OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fraser, Alexander (1537?-1623)

​FRASER, Sir ALEXANDER (1537?–1623), of Philorth, founder of Fraserburgh, was the eldest son of Alexander Fraser, son and heir of Alexander, seventh laird of Philorth. His mother was Lady Beatrix Keith, eldest daughter of Robert Keith, master of Marischal. He succeeded his grandfather in the family estates in 1569, his father having died in 1564, and he set himself to work out the ambitious schemes of his grandfather in aggrandising and improving the ancestral inheritance. Already the lands were erected into a barony, with Philorth as a baronial burgh, where a commodious harbour had been made. The castle also had been enlarged and improved. But the eighth laird outvied his predecessor. He enlarged and beautified the burgh, which was now created a burgh of regality, changed its name to Fraserburgh, and, notwithstanding strenuous opposition from the town of Aberdeen, obtained powers to build a grand university at Fraserburgh, with all the privileges enjoyed by the other universities in the kingdom. A college was actually built, of which, in 1597, the general assembly appointed Charles Ferm [q. v.], minister of Fraserburgh, to be principal; but the college was not a success. Fraser also erected a new family residence on Kinnaird Head, which he called Fraserburgh Castle. But the situation was too exposed, and the family were afterwards obliged to remove to a more sheltered position. What remains of the castle is now utilised as a lighthouse. He likewise built a new parish church not far from the castle. The town throve well, and has now become the most important fishing port on the Scottish coast. In connection with it Fraser is distinguished among the lairds of Philorth and Lords Saltoun as the ‘founder of Fraserburgh.’
He was knighted by James VI, probably on the occasion of the baptism of Prince Henry in August 1594. Two years later he was chosen M.P. for the county of Aberdeen. In the latter part of his life he was obliged to place his affairs in the hands of trustees, and ultimately to sell several of his estates, in ​order to meet liabilities incurred in connection with his early projects.
His first wife died before 1606, and in that year he married Elizabeth Maxwell, eldest daughter of John, lord Herries, the staunch friend of Queen Mary, and widow of Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar. She also predeceased him. On 12 July 1623 he lay on his deathbed and made his will, dying shortly afterwards in the same month. He had five sons and three daughters. One of the sons, Thomas, is said to have written a history of the family. A portrait of the 'founder of Fraserburgh' was engraved by Pinkerton for his 'Scots Gallery of Portraits,' vol. ii., from the original in the possession of Mr. Urquhart at Craigston. His motto was, 'The glory of the honourable is to fear God.'
H. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fraser, Alexander (1610?-1681)

​FRASER, Sir ALEXANDER (1610?–1681), physician. [See Fraizer.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Franklin, Robert

​FRANKLIN, ROBERT (1630–1684), nonconformist divine, was born in London 16 July 1630. In his ninth year he went into Suffolk to live with an aunt, and in ​due course was sent to Woodbridge school. Here, as he confessed, he was too fond of sports, violent in temper, and prone to lying. He was specially trained in writing and accounts with a view to his being apprenticed in London, but his ability led to his being sent to Cambridge, where he was admitted to Jesus College. His tutor was Bantoft, whom he succeeded in the office, but he gave up tuition on proving successful in a preaching competition against a Dr. Brooks for the college living of Kirton, Suffolk. Franklin found that he was unable to subsist in comfort on his living, which only produced 50l. a year, and set up a school, which proved to be educationally successful, but a commercial failure. Through a friend's influence he was appointed to the superior living of Bramfield, but here he received nothing at all, as the former incumbent declined to retire. He then obtained the living of Blythburgh, where he remained only a short time, being presented in 1659 to the vicarage of Westhall, where he again found an incumbent, speechless from palsy, who declined to move. Franklin was allowed, however, to perform the duties of the vicar on payment of ten shillings a week to his predecessor, who at length resigned and left him in possession. In 1662 he ‘left his living rather than defile his conscience.’ He became in 1663 private chaplain to Sir Samuel Barnardiston [q. v.], but after six months went to London and suffered for nonconformity. He was first seized for preaching at Colebrooke, and was lodged in Aylesbury gaol, his goods being confiscated. On his release he took a house in London, and held religious meetings there, but refusing the corporation oath he was again imprisoned. A sermon which he preached some time afterwards in Glovers' Hall was followed by his detention for six months in Newgate. Later he was seized in his own house at Bunhill Fields, and committed to the New prison; he was released shortly, but compelled to appear every sessions, and to give bail for his good behaviour. He died in 1684. He is described by Calamy as a man of great gravity and integrity, and a plain, serious preacher. Franklin subscribed his name, among those of fellow-ministers, to ‘A Murderer Punished and Pardoned; or a True Relation of the Wicked Life and Shameful-happy Death of Thos. Savage, imprisoned, justly condemned, and twice executed at Radcliff, by us who were often with him in Newgate.’ Otherwise he only published ‘ Death in Triumph over the most desirable ones,’ a funeral sermon on Mrs. Mary Parry (1683), for, as he remarks in the preface to this publication, he had not the ‘itching humour of the scribbling age, nor any desire to appear in print.’ He left a manuscript entitled ‘Memorable Occurrences of my Life,’ which is the principal source for the facts of his career. Franklin was married.
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fraser, Alexander (1786-1865)

​FRASER, ALEXANDER (1786–1865), painter and associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, was born at Edinburgh on 7 April 1786. He studied painting under John Graham at the academy of the Board of Trustees for the Improvement of Manufactures in Edinburgh, and had among his fellow-students William Allan, John Burnet, David Thomson, and David Wilkie. In 1809 he sent to the Exhibition of the Associated Artists in Edinburgh a painting of 'Playing at Draughts,' and at once became known as a painter of Scottish character and history, with a spirited and vigorous execution. In 1810 he sent from Edinburgh to the Royal Academy in London 'A Green Stall,' and in 1812 'The New Coat' and 'Preparing for the Fish Market.' From this date he was a frequent contributor to the leading exhibitions in London and Edinburgh. In 1813 he left Edinburgh to reside in London, and soon gained a good position. At this time his former fellow-pupil, Wilkie, was at the zenith of his popularity, and Fraser engaged with him to paint the details and still-life in Wilkie's pictures, which he continued to do for about twenty years. This did not, however, interfere with his own practice as a painter, though his connection with Wilkie and the similarity of their taste and subject not unnaturally led to his art being overshadowed by Wilkie's superior genius. In 1842 his 'Naaman cured of the Leprosy' obtained the premium at the British Institution for the best picture of the year. He was soon after elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, in the foundation of which he had taken a share. Fraser last exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1848, and on approaching seventy years of age he was prevented by ill-health from practising his profession. He died at Wood Green, Hornsey, on 15 Feb. 1865. Fraser's pictures, which, are very numerous, have always been popular. 'Cobbler and Bird,' dated 1826, a small panel picture, is at Woburn Abbey. 'The Interior of a Highland Cottage,' formerly in the Vernon Collection, is now in the National Gallery; it was engraved by C. Cousen for the Vernon Gallery. Others have been engraved, including 'Robinson Crusoe reading the Bible to his man Friday,' and 'Asking a Blessing,' both by C. G. Lewis; 'The First Day of Oysters,' by W. Greatbatch ; 'The Noonday Meal,' by P. Lightfoot; 'War's Alarms,' by W. H. Simmons; 'The Cobbler at Lunch,' by William Howison; 'The Moment of Victory,' by C. Rolls, &c. His works should be carefully distinguished from those of Alexander Fraser, the present Scottish academician.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fraser, Alexander (d.1332)

​FRASER, Sir ALEXANDER (d. 1332), great chamberlain of Scotland, was the eldest son of Sir Andrew Fraser, who was sheriff of Stirling in 1293. His grandfather was Sir Richard Fraser of Touchfraser in Stirlingshire, and to him he succeeded in these and other lands. In 1296 his father was carried prisoner into England, and required to reside south of the river Trent. His family accompanied him thither, and as Edward I insisted on the Scottish barons sending their sons to his court, it is probable that Fraser spent some portion of his youth there. He, however, espoused the cause of Scottish independence, and, having left England, attached himself to Robert Bruce, with whom he fought at Methven in 1306. Bruce being defeated Fraser was led captive from the field, but he succeeded in escaping, and after Bruce had resumed the campaign he rejoined him with his friends and vassals at the Mounth in the Mearns, and aided him in inflicting the crushing defeat on his enemies, the Comyns, known as the ‘harrying of Buchan.’ He was also present at the battle of Bannockburn, on the eve of which he received the honour of knighthood. Shortly afterwards Fraser married a sister of King Robert Bruce, Lady Mary Bruce, who for four years was imprisoned by Edward I in a cage in the castle of Roxburgh. She was previously married to Sir Neil Campbell, who died in or about 1315. Fraser took a prominent place among the Scottish barons in the events of his time, and in 1319 was appointed lord chamberlain of Scotland. He was one of the barons who in 1320 sent the letter to the pope asserting the national independence of Scotland, as a reply to the efforts which were made by the English court to enlist the Roman see in their attempts to secure the subjection of the Scots. His seal is still appended to the document, which is preserved in the General Register House, Edinburgh. Fraser continued to hold the office of chamberlain until 1326. In recognition of his services he received large grants of lands from Bruce, including the lands of Panbride, Garvocks, Culpressach, Aboyne, Cluny, and the thanage of Cowie, all in the counties of Forfar, Kincardine, and Aberdeen. Besides these he possessed large estates in other parts of Scotland, and was sheriff of Stirling and also of the Mearns. After the death of Bruce he took an active part in the defence of the kingdom against the inroads of the English, and was slain at the battle of Dupplin on 12 Aug. 1332. His wife predeceased him in or before 1323, leaving two sons.
H. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Franks, John

​FRANKS, Sir JOHN (1770–1852), Indian judge, second son of Thomas Franks (1729–1787), of Ballymagooly, Cork, by Catherine, daughter of Rev. John Day, born in 1770, graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, B.A. 1788, LL.B. 1791. He was called to the Irish bar 1792. He went the Munster circuit, and had a good practice as chamber counsel. He ‘took silk’ in 1823. In 1825 the board of control, on the recommendation of his friend Plunket, then attorney-general, appointed him a judge of the supreme court at Calcutta. He received, as was customary, the honour of knighthood before his departure for India. He held this office till the effect of the climate on his health brought about his resignation in 1834. On his return he resided at Roebuck, near Dublin. He died 11 Jan. 1852. He was thrice married. By his first wife, Catherine, daughter of his cousin Thomas Franks of Carrig, Cork, he had two sons and three daughters. His heir was John Franks of Bally-scaddane, co. Limerick.
Franks was popular, both as advocate and judge. He was an intimate friend of Curran, and one of his executors, W. H. Curran. Curran's son, commemorates his ‘peculiar aboriginal wit, quiet, keen, and natural to the occasion, and, best of all, never malignant’ (Gent. Mag.)
F. W-t.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Baliol, Henry de

​BALIOL, HENRY de (d. 1246), chamberlain of Scotland, was the son of Ingelram and grandson of Bernard de Baliol, of Barnard Castle. His mother was daughter and heiress of William de Berkeley, lord of Reidcastle in Forfarshire, and chamberlain of Scotland under William the Lion in 1165. William de Berkeley was succeeded in this high office, not yet divided into those of the treasurer and comptroller, and entrusted with the superintendence of the whole royal revenues, by Philip de Valoines and his son William de Valoines, lords of Panmure. The latter died in 1219, leaving only a daughter, and Henry de Baliol, who had married his sister Lora, obtained the chamberlainship which had been held by the father both of his mother and his wife. Although invited by King John to take his side shortly before Magna Charta, it is probable that, like his sovereign, Alexander II, he joined the party of the barons. He is mentioned in the Scottish records in various years between 1223 and 1244, and the appointment of Sir John Maxwell, of Caerlaverock, who appears as chamberlain in 1231, must either have been temporary, or Baliol must have retained the title after demitting the office, which Crawford (Officers of State, p. 261) supposes him to have done in 1231. In 1234 he succeeded, in right of his wife as ​coheiress, along with Christian de Valoines, her niece, wife of Peter de Maule, ancestor of the Maules of Panmure, to the English fiefs of the Valoines, vacant by the death of Christian, countess of Essex, a rich inheritance, situated in six shires. In 1241 he attended Henry III to the Gascon war, and, dying in 1246, was buried at Melrose. It is probable, but not certain, that Alexander de Baliol of Cavers, also chamberlain of Scotland [see Baliol, Alexander de], was his son. His only daughter, Constance, married an Englishman of the name of Fishburn.
[Documents in Panmure Charter Chest; Act. Parl. Scot. i. 403 a, 405 b, 407 b, 408 b; Chronicle of Melrose; Dugdale's Baronage; Crawford's Lives of Officers of State, p. 260.]
Æ. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Baliol, John de (d.1269)

​BALIOL, JOHN de (d. 1269), of Barnard Castle, founder of Balliol College, Oxford, was the son of Hugh, the grandson of Eustace, and the great-grandson of Bernard de Baliol the younger [q. v.]. He married Devorguila, one of the daughters of Alan of Galloway, constable of Scotland, by Margaret, eldest daughter of David, earl of Huntington, brother of William the Lion. In his own right and that of his wife, coheiress of two great inheritances, Baliol was one of the wealthiest barons of his time, possessing, it is said, as many as thirty knights' fees in England, besides one-half of the lands of Galloway; though his possession of the latter must have been precarious during the reign of Alexander II, who favoured the claim of Roger de Quincey, husband of Helen, the elder daughter of Alan of Galloway, to the whole, while the Galwegians supported Alan's natural son, Thomas de Galloway. According to the Chronicle of Lanercost, Thomas de Galloway, being taken prisoner in 1235, was committed to the custody of Baliol, who kept him in the dungeons of Barnard Castle, where he remained until, in extreme old age, he was released at the instance of Edward I.
Baliol was one of the regents of Scotland during the minority of Alexander III, but was deprived of that office and his lands forfeited for treason in 1255, when a new regency was appointed through the influence of Henry III. Making terms with that monarch, Baliol escaped the consequences of his forfeiture, and sided with Henry in the barons' war (1258-65). He was taken prisoner at Lewes, but, having been released, did all that was in his power to support the royal cause, along with the barons of the north, against Simon de Montfort. About the year 1263 he gave the first lands for the endowment of the college at Oxford, which received his name, and this endowment was largely increased by his will, and after his death by his widow, Devorguila. He died in 1269, leaving three sons, Hugh, Alexander, and John, who succeeded to the family estates by the death of his elder brothers, without issue, and afterwards became king of Scotland. Devorguila survived her husband, dying 28 Jan. 1290. There is a writ in the 'Memorial Rolls of Edward I,' dated 1 June 1290, ordering the customary inquisition after her death.
[Historical Documents, Scotland, 1286-1408, arranged by Rev. J. Stevenson, i. 155; Acts Parl. Scotland, vol. i.; Fordun; Chronicle of Lanercost. The work of Henry Savage, master of Baliol College, entitled Balio-Fergus, Oxford, 1664, is untrustworthy as to the Baliol genealogy, but gives some interesting particulars as to the endowments of the college by the Baliols, and its first statutes made by Devorguila.]
Æ. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ball, Hannah

​BALL, HANNAH (1734–1792), Wesleyan methodist, was born on 13 March 1733-4. When Wesley and other methodist preachers visited High Wycombe, where she was resident for the greater part of her life, she was attracted by their teaching. In 1766 she began to keep a diary, some extracts of which have been published. Several of the letters that passed between her and Wesley have also been printed. By Wesley's advice she broke off an engagement to be married to one who, in the language of the sect, was 'an ungodly man.' This Wesley termed, and not without reason, 'a very uncommon instance of resolution.' She was a mystic, and Wesley warns her that 'a clear revelation of several persons in the ever blessed Trinity was by no means a sure trial to christian perfection.' In 1769 she began a Sunday school. The germ of the modern Sunday school may be traced in the methods of instruction established by Luther, Knox, and St. Charles Borromeo. There are traces of them in France in the seventeenth century. The Rev. Joseph Alleine was in the habit of drawing young pupils together for instruction on the Sunday. Bishop Wilson instituted such schools in the Isle of Man in 1703. The Seventh Day baptists had one between 1740 and 1747 at Euphrata, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1763 Mrs. Catharine Cappe and the Rev. Theophilus Lindsey had such a gathering of the young at Catterick. Dr. Kennedy, about 1770, established one in Bright parish, co. Down. In 1778 the Rev. David Simpson opened one at Macclesfield. There was another at Little Lever, taught by 'Owd Jemmy o' th' Hey,' whose services were paid for by a wealthy piper-maker, Adam Crompton. These and others preceded the experiment made at Gloucester in 1783 by Robert Raikes, who is usually described as the founder of Sunday schools.
Hannah Ball died on 16 Aug. 1792. The school was continued by her sister Anne. At this time the Wesleyans, whilst having their own separate meetings, were still attenders at the parish churches, and both Hannah Ball and her sister were in the habit of taking the school children with them. At the funeral of Mrs. Ball, a relative, the Rev. W. B. Williams observed that 'if any Arminian entered heaven the angels would cease to sing.' Anne Ball arose in her place and, gathering her little flock around her, marched out of the church, which she never re-entered. The little Sunday school was reorganised in 1801, and is still in existence.
[Memoir of Miss Hannah Ball, with extracts from her Diary and Correspondence, originally compiled by the Rev. Joseph Cole, and published at York in 1796; it was revised and enlarged by John Parker, with a preface by the Rev. Thomas Jackson, London, 1839; Rules of the Wesleyan Sabbath School at High Wycombe; information supplied by Mr. John Parker and others.]
W. E. A. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ball, Frances

​BALL, FRANCES (1794–1861), called Mother Frances Mary Theresa, was the daughter of a wealthy merchant of Dublin, where she was born, 9 Jan. 1794. In her twenty-first year she joined the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Micklegate Bar ​convent, York. This sisterhood, which had long existed at York, was originally established on the continent in the seventeenth century by Mary Ward to supply the means of a sound religious and secular education to young ladies. Frances Ball introduced this institute into Ireland in 1821, and since then it has spread to most of the British colonies, where the nuns are usually called Sisters of Loreto. Before her death, which occurred at Rathfarnham Abbey, 19 May 1861, she founded thirty-seven convents in various parts of the world.
[Life by William Hutch, D.D., Dublin, 1879; Addis and Arnold's Catholic Dict. (1884) 451.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Baliol, Bernard de (fl.1167)

​BALIOL, BERNARD de, the younger (fl. 1167). Dugdale does not recognise a second Bernard, but for the reasons stated in the last article, the opinion of Surtees appears preferable, though it must be admitted that his existence rests on the evidence of one charter and the improbability of a single life having covered the period from 1135, when the first Bernard must have at least attained majority, to nearly the close of the century. This Bernard joined Robert de Stuteville, Odonel de Umfraville, Ranulf de Glanville, and other northern barons, who raised the siege of Alnwick and took William the Lion prisoner in 1174. Our only further information about him consists of grants to various abbeys, one of which, to Rievaulx, was 'for the good of his own soul and that of his consort Agnes de Pinkney,' and the confirmation of the privileges granted by his father to the burgesses of Barnard Castle. He was succeeded by his son Eustace, whose existence is only known from charters of which the earliest, dated in 1190, is a license to marry the widow of Robert Fitzpiers for a fine of 100 marks. He was succeeded about 1215 by his son Hugh, the father of John de Baliol I, whose son was John de Baliol II, king of Scotland.
[Dugdale's Baronage and Monasticon Anglicanum; Surtees' Durham, iv. 51-2.]
Æ. M.