayfield Hall, Norfolk, and in June 1879 was transferred to the National Portrait Gallery. This portrait was painted in 1546, ​when the archbishop was fifty-seven years of age, and shows Cranmer without the long white beard which he suffered to grow after Henry VIII's death in the following year. The picture is signed ‘Gerbarus Fliccus Germanicus faciebat.’ It has been frequently engraved, viz. in Thoroton's ‘History of Nottinghamshire’ (1677), Strype's ‘Memorials of Cranmer,’ Lodge's ‘Illustrious Portraits,’ and other works. Other portraits from the hand of the same painter have been noted, viz. ‘Thomas, first Lord Darcy of Chiche’ (painted in 1551), at Irnham in Lincolnshire; ‘James, second Earl of Douglas and Mar’ (painted in 1547), at Newbattle Abbey, East Lothian; and others. The last-named portrait, which is probably a copy of an older one, as the earl was killed at Otterbourne in 1388, is stated to be signed ‘Gerbicus Flicciis Germanicus faciebat ætatis 40.’ A curious double portrait was offered for sale at Christie's auction-rooms on 25 July 1881; it contained two small portraits of the painter and a friend , named Strangways, who were fellow-prisoners in London at the time (1554) when it was painted, and the painting was executed in prison, according to the inscriptions. This picture was then in the possession of Robert de Ruffiero, Belsize Park Road, and had formerly belonged to Dr. Edward Monkhouse, F.S.A. All these portraits are painted in the style of Lucas Cranach, the great Lutheran painter of Saxony, and this, taken with the date of imprisonment and the painter's connection with Cranmer, would point to his being one of the victims of the religious persecutions of Queen Mary's reign and himself an ardent protestant.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flight, Walter

​FLIGHT, WALTER (1841–1885), mineralogist, son of William P. Flight of Winchester, was born in Winchester 21 Jan. 1841. He was educated at Queenwood College, Hampshire, where Debus then taught chemistry and Professor Tyndall physics, and in after life Debus was his constant friend. After coming of age Flight proceeded to Germany and spent the winter session of 1863-1864 studving chemistry under Professor Heintz at the university of Halle. He passed the next two years at Heidelberg, and acquired a thorough knowledge of chemistry. His studies in Germany were completed at Berlin, where he acted for some time as secretary and chemical assistant to Professor Hofmann. In 1867 Flight returned to England, and took the degree of doctor of science at London University. In 1868 he was appointed assistant exammer there in chemistry under Professor Debus. On 5 Sept. 1867 he became an assistant in the mineralogical department of the British Museum under Professor N. Story-Maskelyne. In the laboratory, which was now specially fitted up, he commenced a series of researches upon the mineral constituents of meteorites and their occluded gases, which rapidly brought him into notice. He was appointed examiner in chemistry and physics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in 1868, and in 1876 examiner to the Royal Military Academy, Cheltenham. He also acted for several years as a member of the committee on luminous meteors appointed by the British Association. In 1880 he married Kate, daughter of Dr. Fell of Ambleside.
Flight wrote twenty-one papers on scientific subjects, of which the first three, all on chemical subjects, appeared in German periodicals in 1864-5-70. The later papers were chiefly upon meteorites, dealing in detail with the recorded circumstances of their fall, and with their mineralogical and chemical constituents; several, written in conjunction with Professor Story-Maskelyne, give accounts, published in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' of the meteorites which fell at Rowton in Shropshire, at Middlesborough, and at Cranbourne in Australia. A paper, thus jointly written, on 'Francolite, Vivianite, and Cronstedtite from Cornwall,' appeared in the 'Journal of the Chemical Society' for 1871. The last paper Flight wrote was on the meteorite of Alfianello in Italy. Between 1875 and 1883 Flight contributed a series of twenty-three papers to the 'Geological Magazine,' entitled 'A Chapter in the History of Meteorites' (published in book form in 1887). Flight was elected a fellow of the Royal Society on 7 June 1883. In 1884 he was taken so seriously ill that he was ​compelled to resign his post in the British Museum, and died on 4 Nov. 1885, leaving a widow and three young children.
[Geol. Mag., December 1885; A Chapter in the History of Meteorites, by W. Flight (with obituary notice), 8vo, 224 pp., seven plates and six woodcuts, 1887.]
W. J. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flintoft, Luke

​FLINTOFT, LUKE (d. 1727), composer, took the degree of B.A. at Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1700, and was appointed priest-vicar at Lincoln Cathedral in 1704. He remained there until 1714. On 4 Dec. 1715 he was sworn as a gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and is described in the ‘Cheque Book’ as ‘from Worcester,’ which therefore was probably his birthplace. On 9 July 1719 he was appointed reader in Whitehall Chapel, and was subsequently made a minor canon of Westminster. He died on 3 Nov. 1727, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. His claim to a place in musical history depends upon the question whether a certain ‘double chant’ in G minor, attributed to him, is or is not the first specimen of the kind in existence. The arguments for and against this will be found in ‘Notes and Queries,’ 3rd ser. x. 206, xi. 267, 391, and 445.
[Grove's Dict. i. 533; Bemrose's Chant Book; Cheque Book of the Chapel Royal, ed. Rimbault; Graduati Cantabr. (1823), p. 172; Notes and Queries, as above.]
J. A. F. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flete, John

​FLETE, JOHN (fl. 1421–1465), a Benedictine monk, prior of Westminster Abbey in the reign of Henry VI, and the author of a Latin chronicle of the early history of that foundation, entered the monastery of St. Peter's, Westminster, about 1421, ascending step by step the different posts available to the brethren, till in 1448 he was unanimously elected prior. During the suspension of Abbot Norwych, who succeeded Kirton as abbot in 1462, Flete, assisted by two monks, administered the spiritual and temporal affairs of the monastery, and had he lived would probably have been made abbot on the death of Norwych (1469). But in 1465 he resigned the post of prior and seems to have died soon afterwards. He was a pious and learned man, ‘addicted to reading of history, and zealous for the gaining of souls’ (Stevens). His homilies, which are mentioned as ‘notable’ by several writers, are no longer extant, and the only remaining record of him is his manuscript history of the abbey. He began to write it in 1443, and intended to carry it on to that year, but it ends with Abbot Littington's death in 1386, and in all probability Flete's duties as prior and acting-abbot prevented his carrying out his original plan. The first chapters of the ‘Chronicle’ are devoted to the legends of the foundation and dedication of the abbey; these are followed by an account of the benefactors and the relics, and it concludes with the lives of the abbots up till 1386. The book has been much used by later historians of the abbey, but is inexact in many particulars. The original manuscript is in the Chapter Library, Westminster, and there is a later and abridged manuscript copy in Lambeth Library.
E. T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flight, Benjamin

​FLIGHT, BENJAMIN (1767?–1847), organ-builder, was son of Benjamin Flight, of the firm of Flight & Kelly, organ-builders. In conjunction with his son J. Flight and Joseph Robson he constructed the apollonicon, an instrument with five manuals, forty-five stops, and three barrels. This ingenious contrivance was exhibited in 1817 and the following years until 1840. The partnership with Robson was afterwards dissolved, but Flight continued to interest himself in certain inventions and improvements in the mechanism of organs. He died, aged 80, in 1847, leaving the business in the hands of his son, J. Flight, who carried it on until 1885.
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, John (1821?-1878)

​JONES, JOHN (1821?–1878), Welsh baptist and biblical scholar, commonly known as Mathetes, the eldest son of Roger and Mary Jones, was born about 1821 at the village of Tanyrhelig, near Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire, where his father was a small tenant-farmer. His early education was meagre, and in 1838–9 he worked as a miner at Dowlais in Glamorganshire. In the summer of 1839 he returned home, joined the baptist denomination, and in 1841 commenced to preach. He spent a short time at the Cardigan grammar school, and from 1843 to 1846 ​studied at the Baptist College at Haverfordwest. He was ordained to the pastorate of Bethlehem Church at Porthyrhyd, Carmarthenshire, on 27 May 1846, but removed in the winter of 1848–9 to ‘Caersalem Newydd,’ near Swansea. Subsequently he successively held the following ministerial charges: ‘Y Deml,’ Newport, from 1854 to January 1857; Llangollen, 1857 to 1859, as co-pastor with Dr. Prichard; Llanfachreth, Anglesey, 1859 to 1861; Pyle, Glamorganshire, 1861 to November 1862; Rhymney (Penuel Church), Monmouthshire, November 1862 to 1877; and Salem Church, Briton Ferry, where he remained from 1877 until his death, 18 Nov. 1878. He was buried at Pant cometery, Dowlais. He was an active radical politician, and an advocate of secular education. Jones while a student at Haverfordwest contributed articles on ‘Civil and Religious Liberty’ and on ‘The Use of History’ to ‘Seren Gomer’ for 1846. During the following ten years he won many prizes at eisteddfodau for essays, several of which, dealing with the geology of Wales, its mining industries, and cognate subjects, were published. A prize essay on ‘Logic’ was also published in ‘Seren Gomer’ for 1861–3. About 1860 he commenced a biblical and theological dictionary in Welsh, entitled ‘Geiriadur Beiblaidd a Duwinyddol’ (Carmarthen, 8vo), the first volume of which appeared in 1864, the second in 1869, and the third (and last), posthumously, in 1883. He also published a collection of sermons and sketches bearing the title of ‘Areithfa Mathetes,’ Aberdare, 1873, 8vo. While at Llangollen he was editor of a denominational magazine called ‘Y Greal,’ published in that town, and while at Rhymney he was co-editor of ‘Yr Arweinydd,’ published at Aberdare.
[A short memoir (with portrait) by the Rev. D. Powell in vol. iii. (pp. 827–8) of Y Geiriadur Beiblaidd; a series of articles by the same writer in Seren Gomer for October 1882, January, April, and July 1883, and January, April, July, and October 1884.]
D. Ll. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, John (d.1598)

​JONES, JOHN, alias Buckley, alias Godfrey Maurice (d. 1598), Franciscan, was born of a good Welsh family in the parish of Clynog Fawr in Carnarvonshire. In the ‘Early Chronicles of Shrewsbury,’ published in the ‘Transactions of the Shropshire Archæological Society’ (iii. 338), he is erroneously described as a Shropshireman. He entered the community of the Franciscans at Greenwich, but on the dissolution of that convent in 1559, he withdrew to the continent, and was professed at Pontoise. There is no reason for supposing that he returned to England before 1592, so that Challoner and later biographers must be wrong in stating that he was a prisoner in the Marshalsea in 1582–4 (see list of prisoners in Morris's Life of Gerard, p. 29, where Jones's name is not included), and again in Wisbech Castle in 1587. The statement was probably occasioned by the identification of Jones with Robert Buckley [q. v.] On leaving Pontoise, Jones went to Rome and entered the convent of the Observantines of the Ara Cœli, embracing the order of the Reformed Friars or Observantines of the Roman Province in 1591. After remaining at Rome for about a year, Jones, with the permission of his superiors and the blessing of Clement VIII, returned to England, and stayed for a few months in London in a house established by John Gerard for the reception of priests. On quitting London he ‘betook himself to his own connections,’ and continued his missionary work until he was arrested at the instance of Richard Topcliffe in 1596. Before his arrest Jones had visited two persons who were subsequently his fellow-prisoners, Robert Barnes and Jane Wiseman, and eventually, after two years' imprisonment, they were all three arraigned for high treason in the king's bench court at Westminster, on 3 July 1598. The charge against Jones was that, being a Romish priest, he had returned to England contrary to the statute 27 Eliz. c. 2. ‘If this be a crime,’ said Jones, ‘I must hold myself guilty, for I am a priest and came over into England to gain as many souls as I could to Christ.’ He was sentenced to death, and on 12 July was drawn on a hurdle to St. Thomas's Waterings, Southwark, and there hanged. His quarters were fixed on poles at different places, and Dr. Champney (quoted by Challoner) stated that one of the fore-quarters found its way to the convent at Pontoise. An account of the ‘martyrdom of Godfrey Maurice’ (which was Jones's name in religion) was written three days after the execution by Henry Garnet (1555–1606), and published in Diego Yepes' ‘Historia particular de la Persecucion de Inglaterra,’ Madrid, 1599.
[Challoner's Memoirs of Missionary Priests, ed. 1741, i. 360; Dodd's Church History (Tierney), iii. 117–18, cxci seq.; Morris's Life of Fr. J. Gerard, 3rd ed. pp. 142–3, 208; Gillow's English Catholics, iii. 657–60; Bye Gones for 18 Aug. 1881.]
D. Ll. T.