OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, William (1808-1876)

​SMITH, WILLIAM (1808–1876), print-seller, son of a London print-seller, was born on 11 July 1808 in Lisle Street, Leicester Square. He proceeded to Cambridge University, but on the death of his father in 1835 he and his brother George succeeded to the business, and he was obliged to abandon his studies there. In 1836 he purchased the collection of engravings formed by John Sheepshanks [q. v.] The Dutch and Flemish portions, which were considered to be the most perfect in Europe, he sold to the British Museum for 5,000l., although he received larger offers from Holland. This was the first of a series of large transactions in which Smith rendered eminent services to the print-room. Among the collections which reached the Museum through his exertions were those of ‘Mr. Harding of Finchley’ (a very fine all-round collection) in 1841, of Coningham (engravings by early German and Italian artists) in 1844 and 1845, selections from the Aylesford and Woodburn collections in 1847, and some etchings of the utmost rarity by Rembrandt, procured at Baron Verstolk's sale at Amsterdam in 1847.
In 1848 Smith and his brother retired from business. From that time his labours ‘were wholly honorary and patriotic.’ He took a prominent part in establishing the National Portrait Gallery, being appointed an original trustee, and chosen deputy chairman in 1858. He was also actively engaged in the management of the Art Union of London. At one time he interested himself in acquiring an historical series of watercolour drawings by British artists, but, learning that the managers of South Kensington Museum were forming a similar collection, he allowed them, in his lifetime, to select what they pleased, and presented the remainder to the National Gallery of Ireland.
He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1852.
Smith died on 6 Sept. 1876, and was buried at Kensal Green cemetery. His collections, which included many rare catalogues of galleries and exhibitions, with copious manuscript notes, he bequeathed to the library of the South Kensington Museum.
[Times, 16 Sept. 1876; Athenæum, 1876, ii. 377; Notes and Queries, 5th ser. vi. 259; Men of the Time, 9th ed. p. 910.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, William (1651?-1735)

​SMITH, WILLIAM (1651?–1735), antiquary, born about 1651, was the son of William Smith of Easby, near Richmond in Yorkshire, by his wife Anne, daughter of Francis Layton of Rawden, master of the jewel-house in the reign of Charles I. On 28 May 1668 William matriculated from University College, Oxford, and graduated B.A. in 1672, proceeding M.A. on 18 March 1674–5. In 1673 he was appointed rector of Goodmanham in Yorkshire, in 1675 elected a fellow of University College, and ​in 1678 incorporated M.A. at Cambridge. In 1704 he was presented by the college to the rectory of Melsonby in Yorkshire. Owing to some informality he was twice inducted, on 22 Oct. 1704 and on 23 June 1706. In 1705, having married, he was obliged to resign his fellowship; but he retained the revenues until 1711 (Hearne, Collections, i. 62, iii. 126). He died in December 1735, and was buried at Melsonby. By his wife Mary, widow of Gerard Langbaine (1656–1692) [q. v.], he had one child at least, according to Hearne, although he appears to have left no family at his death.
Smith was the author of: 1. ‘The Annals of University College,’ Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1728, 8vo. 2. ‘Litteræ de Re Nummaria,’ Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1729, 8vo. He also wrote twenty-seven manuscript volumes relating to Oxford, the result of his researches into the archives of the university and of his own college, which are in possession of the Society of Antiquaries.
A contemporary William Smith (fl. 1726), surveyor to the Royal African Company, proceeded to Africa in 1726 to make surveys and drafts of the English forts and settlements in Guinea. On his return he published the results of his labours in a volume entitled ‘Thirty different Draughts of Guinea,’ London, fol. He also left an account of his visit in a manuscript, published in 1744 under the title of ‘A New Voyage to Guinea,’ in which his own observations were eked out with long extracts from Bosman's ‘New Description of the Coast of Guinea.’ The importance of the part of the narrative actually written by Smith is very slight (Pinkerton, Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1745, ii. 464–481).
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, Jonas (1691?-1741)

​MOORE, JONAS (1691?–1741), military engineer, probably grandson of Sir Jonas Moore [q. v.] the mathematician, received his commission as probationer engineer in October . On 1 Jan. 1711 he was appointed sub-engineer at Gibraltar and attached to David Colyear, first earl of Portmore [q. v.], the governor, for special ser vice. Later he was sent to Port Mahon, Minorca, where he remained for some years, returning to Gibraltar in August 1720. On 18 Nov. he was appointed chief engineer and commissioned as commander-in-chief of the train of artillery at Gibraltar. He was promoted sub-director of engineers and major on 1 Oct. 1722. He received several letters from the board of ordnance conveying their good opinion of his ability and economy, and in one, dated 22 Jan. 1727, he was informed that his care not to exceed the estimates has been noticed by the master-general and board, and 'gains much their esteem.'
Moore was chief engineer at Gibraltar during the siege by the Spaniards in 1727. The trenches were opened on 11 Feb., and the siege was not raised until 23 June. The Spaniards lost many men, but owing to the excellent cover provided by Moore, who went over to Morocco and visited Tetuan to secure supplies of fascines and brushwood, the British loss was comparatively small. On 19 March 1728 he was given the local rank of director of engineers. He remained at Gibraltar until 1740, and in October of that year was appointed chief engineer with the joint expedition which sailed from Spithead under Rear-admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle and General Lord Cathcart for Spanish America. On arrival at Dominica Lord Cathcart died, and was succeeded by General Wentworth, an incompetent officer. Ogle proceeded to Jamaica, where he joined Vice-admiral Vernon. After many conflicting schemes it was resolved to attack Carthagena, a strongly fortified place, well garrisoned and ably commanded.
Moore erected his batteries on the shore on 9 March 1741, and soon made a breach in Fort St. Louis, a work which mounted eighty-two guns and defended the mouth of the harbour. Moore was, however, struck on the 22nd by a fragment of a shell, and died the following day. His death was a serious blow to the enterprise. The incompetence of the general led to disaster which might have been avoided had the chief engineer survived. As it was, the land forces were re-embarked, and the expedition sailed back to Jamaica. Moore carried a dormant commission by order of the Duke of Montagu, dated 24 July 1740, to command the artillery in the event of the death of the two senior officers of that corps.
There are in the war office twenty plans and sections of Gibraltar and various works ​of defence in that fortress skilfully drawn by Moore.
R. H. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, Richard (1619-1683)

​MOORE, RICHARD (1619–1683), non-conformist divine, son of William Moore, was born at Alvechurch in Worcestershire, and baptised there on 8 Aug. 1619 (par. reg.) He belonged to an ancient Worcestershire family who were settled in Alvechurch in the time of Edward II. Matriculating at Oxford from Magdalen Hall on 30 June 1637, he graduated B.A. 12 Nov. 1640. In 1647 he was possessed of property in Alvechurch and Weatheroak Hill. During the Commonwealth he was 'a preacher of God's word' in Worcester, sometimes at the cathedral, along with Simon Moore, who was ejected thence in 1662. In 1650 Richard Moore was occupying a house in Worcester 'next to the lead-house,' and was probably preaching. He 'intruded into the living' of Alvechurch, and was present at a parish meeting there on 12 Aug. 1658. After the Restoration he gave up the rectory, and obtained a license to preach in what he represented as his house and room adjoining at Withall, near Alvechurch. The house was really the curate's chamber over part of Withall Chapel, and the 'room adjoining,' the chapel itself, into which he had made an opening from the chamber (State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1662, vol. lxvi. f. 34). In 1662 the license was revoked. In April 1672 he was restored to the chapel, and remained there for two years. He afterwards preached privately in his house at the foot of Weatheroak Hill, near to the top of which stands Withall Chapel. The house, a farmhouse within the parish of Alvechurch, is still standing. Moore died in September 1683, and was buried at King's Norton on the 27th (par. reg.) Moore was probably a presbyterian. He was author of 'Pearl in an Oyster-Shel, or Pretious Treasure put in Perishing Vessels,' London, 1675, the first part of which contains two sermons preached in Withall Chapel in 1674. The second part of the work, called 'Abel Redivivus, or the Dead Speaker,' supplies another sermon, the life of Thomas Hall (1610-1665) [q. v.] of King's Norton, with whom Moore was closely associated, and verses on Hall, John Ley, and other ministers. Calamy mentions another work, entitled 'Paul's Prayer for Israel,' but gives no date.
B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, Joseph (1817-1892)

​MOORE, JOSEPH (1817–1892), medallist and die-sinker, born at Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1817, was the son of Edwin Moore, a builder of hothouses, who temporarily left his business during the Peninsular war and in a fit of enthusiasm joined the 10th hussars, with which he saw active service. A few weeks after Joseph Moore's birth his parents removed to Birmingham, where he continued to live all his life. He showed an early aptitude for drawing, and was apprenticed to Thomas Halliday, die-sinker, of Newhall Street, Birmingham. He also attended the drawing classes of Samuel Lines of Temple Row, Birmingham. For many years Moore was engaged in the production of dies for commercial uses, chiefly for buttons. In 1844 he entered into partnership with John Allen, a fellow-apprentice. The partners carried on business as Allen & Moore in Great Hampton Row, Birmingham, and manufactured articles of papier-mâché, and also metal vases, cups, and boxes. These metal wares, produced by machines invented by Allen, were 'engine-cut on bodies coated with colour, and portions being cut away by the lathe, the patterns, chiefly designed by Moore, were left in colour in low relief.' Partly owing to changes of fashion the works had to be closed, and Moore, after having lost all he had, began business for himself in 1856 as a die-sinker, first in Summer Lane and afterwards, and till his death, in Pitsford Street, Birmingham.
Moore's first medal, produced in 1846, was a large piece, nearly four inches in diameter, bearing the 'Salvator Mundi' of Da Vinci as the obverse, and the 'Christus Consolator' of Ary Scheffer as the reverse. Only a few copies of this medal, which was highly praised by Scheffer, were produced. From this time Moore had a large number of commissions for die-sinking and designing, and executed numerous prize and commemorative medals. Many of these, made for English and colonial trading firms, do not bear Moore's name. He employed his son and other assistants in his business, but the best of his works were cut by his own hand. A selection of his medals was presented by Moore to the Corporation Art Gallery of Birmingham.
Moore was an honourable and kind-hearted man, fond of music and art, and intensely devoted to his work. He was the first president of the Midland Art Club. In March ​1892 he had a serious illness, and died, in his seventy-sixth year, on 7 Sept., in his house, which adjoined his workshops.
Moore married, on 27 Aug. 1839, at Aston, Warwickshire, Miss Mary Ann Hodgkins, and had issue.
W. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, Philip (1705-1783)

​MOORE, PHILIP (1705–1783), Manx scholar, was born at Douglas in the Isle of Man on 22 Jan. 1705, and completed his studies under the care of Dr. Thomas Wilson (1663–1755) [q. v.], bishop of Sodor and Man, whose friend and companion he was for many years. After taking orders he became rector of Kirk Bride and officiating minister of the chapel of Douglas. He was also master of Douglas school for above forty years. At the funeral of Bishop Wilson in March 1755, he was appointed to preach the sermon, which is printed with that prelate's works. Under the auspices of Bishop Hildesley, and at the request of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, he undertook the revision of a translation into Manx of the Holy Scriptures, the Book of Common Prayer, Bishop Wilson on the sacrament, and other religious pieces presented for the use of the diocese of Sodor and Man. During the execution of the first of these works he received advice from the two greatest hebraists of the age, Dr. Robert Lowth [q. v.], bishop of London, and Dr. Benjamin Kennicott [q.v.] He died at Douglas on 22 Jan. 1783, and was interred with great solemnity in the parish church of Kirk Braddan, where there is a tomb with an English inscription recording his merits. In 1785 a handsome marble monument was erected to his memory in the chapel of Douglas.
[Butler's Life of Bishop Hildesley, pp. 53, 55, 186, 223, 255; Nichols's Illustr. of Lit. iv. 687, 691.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, Philip (fl.1573)

​MOORE, PHILIP (fl. 1573), medical writer, practised physic and chirurgery at Halesworth, Suffolk. He wrote 'The Hope of Health, wherein is conteined a goodlie regiment of life: as medicine, good diet, and the goodly vertues of sondrie herbes,' &c., with ' A. Table for xxx. yeres to come,' 12mo, London, November 1565 (Brit. Mus.), which he dedicated on 1 May 1564 to Sir Owen Hopton. Prefixed to the book are a Latin epistle and some verses in mixed Latin and English by William Bullein [q. v.], who calls Moore his 'well-beloved friend.' Moore's object was to disseminate the knowledge of medicinal herbs among the poor, and to encourage their cultivation. Moore also published 'An Almanack and Prognostication for xxxiiii. yeares,' &c., 12mo, London, 1573.
[Work in the Brit. Mus. Libr.; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moore, Joseph (1766-1851)

​MOORE, JOSEPH (1766–1851), Birmingham benefactor, born in 1766 at Shelsley-Beauchamp or Shelsley-Walsh, Worcestershire, was educated at Worcester. In 1781 he was sent to Birmingham to learn die-sinking, and afterwards entered into a partnership in the button trade. Acquiring an independent position he devoted his leisure to works of charity. In conjunction with Thomas Hawkes and others he founded a dispensary for the sick poor. He came to know Matthew Boulton [q. v.], of the Soho works, who introduced him to James Watt. At Boulton's instigation Moore formed a society for the performance of private concerts, the first of which took place in 1799 at Dee's Hotel. This society existed for several years, and developed a taste for high-class music. The festival committee now sought Moore's aid, and he planned the festival of 1799. From 1802 he virtually took the chief direction of the festivals, the profits of which went to support the General Hospital. In recognition of his services to the hospital he was presented, on 6 April 1812, with a service of plate (Langford, Modern Birmingham, i. 394), and his portrait by Wyatt was also purchased for the hospital.
In 1808 Moore established the Birmingham Oratorio Choral Society, with the view of bringing together for practice the local singers engaged at the triennial festivals (ib. ii. 124). In order to provide the town with a building sufficiently large to do justice to the festivals, Moore successfully agitated for the erection of the town-hall (1832-4). A public subscription was raised to pay for the organ. At the festival of 1834 both hall and organ were used for the first time. To enhance the fame of the festivals Moore went to Berlin, and induced Mendelssohn to compose, first, 'St. Paul,' which was given at the festival of 1837, and then 'Elijah' performed in 1846. The net profits arising from the festivals while under Moore's management (1802-49) amounted to 51,756l.
Moore died at his house, Crescent, Birmingham, on 19 April 1851, and was buried in the church of England cemetery there. A monument was erected to his memory by subscription.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roberts, George Edward

​ROBERTS, GEORGE EDWARD (1831–1865), geologist and author, born at Birmingham in 1831, was brought up at Kidderminster, and early manifested an interest in natural science, devoting himself especially to the geology of Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and the adjacent parts of Wales. He wrote sundry small books—some dealing with the physical and geological features of this region, the most important being ‘The Rocks of Worcestershire’ (1860); others, for children, blending the acids of science with the sweets of imagination. As part of his more serious work, he contributed two papers to the ‘Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London,’ and was joint author of two others. The Royal Society's ‘Catalogue’ gives a list of seventeen others contributed to the ‘Geologist,’ the ‘Geological Magazine,’ the ‘Anthropological Review,’ &c. Roberts also wrote for the ‘Reader,’ the ‘Intellectual Observer,’ and other papers. For the last five years of his life he was clerk to the Geological Society of London, was elected a fellow of that society in 1864, and honorary secretary to the Anthropological Society in the same year. He died rather suddenly at Kidderminster, 20 Dec. 1865.
[A fairly full obituary notice, with an engraved portrait, is given in the Journal of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. iv. p. lix.]
T. G. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roberts, Henry (d.1876)

​ROBERTS, HENRY (d. 1876), architect, was a pupil of C. Fowler, and was also in the office of Sir Robert Smirke [q. v.] In 1824 he gained two medals of the Society of Arts. He designed in 1831–3 Fishmongers' Hall, in 1835 Camberwell grammar school, in 1844 the first railway station erected at London Bridge, and in 1846 St. Paul's Church, East Smithfield. He was architect to Lord Shaftesbury's Society for Improving the Dwellings of the Working Classes, and designed many buildings for this purpose in St. Giles's, Theobald's Road, and elsewhere. He also interested himself in the housing of the poor in Belgium and Italy. He died at Florence in April 1876.
[Dict. of Architecture; Illustrated London News, iv. 76, viii. 321; Civil Engineer, vi. 403, 454, xxiii. 237, 325, 373.]
C. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roberts, James (fl.1564-1606)

​ROBERTS, JAMES (fl. 1564–1606), printer, was made free of the Company of Stationers on 27 June 1564, and on 24 June 1567 began to take apprentices. The first entry to him is for ‘An almanacke and pronostication of Master Roberte Moore, 1570’ (Arber, Transcript of the Registers, i. 240, 326, 402). He was one of several who petitioned the company for pardon on 27 Jan. 1577–8, after having presented certain complaints (ib. ii. 880). With R. Watkins he had a patent for almanacs and prognostications for twenty-one years from 12 May 1588 (ib. ii. 817–18). This patent lasted to the end of the reign of Elizabeth. James I granted for ever the right to the Stationers' Company from 29 Oct. 1603 (ib. iii. 15). Roberts took over John Charlewood's books on 31 May 1594 (ib. ii. 651–2), including the right of printing playbills, which William Jaggard unsuccessfully applied for. About 1595 Roberts probably married Charlewood's widow, Alice. He is also said to have married a daughter of Heyes the stationer. The court of assistants ordered, on 1 Sept. 1595, ‘that James Roberts shall clerely from hensforth surcease to deale with the printinge of the Brief Catechisme’ lately printed by him, and that he should deliver up all sheets of the book (ib. ii. 824). On 25 June 1596 he was admitted into the livery (ib. ii. 872).
‘A booke of the Marchaunt of Venyce, or otherwise called the Jewe of Venyce,’ was entered to him on 22 July 1598 (ib. iii. 122), and he printed the first edition of the play in 1600. He also issued the first editions of ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ and ‘Titus Andronicus’ in the same year. He paid a fine on 26 March 1602 for not serving the rentership (ib. ii. 833). On 26 July 1602 he had entered to him ‘The Revenge of Hamlett, Prince of Denmarke, as yt was latelie acted by the Lord Chamberleyne his servantes’ (ib. iii. 212). The first edition was printed by N. Ling in 1603; the second and third impressions were printed by Roberts for Ling in 1604 and 1605. One other Shakespearean entry to him is for ‘Troilus and Cressida, as yt is acted by my lord chamberlen's Men,’ 7 Feb. 1603 (ib. iii. 226), of which the first printed edition came from the press of G. Eld in 1609. The last entry is on 10 July 1606 (ib. iii. 326). ‘The players billes’ and some books were transferred to William Jaggard on 29 Oct. 1615 (ib. iii. 575). A long list of books belonging to Roberts towards the end of his life is reprinted in Ames's ‘Typographical Antiquities’ (ed. Herbert, ii. 1031–1032). Roberts first lived in St. Paul's Churchyard, London, at the sign of the Sun; he afterwards had a house in the Barbican. He printed down to 1606. Mr. F. G. Fleay (Shakespeare Manual, 1878, p. 145) says that ‘he seems to have been given to piracy and invasion of copyright.’
H. R. T.