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

​ADAM of Usk (fl. 1400), lawyer and writer of a Latin chronicle of English history from 1377 to 1404, was born at Usk, in Monmouthshire, probably between 1360 and 1365. By the favour of Edmund Mortimer, third earl of March, who held the lordship of Usk, he was appointed to a law-studentship at Oxford, and took a doctor's degree, being in 1387 an ‘extraordinarius’ in canon law. He also entered the church. He pleaded in the Archbishop of Canterbury's court for seven years, from 1390 to 1397; and in the latter year he attended, perhaps in some official capacity, the last parliament of Richard II, of the proceedings of which he has left a valuable account. In the revolution of 1399 he joined Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury—one of Bolingbroke's principal adherents—and accompanied the invading army in its march northward from Bristol to Chester. By his influence his native place escaped the punishment with which it was ​threatened for the resistance of its inhabitants. After Richard's surrender Adam was appointed one of the commissioners for the deposition of the king; and he gives us an interesting account of a visit that he paid to him in the Tower. The immediate reward of his services was the living of Kemsing and Seal in Kent, together with a prebend in the collegiate church of Abergwili. He soon afterwards received another prebend in the church of Bangor. As a further proof of the value set by the new king on his ability as a lawyer, a case was submitted to him in the following year, 1400, whereby Henry sought to avoid restoration of the dower of Richard's young queen, Isabella of France.
But soon afterwards Adam forfeited the royal favour by the boldness with which he remonstrated with Henry on the faults of his government; and in 1402 he was sent in banishment to Rome, where, however, he was well received, and appointed papal chaplain and auditor of the Rota. He was not allowed to return to England for four years; and of his life after that date we have no information, as the latter part of his chronicle is lost.
While at Rome he states that he was nominated by the pope to the see of Hereford, which fell vacant in 1404, but that the intrigues of his enemies in England prevailed to his exclusion; and again that, with no better success, he was afterwards proposed for the see of St. David's.
Among the different cases in which he was engaged as a lawyer, he mentions that he drew up the petition of Sir Thomas Dymock for the championship at Henry's coronation, and that he was retained in the well-known suit of Lord Grey of Ruthin against Lord Edward Hastings.
E. M. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fitzwilliam, Roger

​FITZWILLIAM, ROGER, alias Roger de Breteuil, Earl of Hereford (fl. 1071–1075), was the younger son of William Fitzosbern [q. v.], to whose earldom and English estates he succeeded at his death (1071). He is described by William of Malmesbury as ‘a youth of hateful perfidy,’ and the letters ​of Lanfranc complain of his violence and rebellious tendencies, for which the writer eventually excommunicated him. In 1075 he gave his sister Emma in marriage to Ralf, earl of Norfolk, against the will of the Conqueror, according to Florence of Worcester. At the ‘bride-ale’ there was hatched a conspiracy between the two earls and their friends against William's rule. Roger returning to his earldom rose in revolt, but was prevented by the royal forces from crossing the line of the Severn. For this revolt he was fined in the king's court at the following Christmas (1075), and sentenced to forfeiture of his lands and perpetual imprisonment. His rage against the king, according to Ordericus, made William resolve to keep him in prison so long as he lived, but on his deathbed he sanctioned his release. He was, however, never released, and when Ordericus wrote in the time of Henry I, his two sons, Reginald and Roger, were gallantly striving to regain by their services that royal favour which their house had lost.
J. H. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flakefield, William

​FLAKEFIELD, WILLIAM (fl. 1700), first weaver of checked linen in Great Britain, was, it is said, son of a native (named Wilson) of Flakefield, in the parish of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, who became a merchant in Glasgow about 1650, and was called Flakefield in order to distinguish him from another merchant named Wilson. However this may be, Richard Fleckfield was deacon of the incorporation of weavers of Glasgow in 1640, John Fleckfield in 1670, and Robert Fleckfield in 1673, 1675, and 1676 (Cleland, Annals of Glasgow, p. 425). William Flakefield may probably have been the son of John or Robert Fleckfield. After having learnt the art of weaving, he enlisted about 1670 in the Cameronian regiment; from this he was afterwards transferred to the Scots guards. While on service abroad he came across a blue and white check handkerchief of German make. He resolved immediately to imitate it when he returned to Glasgow, and when he obtained his discharge in 1700 he carried out his intention. With some difficulty he got together the means for making a web of two dozen handkerchiefs. The novelty of the blue and white check and the unusual fineness of the texture made the article so popular that it was soon very largely manufactured in Glasgow and its neighbourhood. As late as 1771 striped and checkered linen cloth and handkerchiefs were among the most important textile manufactures of Glasgow (Gibson, History of Glasgow, pp. 239, 248). Probably in consequence of being outstripped by imitators with larger means of carrying on the new manufacture, Flakefield himself seems to have obtained no benefit from the success of his scheme, for in his old age he was made town-drummer of Glasgow, and died in that office.
E. C-n.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fitzwilliam, Richard

​FITZWILLIAM, RICHARD, seventh Viscount Fitzwilliam of Meryon (1745–1816), founder of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, eldest son of Richard, sixth viscount, and Catharine, eldest daughter and coheiress of Sir Matthew Decker, bart., of Richmond, Surrey, was descended from a member of the English family of Fitzwilliam, who, attending Prince John to Ireland on his appointment to the office of chief governor, founded the branch which flourished in that kingdom till the early part of the present century. He was born in August 1745, and having entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduated M.A. in 1764. On 25 May 1776 he succeeded his father in his Irish titles of viscount and baron and to his large estates. He was a fellow of the Royal Society, vice-admiral of the province of Leinster, and M.P. for Wilton from 1790 till he died on 4 Feb. 1816, in Bond Street, London. Most of his property passed, in accordance with his will (dated 18 Aug. 1815, and printed in Acts 3 & 4 Wm. IV, c. xxvi. s. 1, and 5 & 6 Vict. c. xxiii. s. 1), to George Augustus, eleventh earl of Pembroke, while the titles devolved upon the viscount's brother, John, by whose death without issue in 1833 they became extinct.
Playfair, in his ‘British Family Antiquity,’ gives a high character of Fitzwilliam. Though a member of the church of England and Ireland, he was the author of a rather remarkable publication, entitled ‘The Letters of Atticus’ (or, ‘Protestantism and Catholicism considered in their comparative Influence on Society’). These letters, composed in French, and issued from the press at different dates, were collected and reprinted anonymously in London in 1811. Another edition appeared in Paris in 1825; and in the following year, in London, an English version with the author's name on the title-page. He is best known by his bequest to the university of Cambridge, of his splendid collection of printed books, illuminated manuscripts, pictures, drawings, engravings, &c., together with the dividends of 100,000l. South Sea annuities for the erection of a museum. The dividends having accumulated to more than 40,000l., the existing building was commenced on 2 Nov. 1837, from the designs of George Basevi [q. v.], and the work was carried on under his superintendence until his death in 1845, when C. R. Cockerell [q. v.], the architect of the public library, was selected as his successor.
B. H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fitzwilliam, William (1460?-1534)

​FITZWILLIAM, Sir WILLIAM (1460?–1534), sheriff of London, was son of John Fitzwilliam. His mother was Ellen, daughter of William Villiers of Brokesby in Leicestershire. It has been claimed that the family was descended from one William Fitzwilliam of Green's Norton, who is stated to have been a natural son of William the Conqueror. But the existence of this natural son receives no confirmation from contemporary documents, and he is probably a figment of the genealogists. Fitzwilliam lived and traded in Bread Street, London, afterwards in St. Thomas Apostle, having a country house at Gaynes Park, Chigwell, Essex. He was admitted to the livery of the Merchant Taylors' Company of London in 1490, of which he was warden in 1494 and 1498, and master in 1499, obtaining a new charter for the company on 6 Jan. 1502. In 1505 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the shrievalty of London, but was appointed to the office on the king's nomination in 1506, and was elected alderman of Broad Street ward in the same year. Elected sheriff of London in 1510 he refused to serve, and was in consequence disfranchised and fined one thousand marks by the lord mayor. The franchise was restored and the fine remitted by order of the Star-chamber, 10 July 1511. He became treasurer and high chamberlain to Cardinal Wolsey, who appointed him one of the king's council. In 1515 he was nominated sheriff of Essex, was knighted in 1522, and was sheriff of Northampton in 1524. He entertained Wolsey during his disgrace, 1–5 April 1530, at Milton Manor, Northampton (the seat of the present Earl Fitzwilliam), which he purchased in 1506 from Richard Wittelbury. Fitzwilliam rebuilt the church of St. Andrew's Undershaft, London, and the chancel of Marholm, Northamptonshire. By deed (26 May 1533) he settled twelve hundred marks on the Merchant Taylors' Company for certain religious uses since applied (under scheme of 1887) to divinity scholars at St. John's College, Oxford. Fitzwilliam married, first, Ann, daughter of Sir John Hawes: secondly, Mildred, daughter of Sir R. Sackville of Buckhurst; thirdly, Jane, daughter of John Ormond. He had by his first wife issue Sir William, his heir (father of Sir William Fitzwilliam, 1526–1599 [q. v.]), Richard, Elizabeth, and Ann; by his second wife, Christopher, Francis, and Thomas. He died 9 Aug. 1534. His will is dated 21 May 1534. He was buried at Marholm.
W. C-e.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dickinson, Joseph

​DICKINSON, JOSEPH, M.D. (d. 1865), botanist, took the degree of M.B. at Dublin 1837, and proceeded M.A. and M.D. in 1843, taking also an ad eundem degree at Cambridge. About 1839 he became physician to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary, and subsequently also to the Fever Hospital, Workhouse, and South Dispensary. He lectured on medicine and on botany at the Liverpool School of Medicine, and in 1851 published a small ‘Flora of Liverpool,’ to which a supplement was issued in 1855. He served as president of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society, and was a fellow of the Royal and Linnean Societies, and of the Royal College of Physicians. He died at Bedford Street South, Liverpool, in July 1865.
[Medical Directory, 1864; local press; Flora of Liverpool.]
G. S. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dickenson, John

​DICKENSON, JOHN (fl. 1594), romance-writer, was the author of:
* ‘Arisbas, Euphues amidst his Slumbers, or Cupids Journey to Hell,’ &c., 1594, 4to, dedicated ‘To the right worshipfull Maister Edward Dyer, Esquire.’
* ‘Greene in Conceipt. New raised from his graue to Write the Tragique Historie of Faire Valeria of London,’ &c., 1598, 4to, with a woodcut on the title-page representing Robert Greene in his shroud, writing at a table.
* ‘The Shepheardes Complaint; a passionate Eclogue, written in English Hexameters: Wherevnto are annexed other Conceits,’ &c., n. d. (circ. 1594), 4to, of which only one copy (preserved at Lamport Hall) is extant.
Dickenson was a pupil in the school of Lyly and Greene. He had a light hand for verse (though little can be said in favour of his ‘passionate Eclogue’) and introduced some graceful lyrics into his romances. Three short poems from ‘The Shepheardes Complaint’ are included in ‘England's Helicon,’ 1600.
There was also a John Dickenson who resided in the Low Countries and published:
* ‘Deorum Consessus, siue Apollinis ac Mineruæ querela,’ &c., 1591, 8vo, of which there is a unique copy in the Bodleian Library.
* ‘Specvlum Tragicvm, Regvm, Principvm & Magnatvm superioris sæculi celebriorum ruinas exitusque calamitosos breviter complectens,’ &c., Delft, 1601, 8vo, reprinted in 1602, 1603, and 1605.
* ‘Miscellanea ex Historiis Anglicanis concinnata,’ &c., Leyden, 1606, 4to.
It is not clear whether this writer, whose latinity (both in verse and prose) has the charm of ease and elegance, is to be identified with the author of the romances. Dr. Grosart has included the romances among his ‘Occasional Issues.’
[Grosart's Introduction to Dickenson's Works; Collier's Bibl. Cat. i. 219–20; England's Helicon, ed. Bullen, p. xviii.]
A. H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dickie, George

​DICKIE, GEORGE, M.D. (1812–1882), botanist, born at Aberdeen 23 Nov. 1812, was educated at Marischal College in that city, where he graduated A.M. in 1830, and prosecuted the study of medicine in the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh. From 1839 he lectured on botany for ten years in King's College, Aberdeen, and in that university for shorter periods on natural history and materia medica. In 1849 he was appointed professor of natural history in Belfast, where he taught botany, geology, physical geography, and zoology. From this he was transferred in 1860 to the chair of botany at Aberdeen, which he held until 1877, when failing health caused his retirement.
He was a fellow of the Royal and Linnean Societies, and was a constant contributor to many scientific journals, as may be seen by reference to the list given in the Royal Society's ‘Catalogue of Scientific Papers.’ His separate works are:
* ‘Flora of Aberdeen,’ in 1838.
* ‘Botanist's Guide to the Counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine,’ in 1860.
* ‘Flora of Ulster,’ in 1864.
In conjunction with Dr. m'Cosh he wrote ‘Typical Forms and Special Ends in Creation,’ 1856; he also supplied much information to Macgillivray's ‘Natural History of Deeside and Braemar,’ 1855, and certain arctic narratives. His earlier articles deal with vegetable morphology and physiology, but from 1844 onwards his attention was increasingly devoted to algæ, and during his later years this group entirely engrossed his attention. His knowledge of marine algæ was very extensive, and collections which were received at Kew were regularly sent to him for determination and description. In 1861 a severe illness withdrew him from active fieldwork, while bronchial troubles and increasing deafness made him an invalid during his later years. He died at Aberdeen on 15 July 1882.
[Proc. Linn. Soc. 1882–3, p. 40; Cat. Scientific Papers, ii. 283, vii. 531.
B. D. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dickinson, William (1756-1822)

​DICKINSON, WILLIAM (1756–1822), topographer and legal writer, whose original name was William Dickinson Rastall, was the only son of Dr. William Rastall, vicar-general of the church of Southwell. He was born in 1756, and became a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1777, M.A. in 1780 (Graduati Cantabrigienses, ed. 1856, p. 316). On leaving the university he devoted himself to the study of the law. In 1795, at the request of Mrs. Henrietta Dickinson of Eastward Hoo, he assumed the name of Dickinson only. His residence was at Muskham Grange, near Newark, and he was a justice of the peace for the counties of Nottingham, Lincoln, Middlesex, Surrey, and Sussex. He died in Cumberland Place, New Road, London, on 9 Oct. 1822. By his wife Harriet, daughter of John Kenrick of Bletchingley, Surrey, he had a numerous family.
His works are: 1. ‘History of the Antiquities of the Town and Church of Southwell, in the County of Nottingham,’ London, 1787, 4to; second edition, improved, 1801–3, to which he added a supplement in 1819, and prefixed to which is his portrait, engraved by Holl, from a painting by Sherlock. 2. ‘The History and Antiquities of the Town of Newark, in the County of Nottingham (the Sidnacester of the Romans), interpersed with Biographical Sketches,’ two parts, Newark, 1806, 1819, 4to. These histories of Southwell and Newark form four parts of a work which he entitled: ‘Antiquities, Historical, Architectural, Chorographical, and Itinerary, in Nottinghamshire and the adjacent Counties,’ 2 vols. Newark, 1801–19, 4to. 3. ‘A Practical Guide to the Quarter and other Sessions of the Peace,’ London, 1815, 8vo; 6th edition, with great additions by Thomas Noon Talfourd and R. P. Tyrwhitt, London, 1845, 8vo. 4. ‘The Justice Law of the last five years, from 1813 to 1817,’ London, 1818, 8vo. 5. ‘A Practical Exposition of the Law relative to the Office and Duties of a Justice of the Peace,’ 2nd edition, 3 vols. London, 1822, 8vo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eyre, James (1792-1857)

​EYRE, Sir JAMES, M.D. (1792–1857), physician, was born in 1792, and in October 1811 commenced his medical education at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he was a pupil of Abernethy. In 1813 seventy-five students subscribed to give the great silver cup with cover to Abernethy which is now used as a loving-cup at the annual dinner of the teachers of the medical school of St. Bartholomew's, and Eyre was chosen to present the piece of plate. In 1814 he became a member of the College of Surgeons, and began practice in Hereford, where he attained some local celebrity; in 1830 was elected mayor, and was knighted in that year on the accession of William IV. Drinkwater, mayor of Liverpool, was the only other mayor knighted, and a remark of Abernethy to a patient on these honours preserves the correct pronunciation of Eyre's name. ‘Go away,’ said Abernethy, ‘and have always in your thoughts the names of the mayors who have just been knighted, Eyre and Drinkwater, and you will soon recover your wind, and your shape too, I promise you.’ Soon after his being knighted, Eyre decided to become a physician, studied in Paris for a year, graduated at Edinburgh in 1834, became a member of the College of Physicians of London in 1836, and set up in practice in Lower Brook Street, London. He published in 1845 ‘Practical Remarks on some Exhausting Diseases, particularly those incident to Women;’ and in 1852 ‘The Stomach and its Difficulties.’ Both books advocate the use of oxide of silver as a remedy for several gastric disorders. They are addressed rather to patients than to physicians, and contain many trivial anecdotes, and no scientific observations. After practising with no great success for several years, Eyre retired to Brompton, and died suddenly while visiting a friend at Clapham on 19 June 1857.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eyre, Robert

​EYRE, Sir ROBERT (1666–1735), judge, eldest son and heir of Sir Samuel Eyre [q. v.] of Newhouse, Wiltshire, and cousin of Sir Giles Eyre [q. v.], both judges of the king's bench under William III, was born in 1666, entered Lincoln's Inn in April 1683, was called to the bar in February 1689, and went the western circuit. He became recorder of Salisbury in 1696, succeeding his cousin Sir Giles, and represented the borough in the last three parliaments of William III and the first of Anne, 1698–1710. In May 1707 he was made a queen's counsel, and on 21 Oct. 1708 succeeded Sir James Montagu as solicitor-general. He was a manager of Sacheverell's impeachment, although he had disapproved of it, and advised merely burning the sermon and confining its author during the session, and appeared afterwards against the persons accused of the riots arising out of that trial. Just before the whig administration resigned he was appointed a judge of the queen's bench in succession to Mr. Justice Gould, 5 May 1710, and was knighted. Upon the accession of George I he was appointed chancellor to the Prince of Wales, with a patent allowing him to advise the prince, and take fees in spite ​of his judgeship. Hence in 1718, when the opinion of the judges was taken upon the king's prerogative touching the marriages of members of his family, he differed from the other judges in favour of the prince. This, however, did not prevent his promotion. He became lord chief baron 16 Nov. 1723, and lord chief justice of the common pleas 27 May 1725. Charges were made against him in 1729 of having corruptly assisted in prison Thomas Bambridge [q. v.], the warden of Newgate, who had been convicted before him for misconduct in the management of the gaol. A committee of the House of Commons investigated the charges and acquitted Eyre. He was the intimate friend of Godolphin, Marlborough, and Walpole and Burnet, and appears to have been a peculiarly haughty man. He died 28 Dec. 1735, and was buried in St. Thomas's, Salisbury, 7 Jan. 1736. By his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Rudge of Warley Place, Essex, who died in 1724, he had three sons and one daughter.
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eyre, Giles

​EYRE, Sir GILES (d. 1695), judge, eldest son of Giles Eyre of Brickworth, Whiteparish, Wiltshire, M.P. for Downton in that county in 1660, by Anne, daughter of Sir Richard Norton of Rotherfield, Hampshire, entered Lincoln's Inn in October 1654, and was called to the bar in November 1661. He held the office of deputy-recorder to the mayor and corporation of Salisbury in 1675, and actively exerted himself in procuring the new charter granted to the town in that year, receiving a tankard of the value of 10l. in recognition of his services. He was subsequently appointed recorder, and continued to hold office until 13 Oct. 1684, when the charters of the corporation were surrendered. He was, however, reinstated on the renewal of the charters on 27 Oct. 1686. He represented Salisbury in the Convention parliament of 1688–9, and spoke in favour of the retention of the word ‘abdicated’ in the resolution declaring the throne vacant in the conference with the House of Lords, and supported the bill declaring the convention a regular parliament. On 4 May 1689 he was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law. The motto inscribed on the rings given, according to custom, by the newly called serjeants was appropriate to the occasion, being ‘veniendo restituit rem.’ He was at once created a justice of the king's bench. On 31 Oct. 1689 he was knighted. He died on 2 June 1695, and on the 12th was buried in the church of Whiteparish, Wiltshire. Eyre married twice. His first wife, Dorothy, daughter of John Ryves of Branston, Dorsetshire, died in 1677, and was also buried in Whiteparish church. His second wife, Christabella (surname unknown), survived him and married Lord Glasford, a needy Scotch papist, who was committed to the Fleet prison for debt in 1699, his wife having deserted him, though worth, according to Luttrell (iv. 549), 10,000l., and having taken all her property with her.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eyre, James (1748-1818)

​EYRE, JAMES (1748–1813), philologist, born in 1748, educated at Catharine Hall, Cambridge, was head-master of Solihull grammar school and rector of Winterbourne, Stoke, and Nettleton. He annotated Johnson's ‘English Dictionary’ (in manuscript), and his notes were incorporated by Todd in his edition of Johnson. He died in 1813.
[Gent. Mag. 1813, vol. lxxxiii. pt. i. p. 499; Preface to Todd's Johnson.]