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

​MOUNTENEY or MOUNTNEY, RICHARD (1707–1768), Irish judge and classical scholar, son of Richard Mounteney, an officer in the customs house, by Maria, daughter of John Carey, esq., was born at Putney, Surrey, in 1707, and educated at Eton School. He was elected in 1725 to King's College, Cambridge, proved himself a good classical scholar, and became a fellow. He graduated B.A. in 1729, and M.A. in 1735 (Graduati Cantabr. 1823, p. 333). Among his intimate friends at the university were Sneyd Davies [q. v.] and Sir Edward Walpole. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple, and by the influence of Sir Robert Walpole, to whom he had dedicated his edition of some of the orations of Demosthenes, he was appointed in 1737 one of the barons of the exchequer in Ireland. He was one of the judges who presided at the famous trial between James Annesley [q. v.] and Richard, earl of Anglesey, in 1743, and 'made a most respectable figure.' He died on 3 March 1768 at Belturbet, co. Cavan, while on circuit.
His first wife Margaret was buried at Donnybrook, near Dublin, on 8 April 1756, and his second marriage with the Dowager-countess of Mount Alexander (i.e. Manoah, widow of Thomas Montgomery, fifth earl and daughter of one Delacherois of Lisburn) was announced in Sleater's 'Public Gazetteer' on 6 Oct. 1759.
​His works are: 1. 'Demosthenis selectæ Orationes (Philippica I) et tres Olynthiacæ orationes. Ad codices MSS. recensuit, textum, scholiasten, et versionem plurimis in locis castigavit, notis insuper illustravit Ricardus Mounteney,' Cambridge (University Press), 1731, 8vo; 2nd edit. London, 1748, 8vo; 3rd edit. Eton, 1755, 8vo (very incorrectly printed); other editions, London and Eton, 1764 and 1771, London, 1778, 1785, 1791, 1806, 1811, 1826, 1827. With reference to the second edition there appeared 'Baron Mountenay's celebrated Dedication of the select Orations of Demosthenes to the late Sir Robert Walpole, Bart. of Ministerial Memory, done into plain English, and illustrated with Notes and Comments, and dedicated to Trinity College, Dublin. By Æschines the third,' Dublin printed, London reprinted 1748, 8vo. 2. 'Observations on the probable Issue of the Congress' [i.e. of Aix-la-Chapelle], London, 1748, 8vo.
A fine portrait of Mounteney by Hogarth was in 1864 in the possession of the Rev. John Mounteney Jephson, who was maternally descended from him.
[Addit. MS. 5876, f. 226b; Brüggemann's View of English Editions of Greek and Latin Authors, p. 161; Gent. Mag. 1768 p. 198, 1781 p. 404; Harwood's Alumni Eton. p. 315; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), p. 627; Nichols's Illustr. Lit. i. 514, 558; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ii. 192, iii. 106, vii. 279, x. 633; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. xii. 170, 254, 526, 3rd ser. vi. 89, 235; Scots Mag. 1768, p. 223; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mountier, Thomas

​MOUNTIER, THOMAS (fl. 1719–1733), vocalist, whose name may be of French origin, or a corruption of the English name Mouncher, was lay vicar, and from 1719 to 1732 preceptor of the choristers, of Chichester Cathedral (Chapter Books), Before finally exchanging the cathedral for the theatre Mountier was in correspondence with the dean and chapter of Chichester , who on 12 May 1732 declared Mountier's place as lay vicar vacant. It was not until August that he resigned the preceptorship of the choristers.
It appears that Mountier sang for the first time in London at J. C. Smith's concert in Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre on 2 April 1731. An advertisement of a later date runs: 'At the request of great numbers of gentlemen and ladies, for the benefit of Thomas Mountier, the Chichester boy (who sang at Mr. Smith's concert at the theatre in L. I. F.), at the New Theatre in the Haymarket, on 6 May 1731, a concert. ... To prevent the house being crowded, no persons will be admitted without tickets' (Daily Journal). Mountier was also announced to sing in Geminiani's winter series of weekly concerts at Hickford's (Daily Post, 15 Nov. 1731), and Smith's and Lowe's benefit concerts, on 22 and 27 March 1732, songs in Italian and English (Daily Journal).
On 17 May 1732, under Dr. Arne at the New Theatre in the Haymarket, Handel's 'Acis and Galatea' was first 'performed with all the grand choruses, machines, and other decorations ... in a theatrical way' (Daily Post, 6 May), Mountier in the part of Acis, and Miss Arne as Galatea. The choruses had taken more than a year's practice (Fitzball). A second performance was announced for 19 May. Mountier was cast for the part of Phoebus, but sang that of Neptune, in Lampe's 'Britannia.' In 1733 he joined the Italian opera troupe, and sang as Adelberto in the revival of Handel's 'Ottone' (Grove).
[Information kindly supplied by Prebendary Bennett, Chichester; Fitzball's Thirty-five Years of a Dramatic Author's Life; Grove's Dict. ii. 377.]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mountain, Thomas

​MOUNTAIN, THOMAS (d. 1561?), divine, son of Richard Mountain, servant to Henry VIII and Edward VI, proceeded M.A. at Cambridge, was admitted on 29 Oct. 1545 to the rectory of Milton-next-Gravesend, and on 29 Dec. 1550 to that of St. Michael Tower Royal, or Whittington College, in Rio Lane. He was at Cambridge with Northumberland in 1553, an active partisan of the duke, and on 11 Oct. was summoned before Gardiner for celebrating communion in two kinds; he was also charged with treason as having been 'in the field with Northumberland against the queen' (Harl. MS. 425, ff. 106-117). The following March he was cited to appear at Bow Church before the vicar-general for being married. He was imprisoned in the Marshalsea, and removed thence to stand his trial for treason at Cambridge; but no one appeared against him, and Mountain returned to London. He subsequently fled to Colchester, and thence to Antwerp, where he taught a school, removing to Duisburg near the Rhine after a year and a half. On the accession of Elizabeth he returned to England, and died apparently in 1561, possessed of the rectory of St. Pancras, Soper Lane, London.
Mountain left a circumstantial account of his troubles extant in Harl. MS. 425, ff. 106-117: copious extracts from it are incorporated in Strype's 'Ecclesiastical Memorials' and Froude's 'History of England,' v. 277-8.
[Harl. MS. 425, ff. 106-17; Strype's Eccles. Memorials, and Cranmer, passim; Foxe's Acts and Monuments; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 494, 519; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. i. 213, 553; Froude's Hist, of England, v. 277-8.]
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Hipkins, Alfred James

​HIPKINS, ALFRED JAMES (1826–1903), musical antiquary, born at 22 Medway Street, Westminster, on 17 June 1826, was only son of James Hipkins (1800-1882), a cabinet and pianoforte maker, who also wrote verse, by his wife Jane Mary Grant (1802-1865). He had an only sister, Ellen (1838-1911). As a boy he desired to become a painter, but in 1840 he was placed by his father in Messrs. Broadwood's piano-forte factory, where he remained all his life. A music-seller in the Strand, named Fenton, gave him a few pianoforte lessons in 1841, and Marcellus Higgs taught him the organ in 1844; in spite of such limited tuition he became a charming performer on the piano, having the unique reputation of rendering the music of Chopin according to the composer's intention. His chief energies were devoted to a study of the science of music and of the history and quality of keyboard instruments. On the latter subject he became an unrivalled authority. He reintroduced equal temperament in tuning into this country in 1846, and wrote profusely on musical history, contributing largely to 'Grove's Dictionary,' as well as to the ninth edition of the 'Encyclopædia Britannica.' In 1881 he made a journey through Germany to examine historic pianofortes in the royal palaces. His chief publication was 'Musical Instruments, Historic, Rare, and Unique' (1881), a standard work illustrated in colour by William Gibbs. Between 1885 and 1896 he lectured on his special theme at the principal musical institutions as well as at the Royal Institution, and superintended the arrangement of many exhibitions of musical instruments. He was elected F.S.A. on 14 Jan. 1886, and was a member of the council and honorary curator of the Royal College of Music. A familiar and genial figure in musical circles, he died at Kensington on 3 June 1903, and was buried at Kensington cemetery, Hanwell. A memorial brass, designed by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (see Musical Times, Oct. 1908), was placed in St. Margaret's church, Westminster, where he was christened and where his kinsfolk lie. He left an interesting collection of tuning-forks to the Royal Institution and a fine collection of musical instruments to the Royal College of Music.
Hipkins married on 2 Oct. 1850 Jane Souter Black, of Scotch family, at Orange Street chapel, Leicester Square. Of their two children a son, who was deaf and dumb, was a distinguished wood engraver (b. 1851), while the daughter, Edith (b. 1864), a portrait painter, has frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy.
[Musical Times, Sept. 1898 and July 1903; private information.]
F. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Hoare, Joseph Charles

​HOARE, JOSEPH CHARLES (1851–1906), bishop of Victoria, Hong-kong, born at Ramsgate on 15 Nov. 1851, was fourth son of Edward Hoare, vicar of Holy Trinity, Tunbridge Wells, and hon. canon of Canterbury. His mother was Maria Eliza (d. 1863), daughter cf Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie [q. v.], surgeon. Educated first at Brighton, then (1863-1870) at Tonbridge school, he passed with a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1874 with a second class in the classical tripos, and proceeding M.A. in 1878 and D.D. in 1898. In December 1874 he was ordained deacon by the Bishop of London for missionary work, and, after acting for some months as his father's curate, sailed in October 1875 to join the Church Missionary Society's Mid-China mission at Ningpo. He was ordained priest by the Bishop of North China in 1876. His chief work at Ningpo was the founding and successful conduct of a training college for Chinese evangelists. Hoare rapidly acquired a knowledge of the Ningpo colloquial language, and in it produced versions of 'Pearson on the] Creed,' 'Trench on the Parables,' and 'Ryle on St. Matthew.' By 1891 he had sent out 164 students, of whom 61 were then either evangelists or school teachers.
In 1898 Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, invited Hoare to succeed John Shaw Burdon [q. v. Suppl. II] as Bishop of Victoria, Hong-kong, and he was consecrated at St. Paul's cathedral on 11 June 1898. The change from mid-China to south China entailed the learning of two new dialects, and, as a bishop, Hoare had the oversight of a colony, as well as of missionary work in several provinces. He won the respect of all classes in the colony, worked amongst the sailors of the port, and continued his policy of fostering a spirit of self-reliance amongst the Chinese Christians. Unswervingly loyal to the Church Missionary Society, he was not always at one with the home authorities. On 14 Sept, 1906 he set out from Hong-kong in his house-boat on a preaching tour along the coast. Caught ​in the typhoon of 16 Sept., he headed back to Hong-kong, but the boat capsized in Castle Peak bay, 12 miles from Hong-kong, and two Chinese sailors alone escaped. Hoare's body was not recovered.
Both at Ningpo and at Hong-kong Hoare left a permanent mark on the work of his mission by the influence of a fine personality and by his contributions to vernacular literature. Hoare was twice married: (1) in 1882 to Alice Juliana (d. 1883), daughter of Canon John Patteson, of Norwich; and (2) to Ellen, daughter of the Rev. F. F. Gough, who survived him, and by whom he had two sons and three daughters. In addition to the works already noticed, there were issued after his death two volumes of comments on books of the Bible, edited by Walter Moule.
[Record, 28 Sept. 1906; Church Missionary Intelligencer, November and December 1908; private information and personal knowledge.]
A. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pritchett, James Pigott

​PRITCHETT, JAMES PIGOTT (1789–1868), architect, born at St. Petrox, Pembrokeshire, on 14 Oct. 1789, and baptised there on 4 Jan. 1790, was fourth son of Charles Pigott Pritchett, fellow of King's College, Cambridge, rector of St. Petrox and Stackpole Elidor, Pembrokeshire, prebendary of St. David's, and domestic chaplain to the Earl of Cawdor, by Anne, daughter of Roger Rogers of Westerton-in-Ludchurch, Pembrokeshire; Delabere Pritchett, sub-chanter of St. David's Cathedral, was his grandfather. Pritchett, adopting the profession of an architect, was articled to Mr. Medland in Southwark, and afterwards worked for two years in the office of Daniel Asher Alexander [q. v.], architect of the London Dock Company. After spending a short time in the barrack office under the government, Pritchett set up for himself in London in 1812, but in 1813 removed to York, entering into partnership with Mr. Watson of that city. For the remainder of his life Pritchett resided in York, he and Watson having a very extensive practice, amounting almost to a monopoly, of architectural work in Yorkshire. At York itself he built the deanery, St. Peter's School (now the school of art), the Savings Bank, Lady Hewley's Hospital, Lendal and Salem Chapels, &c. Elsewhere he built the asylum at Wakefield, the court-house and gaol at Beverley, and acted as surveyor and architect on the extensive estates of three successive Earls Fitzwilliam. Pritchett was a prominent member of the congregationalist body at York, and was identified with a great many philanthropic and religious movements there. He died at York on 23 May, and was buried in the cemetery there on 27 May 1868. He married, first, at Beckenham, Kent, on 6 Aug. 1786, Peggy Maria, daughter of Robert Terry, by whom he had three sons and one daughter, Maria Margaret. The latter married John Middleton of York, and was mother of John Henry Middleton, architect, late director of the South Kensington Museum. Pritchett married, on 6 Jan. 1829, his second wife, Caroline, daughter of John Benson, solicitor, of Thorne, near York, by whom he had three sons and two daughters, of whom the eldest son, James Pigott Pritchett, adopted his father's profession at Darlington.
[Builder, 6 June 1868; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Pedigree of Pritchett by G. Milner-Gibson-Cullum and James P. Pritchett, with family notes by the latter (London, 1892).]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pritchard, George

​PRITCHARD, GEORGE (1796–1883), missionary and consul at Tahiti, born in Birmingham on 1 Aug. 1796, worked from childhood with his father, a journeyman brass-founder, and showed great mechanical skill. While he was a youth, he and his family attended Carr's Lane Chapel, and he became a local preacher in villages around Birmingham. Having resolved to undertake missionary work, he left with his wife (Miss Ayllen, West Meon, Hampshire) in a cargo ship for Tahiti, in the Society Islands of the ​ Pacific Ocean, on 27 July 1824. Pritchard and his wife were welcomed on their arrival by the queen, Pomare, and he was shortly appointed British consul for the Georgian, Society, Navigator's, and Friendly Islands. On 21 Nov. 1836 the queen refused to admit to her dominions two French priests, Laval and Garret, from Gambia Island, and there followed a long quarrel with the French government, which ended in the islands being placed under French protection in 1842, and a temporary annexation by France in 1843. Pritchard advised the queen throughout this critical period, and helped to pay in 1838 an indemnity of two thousand Spanish dollars summarily demanded by the French admiral, Du Petit-Thouars. In 1841 he went to England to lay before the British government the case of the dispossessed queen, and to describe the outrages which the invaders inflicted upon British subjects ; but he returned in February 1843 without obtaining any genuine guarantee of security. On 5 March 1844 he was seized by the French authorities on the pretence that he encouraged disaffection among the natives. Captain Gordon, of H.M.S. Cormorant, procured his release, on condition that he should leave the islands and never return. He sailed in the Cormorant to Valparaiso, whence he reached London. The English government thereupon demanded of the French an apology and pecuniary reparation. Pritchard asserted that his property had suffered damage to the amount of 4,000l. Eventually, in the queen's speech of 1845 announcement was made that the difficulty had been satisfactorily adjusted. Pritchard subsequently lived in retirement in England, dying at Hove, near Brighton, in May 1883 in his eighty-seventh year. His widow and several children survived him.
He published : 'The Missionary's Reward, or the Success of the Gospel in the South Pacific,' with an introduction by the Rev. J. A. James, 1844; and 'Queen Pomare and her Country,' 1878, 8vo, with an introduction by Henry Allon ; he also left in manuscript 'The Aggressions of the French at Tahiti and other Islands in the Pacific.'
S. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Probus

​PROBUS (d. 948?), biographer of St. Patrick, is identified by Colgan with Coenechair, prelector or head master of the school of Slane in the county of Meath, famous as the place in which Dagobert, son of Sigebert, king of Austrasia in the seventh century, was educated. Probus's 'Life of St. Patrick,' which was the first life of the saint to be printed, was published anonymously in the edition of Bede's works brought out at Basle in 1563. It was afterwards republished by Colgan, with the author's name prefixed, and forms the fifth life in his collection. It is addressed to Paulinus, apparently Mael-Poíl (d. 920), abbot of Indedhnen, near Slane, who is described by the 'Four Masters' as 'bishop, anchorite and the best scribe in Leath Chuinn,' i.e.the north of Ireland. It may be regarded as a revised edition of the life by Muirchu Maccu Machcheni [q. v.] in the 'Book of Armagh,' but with the Roman mission added, of which there is no mention in Muirchu. This was apparently taken from Tirechan. Muirchu had attempted to combine the authentic narrative of the 'Confession' with the later legendary matter, but the contradiction between them was obvious. Probus, following in the same path, but with more literary skill, invented a double mission for St. Patrick — a first mission of thirty years, during which he laboured as a priest without success; and a second, when he returned as a bishop with a commission from Rome [see Patrick].
In 948 (Four Masters) or 950 (Ussher) Probus and the chief members of the community took refuge in the Round Tower of Slane from one of the Danish inroads. They carried with them their valuables, including especially the crozier and the bell of St. Erc the founder. The Danes, however, set fire to the building, and all perished.
T. O.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Probert, William

​PROBERT, WILLIAM (1790–1870), unitarian minister, was born at Painscastle, Radnorshire, on 11 Aug. 1790. His parents farmed a small freehold. William intended to take orders in the church of England, but became in early life a Wesleyan methodist, and was appointed a local preacher of that denomination, ministering in Bolton, Leeds, Liverpool and in Staffordshire. In 1815, while stationed at Alnwick in Northumberland, he adopted unitarian views. He was appointed in 1821 to the unitarian chapel at Walmsley, near Bolton, Lancashire. Probert found the place encumbered with debt and the people disheartened and scattered. He succeeded in gathering round him an attached congregation, to which he ministered for upwards of forty-eight years. Walmsley chapel is commonly called in the district 'Old Probert's Chapel.' He was a man of much humour and of eccentric habits, interested in antiquarian and oriental scholarship, and an authority on Welsh laws and customs. He was a master of the Welsh language, and he obtained several medals from learned societies for accounts on Welsh castles and for translations from Welsh into English. He died at Dimple, Turton, on 1 April 1870, and was buried in the graveyard attached to his chapel. In 1814 he married Margaret Carr of Broxton, Cheshire, by whom he had six children.
Probert was the author of:
* 'Calvinism and Arminianism,' 1815.
* 'The Godolin, being Translations from the Welsh,' 1820.
* 'Ancient Laws of Cambria,' 1823.
* 'The Elements of Hebrew and Chaldee Grammar,' 1832.
* 'Hebrew and English Concordance, 1838.
* 'Hebrew and English Lexicon Grammar,' 1850.
* 'Laws of Hebrew Poetry,' 1860.
The manuscripts of the four last-mentioned works are preserved in the Bolton Public library. Probert also wrote a 'History of Walmsley Chapel,' which appeared in the 'Christian Reformer' for 1834.
[Local newspapers; Unitarian Herald for 1870; Scholes's Bolton Bibliography.]
T. B. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Proby, Granville Leveson

​PROBY, GRANVILLE LEVESON, third Earl of Carysfort (1781–1868), admiral, born in 1781, was third son of John Joshua Proby, first earl of Carysfort [q. v.] He entered the navy in March 1798 on board the Vanguard, with Captain (afterwards Sir) Edward Berry [q. v.], and Rear-admiral Sir Horatio Nelson. In her he was present at the battle of the Nile, and, following Berry to the Foudroyant, took part in the blockade of Malta, in the capture of the Généreux on 18 Feb. 1800, and of the Guillaume Tell on 31 March 1800. In 1801, still in the Foudroyant, then carrying the flag of Lord Keith, he was present at the operations on the coast of Egypt. He afterwards served in the frigates Santa Teresa and Resistance, and in 1803-4 in the Victory, the flagship of Nelson in the Mediterranean. On 24 Oct. 1804 he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Narcissus frigate, from which in the following May he was appointed to the Neptune, and in her took part in the battle of Trafalgar. On 16 Aug. 1806 he was promoted to the command of the Bergère sloop, and on 28 Nov. 1800 was posted to the Madras, of 54 guns. In 1807 he commanded the Juno frigate in the Mediterranean; in 1808-9 the Iris in the North Sea and Baltic; in 1813-14 the Laurel at the Cape of Good Hope; and in 1815-16 the Amelia in the Mediterranean. He had no further service afloat, but became in due course rear-admiral on 23 Nov. 1841, vice-admiral on 16 June 1851, and admiral on 9 July 1857. Proby succeeded as third earl on the death, on 11 June 1855, of his brother John, second earl of Carysfort. He died on 3 Nov. 1868. He married, in April 1818, Isabella, daughter of Hugh Howard, a younger son of the first Countess of Wicklow, and left issue.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Coburg, Duke of

​COBURG, Duke of. [See Alfred Ernest Albert, 1844–1900.]