OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sheaffe, Roger Hale

​SHEAFFE, Sir ROGER HALE (1763–1851), general, born in Boston, North America, on 15 July 1763, was the third son of William Sheaffe, deputy collector of his majesty's customs at Boston, by Susannah, eldest daughter of Thomas Child of Boston. On 1 May 1778, through the influence of Earl Percy, he received an ensigncy, and on 27 Dec. 1780 a lieutenancy in the 5th foot. He served in Ireland from January 1781 to May 1787, and in Canada from July 1787 to September 1797. Under the orders of Sir Guy Carleton, first baron Dorchester [q. v.], instructed by Lieutenant-governor John Graves Simcoe [q. v.], he was employed on a public mission in 1794 to protest against certain settlements made by the Americans on the south shore of Lake Ontario. On 5 May 1795 he obtained his company in the 5th foot, on 13 Dec. 1797 a majority in the 81st foot, and on 22 March 1798 a lieutenant-colonelcy in the 49th. He served in Holland from August to November 1799, in the expedition to the Baltic from March to July 1801, and in Canada from September 1802 to October 1811. The rank of brevet colonel was conferred on him on 25 April 1808, and that of major-general on 4 June 1811. He again served in Canada from 29 July 1812 to November 1813. On 13 Oct. 1812 the troops of the United States took Queenstown on the Niagara, but on the same day Sheaffe, on the death of General Sir Isaac Brock, assuming the command of the British forces, recaptured the town, the Americans losing heavily in killed, wounded, and prisoners. In the following year, on 27 April, he defended the town of York (now known as Toronto), when the losses of the Americans in taking the place exceeded the total numbers of those opposed to them. Sheaffe continued to command in the upper province and to administer its government until June 1813, and on his retirement received flattering testimonials from the executive council. For his services he was, on 16 Jan. 1813, created a baronet of Great Britain, and further rewarded by the colonelcy of the 36th foot on 20 Dec. 1829, and his nomination as a general on 28 June 1838. He had a residence at Edswale, co. Clare, but died in Edinburgh on 17 July 1851, when his title became extinct. He married, in 1810, Margaret, daughter of John Coffin of Quebec; she died at Bath on 1 May 1855.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Shearman, William

​SHEARMAN or SHERMAN, WILLIAM (1767–1861), physician and medical writer, born at Harwich in January 1767, graduated M.D. at Edinburgh on 12 Sept. 1807 (with a dissertation on pneumonia), and was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, London, on 11 April 1808. He commenced practice as a physician in London, but soon removed to Maidstone, whence he returned to the metropolis in 1813. He practised for many years in Northampton Square, Clerkenwell, and subsequently, until his death, at 17 Canonbury Villas, Islington. He was physician to the London Dispensary from 1813 to 1824, to the Infirmary for Children in the Waterloo Road from 1816, and to the West London Infirmary and Lying-in Institution in Villiers Street from 1821. He was the senior member of the medical staff when the last-named institution became the Charing Cross Hospital, a position which he retained in the new hospital until 1862. To the Charing Cross Hospital school of medicine he rendered important services by his annual lectures on the theory and practice of medicine. His 'Introductory Lecture' was published in 1834. In 1852 he became consulting physician, and retired from practice. For several years he filled the office of treasurer to the Medical Society of London, in 1824 was president of the Society, and in 1834 published an oration delivered before it. He died on 21 Nov. 1861, at the age of ninety-four, and was buried at Highgate cemetery.
In 1799 he was one of the staff of a periodical called 'The New Medical and Physical Journal, or Annals of Medicine, Natural History, and Chemistry,' and from 1810 to 1812 he was editor. He continued his connection with the publication until 1815. He wrote articles on 'Epilepsy,' 'Vaccination,' and 'Circulation,' in the 'Medical Reports,' 1824, and published: 1. 'An Essay on the Nature, Causes, and Treatment of Water on the Brain,' London, 1825. 2. 'Observations illustrative of the History and Treatment of Chronic Debility, the Prolific Source of Indigestion, Spasmodic Diseases, and various Nervous Affections,' 1824, 8vo.
W. W. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Shedden-Ralston, William Ralston

​SHEDDEN-RALSTON, WILLIAM RALSTON (1828–1889), Russian scholar. [See Ralston.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Shea, David

​SHEA, DAVID (1777–1836), orientalist, son of Daniel Shea, a farmer, was born in the county of Limerick in 1777. He entered Dublin University on 3 June 1793, and in 1797 obtained a scholarship in classics. ​Unfortunately several of his friends belonged to the Society of United Irishmen, and through them he acquired a knowledge of some of the secrets of that association. In April 1798 the Earl of Clare, vice-chancellor of the university, held a visitation, at which he required the students severally to take an oath that they would inform against any whom they knew to be connected with the society. Shea, refusing to comply, was expelled from the university. He came to England, and obtained a mastership in a private school. But his knowledge of Italian soon procured him the post of chief clerk in a large mercantile establishment at Malta. While there he mastered Arabic, acquiring a knowledge not only of the classical language, but also of the chief current dialects. A project on the part of his employers to open a factory on the east coast of the Black Sea induced him to study Persian also. But the firm being compelled to withdraw from the Levant altogether, he was recalled to England. There he made the acquaintance of Dr. Adam Clarke [q. v.], who found him employment as a private tutor in the house of Dr. Laurell, and afterwards by his interest procured him an assistant professorship in the oriental department of the East India Company's College at Haileybury. On the institution of the Oriental Translation Fund, Shea was made a member of committee, and applied himself to translating Mirkhond's ‘History of the Early Kings of Persia,’ which was published in London in 1832. He next essayed a more important task, the translation of ‘the Dabistán.’ Before its conclusion, however, he died at Haileybury College on 11 May 1836. The translation of the ‘Dabistán’ was completed by Anthony Troyer, and published in Paris in 1843, and in London in 1844.
[Private information; Athenæum, 1836, p. 346; Troyer's Introduction to the Dabistán, p. 91; Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1837, App. p. 18; Webb's Compendium of Irish Biography, p. 470.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sheehan, John

​SHEEHAN, JOHN (1812–1882), miscellaneous writer, was the son of an hotel-keeper at Celbridge, co. Kildare, where he was born in 1812 (he states that he was eighteen years old in 1830). He was sent to the jesuit college at Clongoweswood, where Francis Sylvester Mahony [q. v.], better known as ‘Father Prout,’ was his tutor for a time. About 1829 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, but did not graduate. In 1830 he joined the Comet Club, which was formed by a party of young Irishmen, including Samuel Lover [q. v.], Joseph Stirling Coyne [q. v.], Robert Knox, subsequently editor of the ‘Morning Post,’ and Maurice O'Connell, son of ‘The Liberator.’ The club had literary aims. At first its members prepared and issued pamphlets attacking the tithe system; the first, ‘The Parson's Horn Book,’ which appeared in two parts, with etchings by Lover, met with extraordinary success. According to Sheehan (Gent. Mag. 1874), it had a greater circulation and caused more sensation than any book issued in Ireland since the days of Swift. The club then issued the ‘Comet,’ a satirical weekly paper directed against the established church in Ireland, the first number appearing on 1 May 1831. Sheehan was appointed sub-editor. In a few weeks it had reached a circulation of many thousand copies, and until its cessation at the end of 1833 exercised considerable influence. The government in the autumn of 1833 ordered the arrest of Thomas Browne, the editor, and Sheehan for libel. They were defended by Daniel O'Connell and Robert Holmes, but were each sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment and to pay a fine of 100l. The fine was, however, remitted, and the term of incarceration was only partly served (cf. Sheehan's articles on the ‘Comet’ in Gent. Mag. 1874–5).
Sheehan, on his release, studied for the Irish bar, to which he was called in 1835. He shortly afterwards came to London, where he was admitted a member of the English bar, and for a time went the home circuit. But he quickly abandoned his profession, took to journalism, and in 1836 and the following year was in Paris and Madrid as representative of the ‘Constitutional’ newspaper. He next became parliamentary reporter of the ‘Morning Herald,’ contributing poems and sketches meanwhile to ‘Bentley's Miscellany’ and other magazines. In 1852 he was proprietor and editor of the ‘Independent’ of London and Cambridge. Subsequently in ‘Temple Bar’ and elsewhere he often wrote under the signatures of ‘The Irish Whiskey-Drinker’ and ‘The Knight of Innishowen.’ Thackeray knew Sheehan well, and he is believed to be the original of Captain Shandon in ‘Pendennis,’ while two other Irish friends, William John O'Connell and Andrew Archdeckne, suggested Costigan and Foker respectively.
Shortly after 1868 Sheehan married the widow of Colonel Shubrick, a wealthy ​Anglo-Indian officer, and spent some years in travelling about the continent. He eventually retired to the Charterhouse, where he died on 29 May 1882. Sheehan's chief literary work is included in Doran's edition of the ‘Bentley Ballads’ (1858), and in his own enlarged edition of the same work (1869).
D. J. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tate, Alexander Norman

​TATE, ALEXANDER NORMAN (1837–1892), analytical chemist, born at Wells, Somerset, on 24 Feb. 1837, was the son of James Tate, by his wife Emma Norman. He was educated at the cathedral grammar school, and in 1857 studied chemistry in the laboratory of James Sheridan Muspratt [q. v.] in Liverpool. In 1860 he entered the laboratory of Messrs. J. Hutchinson & Co., alkali manufacturers of Widnes, and in 1863 established an analytical and consulting practice in Liverpool. He especially devoted himself to the study of American petroleum, which was then being brought on to the market, and wrote a short work entitled ‘Petroleum and its Products’ (London, 1863). After the publication of this book he gave up his practice in Liverpool and was engaged in the erection and management of oil-refining works in the Isle of Man and in Flintshire ​until 1869. He then returned to his former occupation in Liverpool, and finally purchased a practice and removed to Hackins Hey. He obtained a considerable reputation as a specialist in the analysis of oils and fats.
Tate was intimately connected with the Society of Chemical Industry, of which he was an original member, and was at various times president and vice-president of the Liverpool section of the society. He also took a prominent part in furthering scientific education in Liverpool. In conjunction with James Samuelson in 1871 he founded evening classes known as the Liverpool operatives' science classes, which were afterwards extended to a number of centres under the name of the Liverpool science and art classes. In 1891 the classes at Bootle were taken over by the local corporation, and in the following year the remaining classes were amalgamated with the school of science, to form the present school of science and technology. Tate himself taught in the class, and was much interested in the various local associations of science teachers. During 1888–90 he edited a monthly magazine called ‘Research,’ which was devoted to the popularisation of science, but was discontinued at the close of its second year. He died at his residence at Orton, Cheshire, on 22 July 1892. In 1860 he married Elizabeth Millicent Faulkes of Claughton, Lancashire, by whom he left two daughters. Tate's original contributions to science were few in number and chiefly concerned with technical chemistry, technical education, and chemical geology. He contributed papers to the journals of the Chemical Society, Royal Dublin Society, and Society of Chemical Industry.
A. H.-n.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tarring, John

​TARRING, JOHN (1806–1875), architect, was born at Holbeton, near Plymouth, in 1806, and worked there as a carpenter or plasterer till he migrated to London in 1828. He studied at Brown's academy in Wells Street, and obtained a Royal Academy medal for a measured drawing. He became a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1845. He built numerous chapels for nonconformist bodies in London and the provinces, and was styled ‘the Gilbert Scott of the Dissenters.’ He restored Combermere Abbey, Shropshire, and Thornton Hall, Buckinghamshire, and designed many private residences, including Wickham Park and Springfield, both at Banbury, Oxfordshire. He died at Torquay on 27 Dec. 1875.
C. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Taschereau, Elzéar Alexandre

​TASCHEREAU, ELZÉAR ALEXANDRE (1820–1898), Canadian cardinal, was born at the manor-house, Sainte-Marie de la Beauce, in the province of Quebec, on 17 Feb. 1820. He came of an old Tourangeau family. Thomas Jacques Taschereau, the son of Christophe Taschereau, emigrated to Canada from Touraine about 1715. His grandson, Judge Jean Thomas Taschereau (d. 1832), married Marie (d. 1866), daughter of Jean Antoine Panet, first president of the legislative assembly, and their son was the future cardinal.
Elzéar entered the Quebec seminary on 1 Oct. 1828. Thence in 1836 he visited Rome, where he received the tonsure on 20 May 1837. In 1847 he volunteered his aid in ministering to the unfortunate Irish emigrants who were stricken with typhus fever upon Grosse Island; he contracted the fever and narrowly escaped death. On 17 July 1856 the degree of doctor of canon law was conferred upon him at Rome. In 1860 he was appointed superior of the Quebec seminary, which he had served in various capacities since 1842. The appointment carried with it the rectorship of Laval University, of which Taschereau had been one of the founders. He attended the œcumenical council at Rome in 1870, and on 19 March 1871 he was consecrated by Monsignor Lynch archbishop of Quebec, in succession to Baillargeon. Fifteen years later Taschereau became the first Canadian cardinal. The announcement of his elevation was formally received at Quebec on 8 May 1886. During June the legislative assembly presented an address of congratulation, and the dignitaries of the Anglican church took a prominent part in the demonstration that was called forth by the popularity of the promotion. The installation was performed at the Basilica on 21 July 1886, the day being ​observed as a general holiday in Quebec, whither twenty-five thousand strangers gathered from all parts of the Dominion (Dom. Ann. Reg. 1886, pp. 106–8). At public ceremonies Cardinal Taschereau was accorded a place next to the lieutenant-governor. He died at Quebec on 12 April 1898. His funeral was attended by Cardinal Gibbons, who was elevated by Leo XIII along with Taschereau. In addition to some charges as archbishop of Quebec, Taschereau published ‘Remarques sur le Mémoire de l'évêque des Trois Rivières sur les difficultés religieuses en Canada’ (Rome, 1882; Quebec, 1882, 8vo, rare).
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tate, Christopher

Christopher Thomas Tate in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​TATE, CHRISTOPHER (1811–1841), sculptor, was born in 1811 at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he was apprenticed to a marble mason named Davis, and afterwards worked for the sculptor D. Dunbar. Leaving him in order to gain an independent position as an artist, he produced a ‘Dying Christ’ and a statue of ‘Blind Willie,’ which attracted attention. He then obtained a number of commissions for portrait busts, among them those of the Duke of Northumberland, David Urquhart, Sheridan Knowles, George Straker, and Miss Elphinstone. He exhibited busts at the Royal Academy in 1828, 1829, and 1833. He afterwards produced a ‘Judgment of Paris,’ a well-designed group, and a ‘Musidora.’ In 1840 he was engaged on a statue of the Duke of Northumberland for the Master Mariners' Asylum at Tynemouth, and had finished the most important parts, when his health broke down, and he started on a voyage to the Mediterranean. He died at London on his return home on 22 March 1841. He was buried in London. He had not succeeded in making an income by his talent, and left a wife and two children unprovided for. There are a large number of tombs by Tate in the churches and churchyards of Newcastle and the neighbourhood.
C. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kenton, Nicholas

​KENTON, NICHOLAS (d. 1468), Carmelite, born at Kenton, near Framlingham, Suffolk, became a Carmelite at Ipswich, and studied at Cambridge. On 2 March 1419, being then resident at Whitefriars, London, he was ordained sub-deacon, and on 1 Dec. 1420 priest. In 1444 he was chosen twenty-fifth provincial of his order in England in a council held at Stamford, and retained his office twelve years. He died in London 4 Sept. 1468, and was buried at Whitefriars. Weever quotes his epitaph (Funerall Monuments, p. 438). Leland wrongly gives the date of death as 1460.
Kenton is credited with a commentary on the ‘Song of Songs’ and a variety of theological treatises. He is also said to have written lives of saints belonging to his order; among them was a ‘Life of St. Cyril.’ The Bollandists suggest that this collection of lives may possibly be identical with an anonymous collection in their possession (Acta Sanctorum, January, iii. 688). Bale specifies a number of letters of Kenton's with some exactness, and in Brit. Mus. Harleian MS. 1819, f. 196 b, gives the purport of one. Kenton is also credited with ‘Carmen votivum ad dominum Albertum Carmelitam et dominum Andream episcopum’ (i.e. St. An​drew of Fiesole); St. Andrew is said to have worked a miracle for Kenton's benefit (ib. January, iii. 687).
[Leland's Comment. de Scriptt. p. 459; Bale, viii. 28; Harleian MS. 3838, ff. 91 a–92 a (Bale's Heliades); Pits, p. 658; Davy's Athenæ Suffolcienses in Addit. MS. 19165, ff. 75–6; C. de Villiers's Bibl. Carmelit. ii. 499–501.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kenten

​ KENTEN (d. 685), West-Saxon King. [See Centwine.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kenton, Benjamin

​KENTON, BENJAMIN (1719–1800), vintner and philanthropist, was born in Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, on 19 Nov. 1719. His mother kept a greengrocer's shop, and he was educated in the charity school of the parish. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to the keeper of the Angel and Crown Inn, Whitechapel, and when he had served his time became waiter and drawer at the Crown and Magpie in Aldgate. A large crown of stone surmounted by a magpie of pear-tree wood was the sign, and sea-captains were the principal customers. The owner wantonly let the Magpie decay and changed the name to the Crown. Custom fell off; he died, and the business passed into Kenton's hands. The sea-captains who had previously purchased their ale for long voyages at the tavern still bought it of Kenton, who was famous as an attentive waiter. It often excited their admiration that, when they were dining above stairs, the waiter below in the bar knew when the candles wanted snuffing, and his explanation that his knowledge was due to no extraordinary instinct, but merely to the observation of a contemporary light in the bar, does not seem to have diminished their opinion of his sagacity. He restored the sign of the magpie, and became possessed of a secret which made his fortune, that of bottling ale so that it could pass through the changes of climate on the voyage to India round the Cape, without the cork flying out of the bottle. Thomas Harley [q. v.] was alderman of Portsoken, the ward in which Kenton took a house, and gave him judicious advice as to investments. He thus attained to great wealth, and on retiring from active business went to live in Gower Street, and there died 25 May 1800. He had been enrolled a member of the Vintners' Company 3 April 1734, and was elected master in 1776. A portrait of him in their court-room shows that he was a man of solid proportions with a slight inward squint. He was married and had one son, whom he bred a druggist, but who died young, and one daughter, who became attached to his clerk, but died before her father would allow the marriage. The clerk behaved in so honourable and considerate a manner in the difficult circumstances of the engagement that Kenton made him his chief friend, and bequeathed to him 300,000l. He was a liberal benefactor of the parish school where he was educated, of Sir John Cass's school in Portsoken, and of the Vintners' Company. He gave 5,000l. to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, of which his friend Harley was treasurer, and a surgical ward in the north wing is called after him. He was buried in Stepney Church, where he has a monument by Westmacott, and the master and court of the Vintners attend an annual sermon to commemorate his benefactions. A street near Brunswick Square, London, is named after him.
[Herbert's History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies, ii. 634, 637; Benjamin Standring's B. Kenton, a Biographical Sketch, London, 1878; Monthly Magazine 1802; information received at Vintners' Hall.]
N. M.