OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Williams, William Henry

​WILLIAMS, WILLIAM HENRY (1771–1841), physician and author, son of Richard Williams, was born at Dursley in Gloucestershire in 1771. He received his medical education at the Bristol Infirmary and at St. Thomas's and Guy's hospitals. He became a surgeon to the East Norfolk militia, and as such saw much home service. In 1795, when the regiment was encamped near Deal Castle, he was appointed the senior of a number of surgeons to whom was deputed the charge of several hundred Russian sailors suffering from malignant fever and dysentery. About 1797 he designed a tourniquet of such simplicity and efficiency that it was at once adopted by the authorities and named ‘Williams's Field Tourniquet’ by the army medical board in the printed directions for its use. It was ordered by the commander-in-chief, the Duke of York, that it should be employed in every ​regiment of the king's service, and that non-commissioned officers and musicians should be instructed in its use. In 1798 he entered himself at Caius College, Cambridge, and as a member of that house proceeded M.B. in 1803 and M.D. on 12 Sept. 1811. Some years before this Williams had settled at Ipswich, and in 1810 was appointed by Sir Lucas Pepys [q. v.], the physician-general of the army, to the charge of the South Military Hospital, close by Ipswich, then filled with soldiers just returned from Walcheren, and suffering with fever, ague, and dysentery. On the completion of his service there he received a flattering letter from the army medical board. He was admitted a candidate of the College of Physicians on 30 Sept. 1816, and a fellow on 30 Sept. 1817. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society. He continued to reside at Ipswich, but he died at Sandgate in Kent, whither he had gone for the benefit of his health, on 8 Nov. 1841.
Williams's principal works were: 1. ‘Hints on the Ventilation of Army Hospitals and on Regimental Practice,’ 1798, 8vo. 2. ‘A Concise Treatise on the Progress of Medicine since the year 1573,’ 1804, 8vo. 3. ‘General Directions for the Recovery of Persons apparently dead from Drowning,’ 1808, 12mo. 4. ‘Pharmacopœia Valetudinarii Gippovicensis,’ 1814, 12mo. 5. ‘A Plain and Brief Sketch of Cholera, with a Simple and Economical Mode for its Treatment,’ 2nd edit., revised and enlarged, Ipswich, 1832, 8vo.
W. W. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Williams, William (1781-1840)

​WILLIAMS, WILLIAM, generally known as Williams of Wern (1781–1840), Welsh preacher, born in 1781, was the sixth child of William and Jane Probert of Cwmhyswn-ganol in the parish of Llanfachreth, Merionethshire. The father, whose christian name became his son's surname, was a small farmer and carpenter, and young William worked as carpenter for several years. In his nineteenth year he commenced to preach in connection with the independent church of Pen-y-stryd, and, being practically without education, he went for nine months to a school at Aberhavesp, near Newtown, and then for four years (1803–7) to the dissenting academy at Wrexham. While a student here he used to preach in the smaller villages of the district, and this led to his being invited to become the pastor of two exceptionally weak churches at Wern and Harwood (now Brymbo) in the parish of Wrexham. After a year's probation he was ordained on 28 Oct. 1808. But he by no means confined his labours to this narrow sphere. He formed, and for some years supervised, churches at Llangollen and in the mining districts of Rhos and Ruabon; he was one of the chief organisers of the Welsh Union, formed in 1834 for the liquidation of chapel debts, and himself gave material assistance in many ways to the poorer churches of Flint and Denbighshire. But, above all, he periodically made several preaching tours throughout the whole of Wales. ​‘Williams o'r Wern’ thus became a household word among Welshmen everywhere.
In 1836 Williams became pastor of the Welsh Tabernacle, Great Crosshall Street, Liverpool. There he remained but three years, returning to Wern with broken health in October 1839. Domestic anxieties to some extent accounted for his condition. He had married in 1817 Miss Rebecca Griffiths of Cheshire, a lady of some means, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. His wife died on 3 March 1836, which event probably led to his first removal. His eldest daughter died in February 1840; and Williams himself followed on 17 March 1840. His eldest son, James, died, also of consumption, in March 1841. They were all buried at Wern, where a memorial column, provided by public subscription, was erected in 1884. His two surviving children emigrated to Australia.
Williams, it is generally admitted, was one of the greatest preachers Wales has ever produced, and among the congregationalists (whose preaching since his days has been largely influenced by his style) he has probably never been equalled. He was a man of much personal beauty, his eyes being specially attractive, while his voice was sweet, flexible, and powerful. The chief characteristics of his sermons were their lucidity and the novelty and pertinence of their illustrations. Some of the most powerful of them were, it is believed, composed as he journeyed on horseback from place to place, so that only a few were left behind him for publication.
D. Ll. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Williams, William (1739-1817)

​WILLIAMS, WILLIAM (1739–1817), Welsh antiquary, was born in February 1738–9 at Ty Mawr, Trefdraeth, Anglesey. His father, William ap Huw ap Sion, was a stonemason. After a very short stay at school he served a seven years' apprenticeship to a saddler at Llannerch y Medd, during which he formed his mind by much private study and by intercourse with the bards of the district, notably Hugh Hughes (1693–1776) [q. v.] and Robert Hughes (1744?–1785) [q. v.] Moving to Llan Degai, Carnarvonshire, he obtained employment as occasional clerk in the Penrhyn estate office, acting at the same time as land surveyor and dealer in slates. In 1782 he induced Lord Penrhyn to take into his own hands the slate quarries at Cae Braich y Cafn (now the Penrhyn quarry), and was appointed quarry supervisor, an office he held until he was pensioned in 1803. He died on 17 July 1817, and was buried at Llandegai.
During his long life Williams was a diligent collector of antiquarian lore, and use was made of his manuscripts by Richard Fenton [q. v.] and Sir Richard Colt Hoare [q. v.] Only two of his works have been published. ‘Observations on the Snowdon Mountains’ (London, 1802) deals with the natural history and antiquities of the region around Bangor, and was originally prepared for the private use of Lord Penrhyn. ‘Prydnawngwaith y Cymry’ (Trefriw, 1822) is a continuation (to the Edwardian conquest) of the ‘Drych y Prif Oesoedd’ of Theophilus Evans; the preface shows it was completed in 1804. Williams had some skill as a Welsh poet, and was known in this capacity as ‘Gwilyn Ddu o Arfon.’
[Gwladgarwr, viii. 193–9; Ashton's Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig.]
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ogston, Francis

[Rodger's Aberdeen Doctors, pp. 201, 301, 312; Lancet, October 1887, No. 8345, p. 739; People's Journal (Aberdeen), 1 Oct. 1887.]
A. H. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Okey, Samuel

​OKEY, SAMUEL (fl. 1765–1780), mezzotint engraver, is first described as Samuel Okey junior, and obtained premiums in 1765 and 1767 from the Society of Arts, the first being for a mezzotint engraving of 'Nancy Reynolds,' copied from that done by C. Phillips, after a picture by Sir J. Reynolds. In 1767 he exhibited at the Incorporated Society of Artists an engraving of 'An Old Man with a Scroll' after Reynolds, and in 1768 'A Mezzotinto after Mr. Cosway.' He produced a few fair engravings in mezzotint, among his earlier works being Mrs. Anderson, after R. E. Pine; Lady Anne Dawson, after Reynolds: Miss Gunning, and 'The Gunnings as Hibernian Sisters;' Nelly O'Brien, after Reynolds; William Powell the actor, after R. Pyle ; 'Miss Green and a Lamb,' after T. Kettle; 'A Burgomaster,' after F. Hals, &c. In 1770 he engraved a print, 'Sweets of Liberty,' after J. Collett; this was published by him and a Mr. Reaks, near Temple Bar. In 1773 their names appear as joint publishers of an engraved portrait by Okey of Thomas Hiscox, and as 'print sellers and stationers on the Parade, Newport, Rhode Island' (U. S.) They published a portrait of Thomas Honyman there in 1774, and one of Samuel Adams in 1775. It is uncertain whether Okey remained in America or returned to England. A print by him, 'A Modern Courtezan,' was published in 1778, but appears to have been executed earlier. Neither his name nor that of Reaks appears in the census of Newport, Rhode Island (U. S.), taken in 1774.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists: Chaloner Smith's British Mezzotinto Portraits; Dodd's manuscript Hist, of English Engravers (Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 33403).]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Okes, Richard

​OKES, RICHARD (1797–1888), provost of King‘s College, Cambridge, was son of Thomas Verney Okes, a surgeon in extensive practice at Cambridge. Of his twenty children, Richard was the nineteenth, and was born at Cambridge on 26 Dec. 1797. Porson was a visitor at the house, and took a kindly interest in young Richard. Educated on the foundation at Eton, where he was contemporary with William Mackworth Praed, Lord Derby (the future premier), Pusey, and Shelley (who was some years his senior), he became in due course a scholar and fellow of King's; was Browne's medallist in 1819 and 1820, was appointed assistant-master at Eton in 1823, and lower master in 1838. During the years of his mastership, and afterwards at Cambridge, he was a conspicuous figure in the school and college world, and innumerable anecdotes grew up round his marked and vivid personality. Many school generations of Etonians carried away a lively recollection of his dry and caustic wit, his shrewd remarks, his slow and deliberate speech, his inimitable Latin quotations, drawn chiefly from familiar sources, such as Horace or the Eton Latin grammar, his curious punctiliousness about minutiæ of school discipline, usages, and phraseology. He was a successful tutor, having at times as many as ninety pupils, and impressed his colleagues, as well as the boys, with a strong sense of his painstaking accuracy. During the latter part of Dr. Keate's headmastership he took much interest in the improvement of geographical studies by the introduction of Arrowsmith's ‘Atlas' and compendium, to which he contributed most of the illustrative notes. On his election to the provostship of King's in 1850, one of his first acts was to abandon the privilege which entitled members of King's College to take the B.A. degree without examination. The wisdom of this reform has been proved by the success of King's men in the tripos lists. His provostship coincided with the introduction of great changes in the university, the result of two successive university commissions, and with the establishment of the new governing body of Eton, of which he became a member. Though conservative in principle and feeling, he took part loyally in the introduction and conduct of reforms, and presided over the college with much dignity and kindliness for thirty-eight years. The year following his appointment as provost he filled the office of vice-chancellor, but after the expiration of his year of office he could never again be induced to serve. He was the editor of a new series of ‘Musæ Etonenses' for 1796–1833, which he enriched with sketches of the authors written in Latin, full of felicitous and witty phrases. The heraldic window in the school museum at Eton was his gift in conjunction with Dr. Hawtrey. He died at Cambridge on 25 Nov. 1888, and was buried in King's College Chapel.
[Personal information from old pupils and colleagues.]
J. J. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oke, George Colwell

​OKE, GEORGE COLWELL (1821–1874), legal writer, born at St. Columb Major, Cornwall, on 8 Feb. 1821, was son of William Jane Oke. He commenced life as a solicitor's accountant, but by 1848 was acting as assistant-clerk to the Newmarket bench of justices. In 1855 he became assistant-clerk to the lord mayor of London, and in 1864 succeeded to the chief clerkship. Oke's knowledge of criminal law and of its practical application brought him a high reputation. He died on 9 Jan. 1874 at Rosedale, St. Mary's Road, Peckham, and was buried on the 15th at Nunhead cemetery. He married first Eliza Neile Hawkins (d. 1868), and secondly, on 20 April 1870, Georgiana Percy, stepdaughter of G. M. Harvey, of Upper Norwood.
Oke was author of many standard legal works, including:
* 'The Synopsis of Summary Convictions,' 8vo, 1858, better known by the title of its second edition (1849) as ‘Oke's Magisterial Synopsis' (14th edit. by Mr. H. L. Stephen, 1898).
* 'An Improved System of Solicitors’ Book-keeping,' 8vo, 1848.
* 'Oke's Magisterial Formulist,’ 8vo, 1850; (7th edit. by Mr. H.L. Stephen, 1893).
* 'The Laws of Turnpike Roads,' 12mo, 1854 (and 1860).
* 'The Friendly Societies’ Manual,' 12mo, 1855; withdrawn from circulation owing to its infringing the copyright of another work.
* ‘A Handy Book of the Game and Fishery Laws,' 12mo, 1861 (enlarged editions by J. W. Willis Bund).
* 'Justices' Clerks Accounts,' 8vo., 1863.
* 'London Police and Magistracy,' 8vo, 1863.
* 'Friendly Societies' Accounts,' 12mo, 1864.
* ‘The Laws as to Licensing Inns,’ 8vo, 1872 (2nd edit, by W. Cunningham Glen, 1874).
He wrote also 'The Magisterial Laws of London,' which was announced in 1863 to be published by subscription, but it never appeared.
[Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub.; Boase's Collect. Cornub.; Times, 10 and 12 Jan. 1874; Illustr. Lond. News, lxiv. 80 (with portrait); Graphic, ix. 124, 131 (with portrait); Law Times, 17 Jan. 1874, p. 207.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Okeover, John

​OKEOVER, OKEVER, or OKER, JOHN (fl. 1619–1634), organist and composer, succeeded Richard Browne as vicar-choral and organist of Wells Cathedral on 16 Feb. 1819 (Wood). He graduated M.B. from New College, Oxford, on 5 July 1683. On 2 Jun. 1634, when master of the choristers at Wells, he was charged with ‘having given notice to the vicars that there should be no antumne sung in steede of Nunc dimittis or Benedictus, but only according to the forme of common prayer,' without first consulting with the canons resident. He answered that he was commanded by the bishop to give the notice, but the dean pronounced him contumacious, and removed him from his office of vicar for a week. He appears to have married Elizabeth, daughter of John Beaumont, a member of a well-known family in Wells. John Beaumont left in his will, dated 5 March 1634, legacies to his ‘daughter Elizabeth and to her husband John Oker.’
Okeover was a writer of ‘fancies.' Five of his pieces, together with a pavan, all in live parts, are in Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 17786, ff. 19–25. Another fantasia by Okeover, in five parts, is in MS. 17792, f. 92.
[Wood's Fasti, i. 388, 468; Hist. MSS. Comm. Rep. on MSS. of Wells Cathedral, 1885, p. 256; Reg. of Wills, P. C. C. (Sadler).]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wallop, Richard

​WALLOP, RICHARD (1616–1697), judge, born in 1616, and baptised at Bugbrooke on 10 June, was son of Richard Wallop of Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire, and of Mary his wife, sister and coheiress of William Spencer of Everton in the same county. His father was the third son of Sir Oliver Wallop of Farleigh-Wallop, and younger brother of Sir Henry Wallop (1540?–1599) [q. v.] Richard the younger matriculated from Pembroke College, Oxford, on 10 Oct. 1634, and graduated B.A. on 2 June 1635. He was called to the bar by the Middle Temple in February 1646, and became a bencher in 1666. In 1673 he was treasurer of the Middle Temple. His political views were anti-royalist, and he was frequently retained against the government in state trials during the reigns of Charles II and James II. He was counsel for Lord Petre when the articles of impeachment were brought up against the five lords concerned in the popish plot in April 1679. In October 1680 he acted for Sir Oliver Butler in his case against the king, and in March 1681 for the Duke of York, indicted for recusancy. On this occasion he moved that the trial might be put off till Easter, alleging that the accused might then have a plea of conformity. This was granted. He was leading counsel for William, viscount Stafford, when brought to trial on 4 Dec. 1680. As counsel for the prisoner, he spoke (7 May 1681) in support of the plea in abatement in the case of Edward Fitzharris [q. v.] He was one of the counsel for the Earl of Danby when brought to the court of king's bench from the Tower on 4 Feb. 1684. He defended Laurence Braddon [q. v.] and Hugh Speke [q. v.] in February 1684, and argued for arrest of judgment, in the case of Thomas Rosewell [q. v.] on 27 Nov. 1684. He was counsel for Baxter at his trial in February 1685, and in the same month was assigned counsel for Titus Oates, when pleading ‘not guilty’ to the two indictments against him for perjury. He also acted as counsel for the plaintiff in the case of Arthur Godden v. Sir Edward Hales [q. v.], in an action for debt upon the test act in June 1686. He was constantly incurring the displeasure of Judge Jeffreys, who never lost an opportunity of browbeating him.
Wallop was made cursitor baron of the exchequer on 16 March 1696, and died on 22 Aug. 1697. He was buried in the Temple church on the 26th. In his will, proved on 28 Aug. 1697, he left all his property to his widow Marie, with the care of his daughter and her children.
B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Walmsley, Thomas

​WALMSLEY, THOMAS (1763–1805), landscape-painter, was descended from a family of good position at Rochdale, Lancashire, but was born in Ireland in 1763, his father, Thomas Walmsley, captain-lieutenant of the 18th dragoons, being quartered there with his regiment at the time. He quarrelled with his family, and came to London to earn his living. He studied scene-painting under Columba at the opera-house, and was himself employed there and at Covent Garden Theatre, and at the Crow Street Theatre, Dublin. In 1790 he began to exhibit landscapes in London, where he resided until 1795, when he retired to Bath. He sent many pictures to the Royal Academy, chiefly views in Wales; but in 1796, the last year in which he exhibited, three views of Killarney. He painted chiefly in body-colour. His trees were heavy and conventional, and he had no capacity for drawing figures, but he was skilful in painting skies, especially with a warm evening glow, which was well reproduced in the coloured aquatints by ​Francis Jukes and others, through which he is best known at the present day. Of these several series were published both before and after his death: views of the Dee and North Wales, 1792–4; larger views of North Wales, 1800; views of Killarney and Kenmare, 1800–2; miscellaneous British scenery, 1801; views in Bohemia, 1801; views of the Isle of Wight, 1802–3; miscellaneous Irish scenery, 1806; views in Scotland, 1810. Walmsley died at Bath in 1805.
C. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Walmsley, Joshua

​WALMSLEY, Sir JOSHUA (1794–1871), politician, son of John Walmsley, builder, was born at Liverpool on 29 Sept. 1794, and educated at Knowsley, Lancashire, and Eden Hall, Westmoreland. On the death of his father in 1807 he became a teacher in Eden Hall school, and on returning to Liverpool in 1811 took a similar situation in Mr. Knowles's school. He entered the service of a corn merchant in 1814, and at the end of his engagement went into the same business himself, and ultimately acquired a competency. He was an early advocate of the repeal of the duty on corn, and was afterwards an active worker with Cobden, Bright, and others in the Anti-Cornlaw League. In 1826 he took the presidency of the Liverpool Mechanics' Institution, and about the same time there began his intimacy with George Stephenson, in whose railway schemes he was much interested, and with whom he joined in purchasing the Snibstone estate, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where rich seams of coal were found. He was elected a member of the Liverpool town council in 1835, and did excellent work in improving the police, sanitary, and educational affairs of the borough; was appointed mayor in November 1838, and knighted on the occasion of the queen's marriage. With Lord Palmerston he unsuccessfully contested Liverpool in the liberal interest in June 1841. He retired to Ranton Abbey, Staffordshire, in 1843, and at the general election of 1847 was elected M.P. for Leicester, but was unseated on petition. He started the National Reform Association about this time, and was its president and chief organiser for many years. In 1849 he was returned as M.P. for Bolton, Lancashire, but in 1852 exchanged that seat for Leicester, where his efforts on behalf of the framework knitters had made him popular. He lost this seat in 1857, when he practically retired from public life, although he retained the presidency of the National Sunday League from 1856 to 1869.
He died on 17 Nov. 1871 at his residence at Bournemouth, leaving issue. His wife, whom he married in 1815, and whose maiden name was Madeline Mulleneux, survived him two years.
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Walmisley, Thomas Forbes

​WALMISLEY, THOMAS FORBES (1783–1866), glee composer and organist, third son of William Walmisley, clerk of the papers to the House of Lords, was born in Union (now St. Margaret's) Street, Westminster, 22 May 1783. He, like all his brothers, was a chorister in Westminster Abbey, and he was a scholar at Westminster ​school from 1793 to 1798. He studied music under the Hon. John Spencer and Thomas Attwood [q. v.], the pupil of Mozart, and was assistant organist to the Female Orphan Asylum from 1810 to 1814. In 1814 he succeeded Robert Cooke (fl. 1793–1814) [q. v.] as organist of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, which post he resigned, on a pension, in March 1854. He was secretary of the re-established Concentores Sodales, which was dissolved in 1847, the wine becoming his property, and was elected a professional member of the Catch Club in 1827. Walmisley died on 23 July 1866, and was buried in the family grave at Brompton cemetery. In 1810 he married the eldest daughter of William Capon (1757–1827) [q. v.], draughtsman to the Duke of York. His eldest son, Thomas Attwood Walmisley [q. v.], whose ‘Cathedral Music’ he edited in 1857, predeceased him.
Walmisley composed fifty-nine glees, four of which gained prizes (see Spectator, 28 Aug. 1830). He also composed ‘six anthems and a short morning and evening service’ (n.d.), and ‘Sacred Songs,’ London, 1841. As a teacher he was well known; his most distinguished pupil is perhaps Dr. Edward J. Hopkins. A portrait of him, painted by MacCaul, is in the possession of his son, Mr. Arthur Walmisley.
F. G. E.