OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eginton, Francis (1775-1823)

​EGINTON, FRANCIS (1775–1823), engraver, son of John Eginton, celebrated as an engraver of stipple, and nephew of Francis Eginton [q. v.], was born in Birmingham in 1775, and died in 1823 at Meertown House, near Newport, Shropshire, aged 48. Eginton's work as an engraver was distinguished by accuracy and taste. He illustrated Shaw's 'Staffordshire,' Price's ' Histories of Hereford and Leominster,' Wheler's 'History of Stratford-on-Avon,' Bissett's 'Picturesque Birmingham Guide,' Pratt's 'Leamington Guide,' Howell's 'Shrewsbury,' and most of the topographical and historical works published in the midlands during his time. A large plate of Pont-y-Cyssyllte aqueduct was one of his most notable works. Personally Eginton is described as a 'cheerful and gentlemanly companion, and much respected.'
W. J. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ehret, Georg Dionysius

​EHRET, GEORG DIONYSIUS (1710–1770), botanic draughtsman, born at Erfurt 9 Sept. 1710, was the son of Georg Ehret, gardener to the Prince of Baden, Durlach. He received little education, but as a boy began to draw the plants in the fine garden which his father cultivated. Dr. Trew of Nuremberg first made him aware of his talent by buying the first five hundred drawings he had made for four thousand gulden. With this sum in hand he started on his travels, but his store was soon exhausted, until at Basel he had to call his art into play for his support. Having refilled his purse, he journeyed by Montpellier, Lyons, Paris (where he was employed by Bernard de Jussieu), England, and the Netherlands. Here he fell in with Linnæus, who came to live with the Dutch banker Cliffort at Hartecamp, near Haarlem, and Ehret contributed the drawings which illustrated the fine folio published by Linnæus as 'Hortus Cliffortianus,' 1737. Ehret profited by Linnseus's advice to pay more attention to the minute parts of the flower, and they continued on friendly terms until Ehret's death. About 1740 he again came to England, finding among his patrons the Duchess of Portland, Dr. Mead, and Sir Hans Sloane. Among the books he illustrated were Browne's 'Jamaica,' 1756, and Ellis's 'Corallines,' 1755, at that time considered plants. His chief published works were 'Plantæ selectæ,' 1750, ten decades, and 'Plantæ et Papiliones selectæ,' Lond., 1748-1750. He married Susanna Kennett of Glidding, near Hambledon, Sussex, and died at Chelsea 9 Sept. 1770, leaving one son, George Philip, who died October 1786 at Watford, Hertfordshire.
Many of Ehret's drawings came into the possession of Sir Joseph Banks, and are now in the botanical department of the British Museum at Cromwell Road; they bear ample testimony to his free yet accurate draughtsmanship. Some manuscripts of his are also preserved there
The genus Ehretia was so named in compliment by Patrick Browne, and adopted by Linnæus.
A[Pulteney's Sketches, ii. 284-93; Nagler's Neues allg. Künstler-Lexikon, iv. 91; Nouv. Biog. Gen. xv. 751; Proc. Linn. Soc. (1883-6), pp. 42-56.]
B. D. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Egley, William

​EGLEY, WILLIAM (1798–1870), miniature painter, was born at Doncaster in 1798. Shortly after the boy's birth his father removed to Nottingham, and became confidential agent to the Walkers of Eastwood. The gift of a box of colours which William received in early youth strengthened his desire to be a painter. But the father destined both him and his brother Thomas for the trade of bookselling. They were received intothe house of Darton, the publisher, Holborn Hill, London; but while Thomas pursued this calling to the end of his life, William, by chance visits to the exhibitions in Somerset House, cultivated and stimulated his love of painting. Without any professional teaching he succeeded in finishing two pictures, the portraits of Colonel Ogleby and of Yates, the actor, whhich were received and exhibited by the Royal Academy in 1824. From that time until the year before his death he was a constant exhibitor, sending in all to the Royal Academy 160 miniatures, to the British Institution two pictures, and to the Suffolk Street Gallery six. He was very successful in portraying children, with whom his genial temper made him a great favourite. He died in London on 19 March 1870, aged 72. He was twice happily married, and by his first wife left a son, William Maw Egley, who is a painter of historical subjects and a regular exhibitor.
R. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eld, George

​ELD, GEORGE (1791–1862), antiquary, was born in Coventry in 1791. He carried on business successively as a miller, a silk dealer, and a dyer; he was also for twenty years editor of the 'Coventry Standard.' He was the last mayor of Coventry (1834–5) before the passing of the Municipal Reform Act, and, besides filling other public offices, an alderman of the reformed corporation till his death. During his mayoralty he restored the interior of the mayoresses parlour — an architectural relic of the fourteenth century — and throughout his life he rendered valuable service in preserving and stimulating public appreciation of the antiquities of his native ​city. He had considerable ability as an artist, and made many fine drawings of ancient buildings and other memorials of the past. He died at Coventry on 22 May 1862, in his seventy-first year.
J. M. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Egan, John

1904 Errata appended.
​EGAN, JOHN (1750?–1810) chairman of Kilmainham, co. Dublin, was born about 1750 at Charleville, co. Cork, where his father was a beneficed clergyman, and having entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a sizar, he graduated there B.A. 1773, and LL.B. 1776; the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him, honoris causa in 1790. He was called to the Irish bar in 1778, and, chiefly through the friendship of Lord Avonmore, chief baron of the exchequer, he made good way in his profession. In due course he received his silk gown; in 1787 he was elected a bencher of the Hon. Society of King's Inns, Dublin; and for several years before his death he held the judicial office of chairman of Kilmainham. For a considerable time he had been in the receipt of a very large share of business as a practising barrister, but his quarrel with Henry Grattan was professionally most injurious to him. In the Irish House of Commons he for some years represented the borough of Tallagh, co. Waterford, and his boldness as a member, especially on the question of the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland, is well known to the student of Irish history. He died in 1810.
[Todd's Cat. of Dublin Graduates; Dublin Almanacs and Direetories; Phillips's Curran and his Contemporaries.]
B. H. B.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.113 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 142 | i | 20 f.e. | Egan, John: omit for some years |
| | | 19 f.e. | after borough insert of Ballynakill (1789-90) and |
| | | 18 f.e. | after ford insert (1790-1800) |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Egerton, Daniel

​EGERTON, DANIEL (1772–1835), actor, was born in the city of London on 14 April 1772. According to various accounts, presumably supplied by himself, he was 'bred to the law in a public office.' The 'Thespian Dictionary,' 1805), says, however, 'he was in business near Whitechapel, and made his first attempt on the stage in this assumed name at the Royalty Theatre.' He played also once or twice for benefits at the Haymarket. On 4 June 1799 he made, as Captain Absolute in 'The Rivals,' his first appearance at the Birmingham theatre, then under the management of the elder Macready. Here he remained two summers, playing during the winter months with Stephen Kemble in Edinburgh. On 28 Nov. 1801, as Millamour in Murphy's 'Know your own Mind,' he made his first appearance at Newcastle, and on 17 May 1803, as Frederick in the 'Poor Gentleman,' was first seen in Bath, where he also played Jnffier in 'Venice Preserved' and other characters. After the departure of Elliston from Bath, Egerton took Jaques. Lord Townly;, Mr. Oakley in 'The Jealous Wife,' Rolla in 'Pizarro,' and many important parts. He left Bath for London in 1809, appearing on 28 Oct. at Covent Garden during the O. P. riots as Lord Avondale in the 'School of Reform.' In tragedy King Henry VIII, Tullus Aufidius in 'Coriolanus,' Syphax in 'Cato,' and Clytus in 'Alexander the Great' were esteemed his best parts. From this time until close upon his death he remained a member of the Covent Garden company, his chief occupation being secondary characters in tragedy or serious drama and what is technically called 'heavy business.' While engaged at Covent Garden he assumed the management first of Sadler's Wells(1821-1824), and of the Olympic (1821). He acted himself at neither house, though his wife, Sarah Egerton [q.v] constituted at both a principal attraction. His conduct of the Olympic embroiled him for a time with the management of Covent Garden. It was, however, a failure and was soon abandoned. On 1 July 1833, in conjunction with William Abbot [q. v.], his associate at Covent Garden, he opened the Victoria Theatre, previously known as the Coburg. In 1834 he retired from the management ruined, and died in July (22nd, Era Almanack; 24th, Oxberry, Dramatic Chronology) of the following year. He was five feet ten inches in height, of strong and rather portly appearance. Contemporary criticism charges him with listlessness in his acting. The 'Thespian Dictionary' says he gave in Birmingham in 1800 an entertainment of his own extracted from Stevens's 'Lecture on Heads.'&c, and entitled 'Whimsicalities.' A portrait of him as Clytus in 'Alexander the Great' is in the 'Theatrical Inquisitor,' vol. xi.
[Genest's Account of the English Stage; Theatrical Inquisitor, October 1817; Theatrical Biog.1824; Thespian Dict; Oxberry's Dramatic Biog. 1825, vol. iii.; Era Almanack, 1872, 1873; Era newspaper, 15 Aug. 1847; London Mag. 1821; Sir F. Pollock's Macready's Reminiscences]
J. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Egerton, Charles Chandler

​EGERTON, CHARLES CHANDLER (1798–1885), surgeon, was born at his father's vicarage of Thorncombe in Dorsetshire in April 1798, and received his medical education at the then united hospitals of St. Thomas's and Guy's. In 1819 he became a member of the College of Surgeons. Four years later he was appointed by the East India Company assitant-surgeon on the Bengal establishment to practise as an oculist, and especially to take charge of those Indo-European lads at the lower orphan school who had contracted disease of the eyes. He dealt successfully with the epidemic there, and during his stay in India he held the first position as an oculist at the Eye Hospital, which was established under his own immediate care, and afterwards at the Medical College Hospital. He was appointed the first surgeon at the Calcutta Medical College Hospital, and held that position until he retired from the service. The establishment of the college for teaching the natives anatomy by actual dissection was mainly due to his exertions. Early in 1817 he left India, and, retiring from practice, resided at Kendal Lodge, Epping, until his death, which took place there in May 1885, at the age of eighty-seven.
[Address of the President of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society of London on 1 March 1886.]
J. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Drury, Henry (1812-1863)

​DRURY, HENRY (1812–1863), archdeacon of Wilts, eldest son of Henry Joseph Thomas Drury (1778–1841), by his wife Caroline, daughter of A. W. Taylor of Boreham Wood, Hertfordshire, and grandson of Joseph Drury (1750–1834), was born at Harrow 11 May 1812. After passing through Harrow with distinction he was admitted minor pensioner of Caius College, Cambridge, 14 June 1831, and began residence in the following October (College Register). In 1833 he won the Browne medal for the Latin ode, and in 1835 that for the epigrams. An eye complaint prevented further academic successes as an undergraduate. In 1837 he took the ordinary B.A. degree, proceeding M.A. in 1840. In 1838 he became classical lecturer at Caius, but, having been ordained, he left Cambridge in 1839 to take sole charge of Alderley, Gloucestershire, a curacy which he exchanged the following year for that of Bromham, Wiltshire. Drury, together with some friends, projected and published the ‘Arundines Cami,’ a collection of translations into Latin and Greek verse by different Cambridge men. The first edition was published in a beautiful form in 1841, and four subsequent editions appeared during Drury's lifetime; a sixth, after his death, was edited by Mr. H. J. Hodgson in 1865. These successive editions contained several new pieces. Drury became rector of Alderley in 1843, and two years later vicar of Bremhill with Foxham and Highway, Wiltshire, a preferment which he received from Dr. Denison, bishop of Salisbury, to whom, and his successor in the see, Dr. Hamilton, he was examining chaplain. In 1855 he was installed prebendary of Shipton in Salisbury Cathedral, was appointed chaplain to the House of Commons by Mr. Speaker Denison in 1857 (Gent. Mag. 3rd ser. iii. 454), and became archdeacon of Wilts in July 1862. He died at Bremhill 25 Jan. 1863, after two days' illness. On 13 Dec. 1843 he married Amelia Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the Rev. Giles Daubeny, ​rector of Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire (Gent. Mag. new ser. xxi. 194). ‘After taking holy orders,’ writes Mr. H. J. Hodgson, ‘Mr. Drury proved himself a sound theologian and a valuable assistant to the bishop of his diocese, an earnest preacher, and an active parish priest. … As a friend and companion he was most genial and affectionate, possessed of lively wit and humour, full of anecdote and badinage, but tempered with excellent tact and judgment, all combined with a modesty and absence of self-assertion.’
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Drury, Dru (1531?-1617)

​DRURY, Sir DRU or DRUE (1531?–1617), courtier, the fifth but third surviving son of Sir Robert Drury, knt., of Hedgerley, Buckinghamshire, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Edmund Brudenell, was born probably in 1531 or 1532. He was a younger brother of Sir William Drury [q. v.] Throughout the reigns of Elizabeth and James I he was gentleman-usher of the privy chamber. He seems to have kept in the good graces of the queen, except on one occasion (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–80, p. 170). In September 1579 he received the honour of knighthood at Wanstead, Essex (Metcalfe, A Book of Knights, p. 133). In November 1586 he was sent to Fotheringay to assist Sir Amias Paulet in the wardership of Mary Queen of Scots (Cal. State Papers, Scottish Ser., ii. 1015, 1018). He was nominated lieutenant of the Tower in 1595–6. Drury, whom Camden describes as a sincere, honest man, and a puritan in his religion (‘Annals of Elizabeth,’ in Kennett, Hist. of England, ii. 501), died at his seat, Riddlesworth, Norfolk, 29 April 1617, aged about eighty-six, though on his monument the age of ninety-nine is absurdly given (Le Neve, Monumenta Anglicana, i. 59). His will of 7 July 1613 was proved in P. C. C. 31 May 1617 (registered 39, Weldon). He married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Philip Calthorpe, knt., who had been twice married, first to Sir Henry Parker, K.B., eldest son of Henry, lord Morley, and secondly, after 1550, to Sir William Woodhouse, knt., of Waxham, Norfolk; she brought him a moiety of Riddlesworth. In 1582 he married for his second wife Catherine, daughter and heiress of William Finch of Linsted, Kent, acquiring with her the manor of Sewards in that parish, and Perry Court at Preston in the same county. By this lady, who died 13 Sept. 1601, aged 45, and was buried at Linsted, he had an only son, Drue Drury (created a baronet 7 May 1627; died 23 April 1632), and three daughters: Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Wingfield, knt., but afterwards wife of Henry Reynolds; Anne, wife of Sir Robert Boteler, knt.; and Frances. Some interesting letters from Drury and his second wife to Sir Julius Cæsar, written in 1588, 1596, and 1603–14, are to be found in the Lansdowne and Additional MSS. in the British Museum.
Drury is to be distinguished from a Drue Drury of Eccles and Rollesby, Norfolk, who married Anne, daughter and coheiress of Thomas, sixth baron Burgh of Gainsborough, and was knighted at Whitehall 23 July 1603, before the coronation of the king (Metcalfe, A Book of Knights, p. 147).
[Addit. MS. 19127, ff. 181, 183, 187; Letterbook of Sir Amias Paulet, ed. Morris; Blomefield's Norfolk (8vo), i. 278, 280, 281, 283; Hasted's Kent (fol.), ii. 681 y, 689, 810; Cullum's Hawsted and Hardwick, 2nd edit., p. 133; General Index to Strype's Works (8vo), i. 240; Chamberlain's Letters (Camd. Soc.), p. 40; Fuller's Worthies (1662), Norfolk, p. 272; Hist. of Norfolk (by J. Chambers), ii. 719–21; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. vii. 89, 137, viii. 324, 5th ser. viii. 349, 393, ix. 257, 6th ser. iv. 101.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Drury, Henry Joseph Thomas

​DRURY, HENRY JOSEPH THOMAS (1778–1841), scholar, son of the Rev. Joseph Drury [q. v.], by Louisa, daughter of Benjamin Heath, D.C.L., of Exeter, was born at Harrow on 27 April 1778, and educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge (B.A. 1801, M.A. 1804), of which society he became a fellow. Drury became under-master, and afterwards master, of the lower school at Harrow, and among his pupils was Lord Byron (see a letter from Byron to Drury dated 18 Oct. 1814 in Moore's Life of Lord Byron). In 1820 he was presented to the rectory of Fingert. He died at Harrow on 5 March 1841. By his wife, Caroline, daughter of A. W. Taylor of Boreham Wood, Hertfordshire, he had a son Henry [q. v.]
Drury had a great reputation in his day as a classical scholar, but contented himself with editing selections from the classics for the use of Harrow School. He also formed a most valuable library of the Greek classics, both printed editions and manuscripts, which was sold after his death, two parts in 1827 for 8,917l. 13s., and the third in 1837 for 1,693l. He was an original member of the Roxburghe Club, London, and contributed to their collection a reprint of ‘Cock Lorell's Boat’ (1817) and ‘The Metrical Life of Saint Robert of Knaresborough’ (1824), from a manuscript in his possession, which was deciphered and transcribed by Joseph Haslewood the bibliographer. Among Drury's numerous friends were Dr. Dibdin the bibliographer, who mentions him several times in ‘The Bibliographical Decameron,’ and Lord Byron. In Moore's ‘Life of Lord Byron’ are to be found several letters from the poet to his former tutor, written in affectionate terms and without much regard to the propriety usually preserved in a correspondence with a divine.
L. C. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Drummond, William (1690-1746)

​DRUMMOND, WILLIAM, fourth Viscount of Strathallan (1690–1746), Jacobite, born in 1690, was the fourth but eldest surviving son of Sir John Drummond, knt., of Machany, Perthshire, by his wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir William Stewart, knt., of Innernytie. His father, grandson of the Hon. Sir James Drummond of Machany, second son of James Drummond, first lord Maderty [q. v.], and colonel of the Perthshire foot in the ‘engagement’ to rescue Charles I in 1648, was outlawed in 1690 for his attachment to the house of Stuart. On 26 May 1711 Drummond succeeded his cousin William as fourth Viscount of Strathallan. He was among the first to engage in the rising of 1715, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Sheriffmuir, 13 Nov. of that year, and carried to Stirling, but under the act of grace passed in 1717 was not subjected to prosecution or forfeiture at that time (Browne, History of the Highlands, ed. 1845, ii. 326, 355). In 1745, within a fortnight after Prince Charles Edward raised his standard at Glenfinnan, Drummond joined him with reinforcements at Perth, and was left commander-in-chief of the prince's forces in Scotland when the latter marched into England. At the battle of Culloden, 14 April 1746, he commanded with Lord Pitsligo the Perth squadron in the second line of the highland army (ib. iii. 242), and was unhorsed at the final charge of the English forces. Endeavouring to remount with the assistance of a servant, he was run through the body by an officer of dragoons, and died soon afterwards (Chambers, Rebellion of 1745–6, ed. 1869, p. 311 n.) Bishop Forbes states that the officer was Colonel Howard, whom Drummond, ‘resolving to die in the field rather than by the hand of the executioner,’ had purposely attacked (Jacobite Memoirs, ed. Chambers, p. 296). He had married (contract dated 1 Nov. 1712) Margaret, eldest daughter of Margaret, baroness Nairne, and Lord William Murray, whose devotion to the cause of the chevalier led to her imprisonment in the castle of Edinburgh from 11 Feb. to 22 Nov. 1746 (Johnstone, Memoirs of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. p. 152), and by her had seven sons and six daughters. She died at ​Machany 28 May 1773. James, the eldest son, also took part in the rebellion of 1745, and was included in the act of attainder passed 4 June 1746 as ‘James Drummond, eldest son of William, viscount of Strathallan,’ although he had then actually succeeded his father in that title. He died at Sens in Champagne, 22 June 1765.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bisset, James (1795-1872)

​BISSET, JAMES, D.D. (1795–1872), scholar, was son of George Bisset and Mary Adamson, his wife. He was born 20 April 1795 in the parish of Udny in Aberdeenshire, where his father was parish schoolmaster and head master of a private academy and boarding-school. James was the second son of a numerous family, one of whom became vicar of Pontefract, another incumbent of Upholland in Wigan, and a third attained ​the rank of colonel in the East India Company’s service. He was well trained by his father, and then proceeded to Marischal College and University, Aberdeen. At the early age of seventeen, in consequence of the death of his father, he was obliged to assume all the responsibilities of school teaching, and of educating his younger brothers and sisters. Like his father he developed remarkable teaching ability, and his private school became celebrated. Many of the local gentry were educated by him, and not a few of his pupils became men of mark, among them being Sir James Outram and Canon Robertson, the ecclesiastical historian. He was aided by very able assistants; Dr. James Melvin, afterwards rector of Aberdeen Grammar School, and Dr. Adam Thom, sometime recorder of Hudson's Bay Company, were both members of his staff. He qualified himself for the ministry of the church of Scotland, studying divinity at Aberdeen and Edinburgh. In 1826 he became minister of the small parish of Bourtrie, Aberdeenshire. The duties of his limited parochial charge left him leisure to continue his philological studies, as well as to educate his children. He was twice married: (1) in 1829 to Mary Bannerman, eldest daughter of Rev. Robert Sessel of Inverurie; (2) in 1840 to Elizabeth Sinclair, daughter of Rev. William Smith of Bowes. He had issue by both. In 1851 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by the university of Aberdeen.
Bisset became an ardent politician on what was designated the ‘constitutional side,’ and ecclesiastically was a prominent figure in the prolonged conflict within and without the church courts which terminated in the founding of the free church of Scotland. Bisset did not support the secession headed by Chalmers and Candlish and Guthrie. In 1862 he was chosen moderator of the general assembly of the church of Scotland. His repute as a scholar was unsustained by any publication of permanent value. He died on 8 Sept. 1872.
[Obituary notices; letters from son and son-in-law and other members of the family.]
A. B. G.