OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Butler, Edward Gerard

Most sources give his middle name as "Gerald" 1904 Errata appended.
​BUTLER, Sir EDWARD GERARD (1770–1825), one of the heroes of the affair at Villiers-en-Couche, entered the army by purchasing a cornetcy in the 15th light dragoons in 1792. He was at once sent to Flanders on the outbreak of the war in 1793, and on 24 April 1794 was one of the officers of the two companies of his regiment which overthrew a French army and saved the life of the emperor. Landrecy was closely invested by the Austrian and English armies, when a corps of 10,000 Frenchmen moved from Cæsar's camp to raise the siege. Their march was so rapid that they were close to the allied lines, and on the point of taking the emperor himself prisoner as he was riding along the road almost unattended, when General Otto perceived the danger, and ordered the only cavalry he had at hand, namely, 160 of the 15th light dragoons and 112 Austrian hussars, to charge the French, in order rather to save the emperor than to defeat the enemy. They charged, and the French were seized with an unaccountable panic and fled, leaving three guns behind them. For this gallant charge the emperor conferred upon every one of the eight English officers who were present the order of Maria Theresa, and the king of England, at the emperor's request, knighted them all. Butler had been promoted lieutenant in the 11th light dragoons in May 1794, and he was in 1796 gazetted major without purchase in the newly raised 87th regiment. With it he served in the West Indies in 1797 at Trinidad and Porto Rico, and remained in garrison there till 1802. In 1804 he was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and in 1806 the 87th was ordered to form part of the expedition under Sir Samuel Auchmuty to Monte Video. In the attack on Monte Video Butler especially distinguished himself, and also in Whitelocke's attempt on Buenos Ayres, where the 87th had 17 officers and 400 men killed and wounded. From 1807 to 1810, while the 2nd battalion, under Colonel Hugh Gough, was distinguishing itself in the Peninsula, the 1st battalion of the 87th, under Butler, garrisoned the Cape of Good Hope. In 1810 he was second in command of a force ordered from the Cape to assist Major-general Abercromby in the reduction of the Mauritius, but the island was already taken when the contingent arrived. Nevertheless, though he saw no more service, Butler was promoted colonel in 1811 and major-general in 1814, and made a C.B. in the latter year. He died in Normandy in June 1825.
[Royal Military Calendar, ed. 1820, for the affair of Villiers-en-Couche, and contemporary journals; Records of 87th Regiment.]
H. M. S.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.46 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 48 | | 17 f.e. | Butler, Sir Edward G. for the latter year read 1815 |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bussy, John

​BUSSY, Sir JOHN (d. 1399), speaker of the House of Commons, was sheriff of Lincoln in 1379, 1381, and 1391. He was first chosen a knight of the shire for Lincoln in 1388, and continued to sit for that county during the remaining parliaments of Richard II's reign. He was three times elected speaker, first by the parliament of 1393–4, and afterwards by the two parliaments of 1397. Though at first he showed some signs of a spirit of independence, he soon became a servile supporter of Richard's arbitrary and unconstitutional action. In the second parliament of 1397, which met at Westminster on 17 Sept., Sir John Bussy, Sir William Bagot, and Sir Thomas Green acted as prolocutors of the king's grievances, and Fitzalan, archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick were convicted of high treason. Bussy gained the favour of the king by grossly flattering his vanity. Holinshed, in his account of the trial of these nobles, says that ‘Sir John Bushie in all his talke, when he proponed any matter vnto the king, did not attribute to him titles of honour due and accustomed, but inuented vnused termes and such strange names as were rather agreeable to the diuine maiestie of God than to any earthlie potentate. The prince, being desirous of all honour, and more ambitious than was requisite, seemed to like well of his speech and gave good eare to his talke’ (ii. 340). This parliament was adjourned to Shrewsbury, where it met on 28 Jan. 1398, and Bussy was again formally presented as speaker. It sat there only three days, and by its last act delegated its authority to a committee of eighteen members—twelve lords and six members of the House of Commons—of whom Bussy was one. By his manipulation of this parliament Richard had contrived to become an absolute king, and every man of this committee was believed by him to be devoted to his interests. Upon the landing of Henry, duke of Lancaster, in England during the absence of Richard in Ireland, Bussy fled to Bristol. The Duke of York joined his nephew; they marched with their combined armies to Bristol, which quickly surrendered to them, and Bussy, the Earl of Wiltshire, and Sir Henry Green, three of the parliamentary committee, were put to death without trial on 29 July 1399. Shakespeare has introduced Bussy into the play of ‘Richard II’ (i. 4, ii. 2, iii. 1).
[Manning's Lives of the Speakers (1851), 14–21; Rot. Parl. iii. 310–85; Parliamentary Papers, 1878, lxii. (pt. i.) 235–56; Holinshed's Chronicles (1807), ii. 839–54: Stubbs's Constitutional History of England (1875), ii. 491–502].
G. F. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Briercliffe, John

​BRIERCLIFFE or BREARCLIFFE, JOHN (1609?–1682), antiquary, was an apothecary in Halifax, where he was born, and where, on 4 Dec. 1682, he died of a fever at the age of 63. He made various collections relating to his native town and parish. His 'Surveye of the Housings and Lands within the Townshippe of Halifax,' 1648, was said to have been in the library of Halifax church, but according to Watson, who published his 'History of Halifax' in 1775, there had been ​no such thing there for twenty years. Watson says he had in his possession 'Halifax inquieryes for the findeinge out of severall giftes given to pious uses,' written 22 Dec. 1651. Thoresby (Vic. Leod. p. 68) refers to his catalogue of the vicars of Halifax, and inscriptions under their arms painted on tables in the library of that church.
[Watson's History of Halifax (1775), pp. 454-5; Gough's Topography, ii. 434.]
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bridgewater, Earls and Dukes of

​BRIDGEWATER, Earls and Dukes of. [See Egerton.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bridgman, Richard Whalley

​BRIDGMAN, RICHARD WHALLEY (1761?–1820), writer on law, was born about 1761, and died at Bath 16 Nov. 1820, in his fifty-ninth year. He was an attorney, and acted as one of the clerks of the Grocers' Company. He left the following works, published between 1798 and 1813:
* 'Thesaurus Juridicus; containing the Decisions of the several Courts of Equity, &c., systematically digested from the Revolution to 1798,' 2 vols. 8vo, 1799-1800.
* 'Reflections on the Study of the Law,' 1804, 8vo.
* 'Dukes' Law of Charitable Uses,' &c., 1805, 8vo.
* 'An Analytical Digested Index of the Reported Cases in the several Courts of Equity,' 1805, 2 vols.; 2nd edition, 1813, 3 vols.; 3rd edition, edited by his son, R. O. Bridgman, 1822, 3 vols. 8vo.
* 'Supplement to the Analytical Digested Index,' &c., 1807, 8vo.
* 'A Short View of Legal Bibliography, to which is added a Plan for classifying a Public or Private Library,' 1807, 8vo.
* 'A Synthesis of the Law of Nisi Prius,' 1809, 8vo.
* 'Judgment of the Common Pleas in Benyon against Evelyn,' 1811, 8vo.
* An annotated edition of Sir F. Buller's 'Introduction to the Law relative to Trials at Nisi Prius,' 1817, 8vo.
[Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Reed's Catal. of Law Books, 1809; Gent. Mag. 1820, pt. ii. p. 477; Notes and Queries, 6th ser. xi. 13; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bridport, Giles of

1904 Errata appended.
​BRIDPORT or BRIDLESFORD, Giles of (d. 1262), bishop of Salisbury, was a native of the town from which he took his name. As dean of Wells, an office to which he was elected in 1253, he arbitrated in a dispute between the abbot and monks of Abingdon. In 1255 he was archdeacon of Berkshire. He was elected bishop of Salisbury in 1256, and was, as bishop-elect, sent that year on an embassy by Henry III to Alexander IV with reference to the money claimed by the pope for the gift of the Sicilian crown. The object of this embassy is described as 'against the clergy and people of England,' who were taxed to satisfy the pope's demands (Ann. Dunst. iii. 199). Bridport escaped, though not without danger, from the snares of the French, and on his return to England was employed to make an agreement with the clergy as to the payment of the tenth required of them. He was consecrated 11 March 1257, and was allowed by the pope to retain his former ecclesiastical revenues, along with his bishopric. When he entered on his see the cathedral was nearly finished, and he covered the roof with lead. The church was consecrated on 30 Sept. 1258 by Archbishop Boniface, in the presence of the king and many bishops, who were gathered by Bridport's exertions (Matt. Paris, v. 719). On 24 Aug. 1258 he was appointed one of the twenty-four commissioners of the aid chosen in accordance with the arrangements of the parliament of Oxford, and on 21 Nov. 1261 was nominated by the king as one of the arbitrators between himself and the barons. In 1260 he founded the college of Vaux or De Valle Scholarum at Salisbury. This interesting foundation is a strong proof of the bishop's munificence and love of learning. In 1262 he attempted to exercise visitatorial rights over his chapter, but withdrew his claim. He died 13 Dec. 1262, and was buried on the south side of the choir of his church.
[Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. v. ed. Luard, Rolls Ser.; Annales, Burton, Oseney, Wikes, ap. Ann. Monast. Rolls Ser.; Godwin, De Præsulibus; Leland's Itin. iii. 94; Cassan's Lives of the Bishops of Salisbury; Hutchins's Modern Wiltshire, vi. 734; Jones's Annals of the Church of Salisbury, 110; Tanner's Notitia Monastica, 608.]
W. H.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.36 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 325 | ii | 6 | Bridport, Giles of: for Buckinghamshire read Berkshire |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bridport, Viscount

​BRIDPORT, Viscount. [See Hood, Alexander.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Brierley, Roger

​BRIERLEY, ROGER. [See Brereley.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bridlington, John de

​BRIDLINGTON, JOHN de, Saint. [See John.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bridget

​BRIDGET, Saint. [See Brigit.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gilbert, Elizabeth Margaretta Maria

​GILBERT, ELIZABETH MARGARETTA MARIA (1826–1885), philanthropist, born at Oxford on 7 Aug. 1826, was the second daughter and third of the eleven children of Ashurst Turner Gilbert [q. v.], principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, and afterwards bishop of Chichester, by his wife Mary Ann, only surviving child of Robert Wintle, vicar of Culham, Oxfordshire. She was at an early age a fine child, with flashing black eyes, but when only three years old ​a bad attack of scarlet fever deprived her of sight. Her parents wisely determined that she should be brought up with her sisters, although she was once severely burnt by falling against the fire. At the age of twenty she could understand French, German, and Italian, and had been thoroughly educated. She began to be keenly interested in the state of the blind poor. The invention, in 1851, of the Foucault frame enabled her to write freely, and she began to correspond with William Hanks Levy, a young blind teacher employed at the St. John's Wood school. In May 1854 she hired a cellar in New Turnstile, Holborn, at the cost of 1s. 6d. a week, for the sale of the work of seven blind men who worked at their own homes, and were paid the full selling price, less the cost of material. Levy was engaged as manager. Ultimately the institution developed into ‘The Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind,’ at 21 South Row, New (Euston) Road, now 127 Euston Road. In accordance with Levy's wish, none but blind persons were employed, although Miss Gilbert rather disapproved of their isolation. She proposed in a thoughtful paper the establishment of a normal school for training teachers for the blind. Finding that much time might be saved by the use of blocks upon which baskets could be modelled, she sent Levy to France to obtain the necessary tools. In 1865 the association, now much advanced, removed to 210 Oxford Street, and afterwards to 28 Berners Street. Miss Gilbert materially assisted Levy in writing a book on ‘Blindness and the Blind,’ 8vo, 1872. She also took much interest in the foundation of the Normal College for the Blind. In November 1874 she sent a paper to a special committee appointed by the Charity Organisation Society to consider means of helping the blind, but was too ill to attend the meeting. Her delicate health caused her much suffering. She died on 7 Feb. 1885, at 5 Stanhope Place, Hyde Park, London.
[Frances Martin's Elizabeth Gilbert and her Work for the Blind; Athenæum, 17 Dec. 1887.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gilbert, Charles Sandoe

​GILBERT, CHARLES SANDOE (1760–1831), historian of Cornwall, son of Thomas Gilbert, was born in the parish of Kenwyn, near the city of Truro, in 1760. In conjunction with a Mr. Powell he became an itinerant vendor of medicines in Cornwall and Devonshire, where Gilbert & Powell's pills plaisters, tinctures, and drops were considered the universal remedies, and brought in much wealth to their proprietors. On Powell's retirement 'Doctor Gilbert' continued the business alone, but afterwards took in a Mr. Parrot. Later on he had establishments at 29 Market Street, Plymouth, and at Fore Street, Devonport, being assisted by a staff of six travellers, who continually visited the towns and villages of the two counties. His medicines were also extensively advertised ​in the local newspapers. About 1810 Gilbert acquired information which led him to believe that he might claim descent from the Gilberts of Compton Castle, Devonshire, and under that persuasion he applied himself to the study of antiquities, genealogy, heraldry, and the collateral sciences, which ultimately led him to undertake a general history of Cornwall. Henceforth in his journeys through Cornwall he took notes of all he saw and heard, and also made his travellers collect information respecting local occurrences. After 1812 he was accompanied in several of his annual excursions in Cornwall by Henry Perlee Parker, since well known as an historical painter, who aided him by his pencil. After years of assiduous labour the first volume appeared in 1817, bearing the title of 'An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall, to which is added a Complete Heraldry of the same, with numerous Woodcuts,' 592 pages. The second volume came out in 1820, 962 pages, and is generally found bound in two parts, the latter commencing after the conclusion of the heraldry at p. 373, where a half-title is found embellished with a view of St. German's Church, and the words 'Historical and Topographical Survey of the County of Cornwall.' As a parochial history, taken as a whole, it is an admirable work, and is still one of the best and most useful of the numerous books on Cornwall. Copies are seldom met with, and when found command high prices. In the majority of instances the twenty-five engraved plates of coats of arms are wanting. During the progress of the 'Historical Survey' Gilbert appears to have neglected his business, and, although he was patronised by successive dukes of Northumberland, and obtained a number of subscribers, the work cost double the estimate, and on 29 Oct. 1825 he was gazetted a bankrupt. In the following year he removed to London, where, taking Gilbert Morrish into partnership, he opened a chemist's shop at 27 Newcastle Street, Strand. Here he was interviewed by the Rev. John Wallis (Wallis, Cornwall Register, 1847, p 312); and died at the same address 30 May 1831, being buried in the churchyard of the Savoy, where a head-stone was erected to his memory.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gilbert, Claudius (1670-1743)

​GILBERT, CLAUDIUS, the younger (1670–1743), ecclesiastic, only son and heir of Claudius Gilbert the elder [q. v.], minister at Limerick and Belfast, was born in the latter town in 1670. He received his early education in Belfast, entered Trinity College, Dublin, on 23 March 1685, became a fellow of that institution in 1693, and received the degrees of doctor of laws and doctor of divinity in 1706. Gilbert was for some time professor of divinity in his college, of which he was appointed vice-provost in 1716. He obtained the rectorship of Ardstraw in the county of Tyrone in 1735, and died in October 1743. He bequeathed considerable sums to various charities, and gave about thirteen thousand volumes of printed books to Trinity College. A catalogue of his books, compiled by himself, is in the possession of that institution, but it does not contain any matter of special literary interest. Gilbert's donation is commemorated by an inscription over his collection in the library of the college, and a bust of him in white marble, executed in 1758, is preserved there.
[Archives of Trinity College, Dublin; Boulter's Monument, London, 1745; Dublin Journal, 1758.]
J. T. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gilbert, George

1904 Errata appended.
​GILBERT, GEORGE (1559?–1583), founder of the Catholic Association in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was born in Suffolk ​about 1559, and at an early age succeeded, on his father's death, to extensive landed estates. While travelling with the royal license on the continent he was reconciled to the catholic church by Father Robert Parsons at Rome in 1579. On his return to London he, in conjunction with Thomas Pound of Belmont, formed a 'Catholic Association,' consisting of young men of birth and property without the incumbrance of wives or offices. They promised 'to content themselves with food and clothing and the bare necessities of their state, and to bestow all the rest for the good of the catholic cause.' The association was solemnly blessed by Pope Gregory XIII on 14 April 1580. Its members lodged together in the house of Norris, the chief pursuivant, in Fetter or Chancery Lane. Norris had great credit with Aylmer, bishop of London, and was liberally paid by Gilbert. At Fulham the bishop's son-in-law, Dr. Adam Squire, was in Gilbert's pay. Through the connivance of these men the members of the association were able to receive priests and to have masses celebrated daily in their house until, after the arrival of the Jesuits Parsons and Campion in England, the persecution grew more severe. In 1581 Gilbert deemed it prudent to withdraw to the English College at Rheims, where he was cordially welcomed by Dr. William Allen, who described him as 'summus patrum presbyterorum patronus' Proceeding afterwards to Rome, he entered the English College as a pensioner, and devoted himself to promoting the catholic cause in England. Gregory XIII frequently consulted him on a matter of high importance that necessitated his going to France. Gilbert was so eager about his preparations for departure that he was seized with a fever, which terminated fatally on 6 Oct. 1583. While on his deathbed he was admitted into the Society of Jesus. The pope declared that his death would be a serious blow to Catholicism in England.
Gilbert incurred great expense by covering the walls of the English College at Rome with frescoes of the English martyrs. He left the superintendence of this work to Father William Good [q. v.], who had the pictures engraved and published, under the title of 'Ecclesiae Anglicanae Trophaea,' Rome, 1584, fol.
Gilbert's portrait has been engraved by W. P. Kiliam, from a drawing by J. G. Hemsch.
[Foley's Records, iii. 658–701; More's Hist. Missionis Anglicanæ Soc. Jesu, p. 83; Oliver's Jesuit Collections, p. 104; Simpson's Life of Campion, p. 123; Tanner's Societas Jesu Apostolorum Imitatrix, p. 180.]
T. C.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.135 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| | ii | 3 f.e. | Gilbert, George: for (1559? read (1555 |
| 327 | i | 1 | for about 1559 and read in 1555, and was grandson of William Gilbert of Clare, Suffolk (cf. Vincent's Grants of Arms, vol. ii. 380, in library of College of Arms) |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clarke, Charles (d.1767)

Dates 1718 to 1780 in later editions.
​CLARKE, CHARLES (d. 1767), antiquary, describes himself in his literary advertisements as ‘late of Baliol College, Oxford,’ but his name does not appear in the college admission book, nor is there evidence of his having been matriculated. His attainments as an antiquary were slender indeed, to judge from the one extant specimen entitled ‘Some conjectures relative to a very ancient piece of money lately found at Eltham in Kent endeavouring to restore it to the place it merits in the Cimeliarch of English coins, and to prove it a coin of Rich the First King of England of that name. To which are added some remarks on a dissertation [by Dr. John Kennedy] . . . on Oriuna, the supposed wife of Carausius, and on the Roman coins therein mentioned,’ 4to, London, 1751. A reply to the first part was published the following year by the Rev. George North F.S.A. who in his ‘Remarks on “Some Conjectures,’ ” made short work of Clarke’s idle imaginings. The piece, he conclusively showed, was an ordinary token of the kind known among numismatists as ‘Penyard pence.’ Clarke, greatly angered, sought to take revenge in an attempted refutation of North’s ‘Epistolary Dissertation on some supposed Golden coins,’ which he repeatedly advertised but had the good sense not to publish. It is rather surprising to find that he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 13 Feb. 1752. On the second leaf of his unlucky ‘Conjectures’ he had announced the speedy publication of what was to have been his chief performance, entitled ‘The Hebrew Samaritan, Greek, and Roman Medalist.’ The work never appeared, possibly from the fact that the author had become convinced of the danger of trifling with numismatics. He died at Glemsford, Suffolk, in April 1767, and was buried there on the 20th of the same month (Glemsford Burial Register,). In Nichols’s ‘Literary Anecdotes’ (v. 448) Clarke is described as ‘Rev.;’ the error probably arose from a misprint. in the list of the Society of Antiquaries for 1753.
[Manuscript note in a copy of Clarke's Conjectures in the British Museum; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. v. 447–54, 701, 702, ix. 615; Monthly Review, vi. 69; Smith's Bibl. Cantiana, p. 194.]
G. G.