OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKenzie, Murdoch (d.1797)

​McKENZIE, MURDOCH, the elder (d. 1797), hydrographer, possibly the grandson of Murdoch Mackenzie (1600-1688), bishop of Orkney, was descended from a younger branch of the Gairloch family (Keith, Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops). He was employed before 1749 in surveying the Orkney and Shetland Islands for the admiralty and the East India Company. In 1749 he laid a paper on 'The State of the Tides in Orkney' before the 'Royal Society (Phil. Trans.), and in 1750 published 'Orcades : or a Geographical and Hydrographical Survey of the Orkney and Lewis Islands' (fol.) with charts. In 1752 he was sent in the Culloden sloop, in company with Captain Rodney, to examine a new and, as it proved, imaginary island, which had been reported as seen in long. 24° 30' west of the Lizard (Hannay, Rodney, p. 29; Naval Chronicle, i. 367). He was afterwards definitely employed as surveyor of the admiralty, and surveyed with compass the north coast of Ireland and the west coast of Scotland, the results of which were published in 1776 as 'Nautical Description of the West Coast of Great Britain from Bristol Channel to Cape Wrath,' and 'Nautical Description of the Coast of Ireland,' both in folio. He also published in 1760 'A Chart of the Atlantic Ocean,' on a large scale, drawn on the circular projection which he invented. In 1771 he was succeeded in his office of admiralty surveyor by his nephew, Murdoch McKenzie the younger [q. v.], and seems to have retired from the active duties of his profession, though in 1774 he brought out 'A Treatise on Marine Surveying,' 4to; a second edition of which, in 1819, was edited by James Horsburgh [q.v.] In May 1774 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. His certificate, which describes him as 'of Hampstead,' and 'well acquainted with mathematical and philosophical learning,' was signed by Sir Joseph Banks, Solander, Thomas Pennant, and others. He withdrew from the society in 1796, probably on account of his advanced age. He died in the following year, and was buried at Minehead in Somerset on 16 Oct. (information from the vicar of Minehead). McKenzie's work, carried out with very inadequate means and with undue haste, to gratify the admiralty's demand for quantity in preference to quality, was of the nature of rough examination rather than of accurate survey ; but his 'Treatise on Marine Surveying ' is still esteemed.
[Dawson's Memoirs of Hydrography, i. 3 ; Brit. Mot. Cat. ; information from the Royal Society ; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKie, James

​McKIE, JAMES (1816–1891), Burns collector, born at Kilmarnock on 7 Oct. 1816, was apprenticed to Hugh Crawford, publisher, the successor of John Wilson, who printed the first edition of Burns's poems. After a short engagement in Elgin he settled in Saltcoats as a bookseller, and published the 'Ayrshire Wreath' and the 'Ayrshire Inspirer,' annuals of good literary pretensions. On the retirement of Crawford in 1844 he bought his business at Kilmarnock, started the 'Kilmarnock Journal,' and subsequently the 'Kilmarnock Weekly Post,' and issued several books, chiefly of local interest. It was as a publisher and collector of books connected with Burns that he attained distinction. The growing value of the early editions of Burns suggested the idea of facsimiles, and these he issued in 1867 and 1869. He published also the Kilmarnock 'popular' edition of Burns (2 vols. 1871) and the Kilmarnock 'centenary' edition (2 vols. 1886).
He also issued 'Bibliotheca Burnsiana' (1866), the 'Burns Calendar' (1874), 'A Manual of Religious Belief,' composed by William Burness, the poet's father, published for the first time (1876), and 'The Bibliography of Robert Burns,' an elaborate list of all the editions of Burns and contributions to Burns' literature known to exist, and of the locale of Burns' MSS. and other relics (1881). McKie died at Kilmarnock 26 Sept. 1891. His own library of books concerning Burns, of nearly eight hundred volumes, was the most complete brought together. It was purchased by subscription for 350l., and is now in the museum of the Burns Monument at Kilmarnock, which was erected largely owing to McKie's exertions.
[Kilmarnock Standard, 3 Oct. 1891, where McKie's portrait is given; private information from his son-in-law, Thomas Ferguson, esq., Seaford House, Kilmarnock.]
J. C. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richardson, Vaughan

​RICHARDSON, VAUGHAN (1670?–1729), organist and composer, was present, when a child of the Chapel Royal, at the coronation at Westminster of James II and Queen Mary on 23 April 1685. In June 1693 he was appointed organist of Winchester Cathedral. He composed in 1697 ‘An Entertainment of New Musick on the Peace of Ryswick.’ Owing perhaps to his enthusiasm, a series of musical celebrations of St. Cecilia's day was held annually at ​Winchester, the festival for 1703 being announced to take place on 22 Nov. at the Bishop of Winchester's palace ‘called Woolsey, near Winchester, where (in honour of St. Cecilia) will be performed a new set of vocal and instrumental musick composed by Mr. Vaughan Richardson, organist of the cathedral’ (Husk). He had already published in his ‘Collection of New Songs,’ 1701, music for the ode ‘Ye tuneful and harmonious choir,’ but he is better remembered as the composer of a ‘Service in C’ (Tudway, MS. Collection, vol. vi.), and some fine anthems, ‘O Lord God of my salvation’ (ib. vol. v.) and ‘O how amiable,’ published in the first volume of Page's ‘Harmonia Sacra’ and other collections.
Richardson died, aged about 59, before 26 June 1729, at Winchester. A daughter survived him.
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richardson, Thomas Miles

​RICHARDSON, THOMAS MILES (1784–1848), landscape-painter, was born at Newcastle on 15 May 1784. His father, George Richardson (d. 1806), who came of an old Tynedale family, was the master of St. Andrew's grammar school, Newcastle. Moses Aaron Richardson [q. v.] was a younger brother. Richardson was at first apprenticed to an engraver and afterwards to a cabinet-maker, whom he left to set up in business for himself. After five years' experience of cabinet-making, he turned teacher, and from 1806 to 1813 filled the post which his father had held at the grammar school. Then he decided to adopt an artistic career, and soon acquired some distinction as a painter of landscape. He worked chiefly in watercolour, and found most of his subjects in the scenery of the Borders and the Highlands, though in later life he went as far afield as Italy and Switzerland. His first picture of importance was a ‘View of Newcastle from Gateshead Fell,’ which was purchased by the corporation of his native town. In 1816 he began to illustrate with aquatints his brother's ‘Collection of Armorial Bearings … in the Chapel of St. Andrew, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,’ which was published in 1818, and followed in 1820 by a larger work dealing with the church of St. Nicholas, and also illustrated by Richardson. In 1833 and 1834 he was engaged upon a work on the ‘Castles of the English and Scottish Borders,’ which he illustrated with mezzotints. Neither of these publications was finished. Richardson became well known as a contributor to the London exhibitions from 1818, when he sent his first picture to the Royal Academy, and was elected a member of the New Watercolour Society, now the Royal Institute. His work is represented in the public galleries at South Kensington, at Dublin, and at Liverpool. He died at Newcastle on 7 March 1848, leaving a widow and a large family, one of whom, Thomas Miles, has followed the father's profession.
[Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists of the English School; Graves's Dict. of Artists.]
E. G. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richardson, Samuel (d.1805)

​RICHARDSON, SAMUEL (d. 1805), stenographer, was educated at the King's School, Chester, from 1736 to 1739. He afterwards kept an ‘academy’ in Foregate Street, Chester, and was also the pastor of a small church of particular baptists in that city. He had considerable shrewdness, and read widely in later life. He died at his house in Pepper Street, Chester, on 21 March 1805. He was the author of an ingenious treatise entitled ‘A New System of Short-hand, by which more may be written in one hour than in an hour and a half by any other system hitherto published, which is here fully demonstrated by a fair comparison with one of the best systems extant [Dr. Mavor's], with a short and easy method by which any person may determine, even before he learns this system, whether it will enable him to follow a speaker,’ Liverpool, 1800, 8vo; 2nd edit. Liverpool, 1802; 4th edit. London, 1810, 8vo; 5th edit. about 1820. This system was based on ‘new-invented lines’—viz. three horizontal and two perpendicular—intended, among other things, to express the first letter of every word. The use of the lines necessitated the preparation of a specially ruled paper, and the writing occupied a wide field. On this account the system gradually passed out of notice. A work entitled ‘Richardson's Shorthand Improved,’ by William Henshaw, appeared at London in 1831, and Thomas Roberts published at Denbigh in 1839 ‘Stenographia, neu Law Fer, yn ol trefn Mr. Samuel Richardson,’ &c., wherein the system is skilfully fitted to the orthography of the Welsh language. A modification of the system, adapted to Lewis's alphabet, was published by E. Hinton of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1826, and the scheme of lines and positions for denoting the initial letter of each word was also followed by Laming Warren Tears in his ‘One Step Further to Stenography,’ 1834, and his ‘Short Short Hand,’ 1852.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richardson, Thomas (1771-1853)

​RICHARDSON, THOMAS (1771–1853), quaker and financier, son of Robert Richardson, formerly of Hull, and of Caroline Garth, ​was born at Darlington on 15 Sept. 1771. He was second cousin of George Richardson [q. v.] After a scanty education at home, Thomas was apprenticed to a grocer in Sunderland. His cousin, Edward Pease [q. v.], gave him money for a passage to London and an introduction to Messrs. Smith, Wright, & Gray, the quaker bankers of Lombard Street, who engaged him as messenger at a salary of 40l. a year. He rose to be clerk and confidential manager. In 1806, with his friend John Overend, a Yorkshireman, and also a bank clerk, he started bill-broking in a small upstairs room in Finch Lane, Cornhill. Their system of charging commission to the borrower only was original. They were soon joined by Samuel Gurney [q. v.], moved to Lombard Street (part of the premises now occupied by Glyn, Mills, & Currie's bank), and rose rapidly to financial power and pre-eminence. In 1810 Richardson twice gave evidence before the bullion committee of the House of Commons. He retired from business in 1830. The firm, after being converted into a limited liability company (Overend, Gurney, & Co.), suddenly stopped payment on ‘Black Friday,’ 1866, spreading ruin far and wide. The directors were tried for conspiracy and fraud, but were acquitted.
Richardson built himself a handsome house at Stamford Hill, and another at Great Ayton, Yorkshire, where he interested himself in establishing an agricultural school for the north of England, to be managed by Friends. To this he contributed about 11,000l. He owned a third house at Allonby, Cumberland, and he was a generous benefactor to the neighbouring Friends' school at Wigton. The railway enterprises of George Stephenson [q. v.] and the Peases received his substantial support, and he was one of the six who purchased the estate which developed into the town of Middlesborough.
Richardson died at Redcar on 25 April 1855, leaving by his will money for educational purposes in the Society of Friends. He married Martha Beeby of Allonby, but left no children. An engraved portrait, with the title ‘A Friend in Lombard Street,’ is at Devonshire House.
[Biographical notice in the Friends' Quarterly Examiner for October 1891, by his great-nephew, J. G. Baker, F.R.S.; Biogr. Cat. of Portraits at Devonshire House, p. 566; Records of a Quaker Family, by Mrs. Ogden Boyce, 1889; Reports of the Commons, cvii. 122, 147.]
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stocker, Thomas

​STOCKER, THOMAS (fl. 1569–1592), translator, is described by Tanner as ‘ex generosa familia oriundus,’ and may have been connected with the Stockers of Bedfordshire (Harl. Soc. Publications, xix. 143). He translated from the French the following: 1. ‘A righte noble History of the Successors of Alexander, taken out of Diodorus Siculus: and some of their lives written by the wise Plutarch,’ London, 1569, 4to. This was a translation of C. de Seyssel's ‘Histoire des Successeurs d'Alexandre le Grand,’ Paris, 1530, fol. 2. ‘Two and twentie Sermons of Maister John Calvin. In which sermons is most religiously handled the hundredth and nineteenth Psalme of David,’ London, 1580, 8vo. 3. ‘An excellent treatise of the Immortalytie of the soule. Set fourth by M. John Calvin and englished from the French by T. Stocker,’ London, 1581, 12mo. 4. ‘Divers Sermons of Maister John Calvin concerning the Divinitie, Humanitie, and Nativitie of Our Lord Jesus Christe,’ London, 1581, 8vo. 5. ‘A Tragicall Historie of the troubles and Civile warres of the lowe Countries,’ 8vo. The dedication to Lord Robert Dudley, earl of Essex, is dated 15 March 1583–4. The work is a translation of ‘Histoire des Troubles et Guerres Civiles des Pays-Bas,’ 1582, 8vo, which is prefaced by a dedication signed ‘Théophile D. L.’ 6. ‘The Second Part of the Demoniacke Worlde, or worlde possessed with Devils,’ London, 1583, 8vo (two editions); a translation of the second part of Pierre Viret's ‘Monde Demoniacle,’ Geneva, 1579, 8vo. 7. ‘The Cauteles, Canon, and ceremonies of the most blasphemous, abominable, and monstrous Popish Masse. Togither, the Masse intitled Of the body of Jesus Christ. Fully set downe, both in Latine and Englishe. With annotations set forth by Peter Viret,’ London, 1584, 8vo. Dedicated ‘To Syr William Cycell, Lord High Treasurer of England.’ 9. ‘Sermon of Maister John Calvin on the Historie of Melchisedech, also Abraham's Faith, in believing God: comprehending four sermons. And Abraham's Obedience in offering his sonne Isaak; in three sermons,’ London, 1592, 8vo.
The above works are contained in the library of the British Museum. Stocker translated another volume of sermons (London, 1594, 12mo), and published ‘A Lamentable Paraphrase on the Lamentations of Jeremiah by Daniell Tousain,’ London, 1587.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stocqueler, Joachim Hayward

​STOCQUELER, JOACHIM HAYWARD (1800–1885), compiler, the son of Joachim Christian Stocqueler, an insurance broker of Hatton Garden, who was of Portuguese extraction, by his wife Elizabeth, second daughter of Dr. Francis Hayward of Hackney, was born in London in the year 1800.
About 1821 he sailed for Calcutta, and spent the next twenty years in India. There, in addition to writing a guide to the overland route, Stocqueler did much journalistic work, editing, among other papers, the ‘Bengal Monthly Sporting Magazine,’ the ‘East Indian United Service Journal’ (1833), the ‘Indian Racing Calendar’ (1838), the ‘Calcutta Englishman’ and the ‘English Gentleman.’ He also compiled several works of at least temporary value, including ‘Fifteen Months' Pilgrimage through Khuzistan and Persia’ (2 vols. London, 1832), ‘The Wellington Manual’ (extracted from the Despatches, Calcutta, 1840), and ‘Memorials of Affghanistan’ (illustrative of the British expedition, 1838–42, Calcutta, 1843). He returned to England in 1843 in order to find a wider market for his Indian experience, and, in addition to lecturing on Indian subjects, established an East Indian ​institute and a general inquiry office. During 1855–6 he lectured on the Crimean war with a diorama. Shortly after this he left London in debt, and was employed throughout the American war as a newspaper correspondent. Returning to England, he lived to a ripe old age, and died at Brighton in 1885. A book professing to be his ‘autobiography’ was printed in India about 1873, but was suppressed.
Besides the works mentioned, he wrote: 1. ‘Handbook of India,’ London, 1844. 2. ‘The Oriental Interpreter, and Treasury of East India Knowledge,’ London, 1848. 3. ‘Alfred the Great: a romance,’ 1849. 4. ‘The British Officer: his Position, Duties, Emoluments,’ London, 1851. 5. ‘Life of the Duke of Wellington,’ 2 vols. London, 1852–3. 6. ‘The Military Encyclopædia,’ London, 1853. 7. ‘The Old Field Officer, or the Military and Sporting Adventures of Major Worthington’ (pseudonym), 1853. 8. ‘India: its History, Climate, Productions, and Field Sports,’ London, 1853. In a later edition (1857) this was carried down to the mutiny. 9. ‘Memoirs and Correspondence of Major-General Sir William Nott,’ 2 vols. London, 1854. 10. ‘A Familiar History of British India,’ London, 1859; another edition, ‘brought down to 1865 by J. H. Siddons’ (pseudonym), was published in 1865. 11. ‘A Familiar History of the United States’ (under the above pseudonym), London, 1865. 12. ‘A Familiar History of the British Army from 1660,’ London, 1871. 13. ‘A Personal History of the Horse Guards from 1750,’ London, 1873. 14. ‘The Shakespearean Referee: a Cyclopædia of 4,200 Words occurring in the Plays of Shakespeare,’ Washington, 1886. Two farces also appeared in his name, ‘Polkamania’ and ‘An Object of Interest’ (Lacy's edition, vol. xvi.).
E. M. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Gell, James

​GELL, Sir JAMES (1823–1905), Manx lawyer and judge, born at Kennaa on 13 Jan. 1823, was second son of John Gell of Kennaa, Isle of Man. The family of Gell held land there for more than four centuries. After education at Castletown grammar school and King William's College, Gell at sixteen was articled to the clerk of the rolls, John McHutchin, in Castletown, and was admitted to the Manx bar on 16 Jan. 1846. He enjoyed a large and important practice, and became known as the chief authority on Manx law and custom. In 1854 he was appointed high bailiff of Castletown, and in May 1866, the year of the Manx Reform Act, became attorney-general. That office he filled with distinction for over thirty-two years. He drafted with much skill nearly all the Acts which came into operation during the period. From 1898 to 1900 he was first deemster, and from 1900 till death clerk of the rolls.
Gell temporarily filled the post of deputy governor in 1897, acting governor in July 1902, and deputy governor in November 1902. He was a member of the legislative council and of the Tynwald court for thirty-nine years. An intensely patriotic Manxman, he championed all the rights and privileges of the island. He took an active part in educational and religious work. He was chairman of the insular justices from 1879, a trustee of King William's College, and chairman of the council of education from 1872 to 1881. For many years he was chairman of the Manx Society for the Publication of National Documents, and he edited in 1867 vol. xii. of Parr's 'Abstract of Laws of the Isle of Man.' He was also editor for the insular government of the statute laws of the Isle from 1836 to 1848, and he supervised and annotated a revised edition of the statutes dating from 1417 to 1895.
An earnest churchman, he was for the greater part of his life a Sunday-school teacher, and was one of the church commissioners, the trustees of Manx church property. He was knighted in 1877. He was acting governor when King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra paid their surprise visit to the isle in 1902, and he received the honour of C.V.O. He died at Castletown on 12 March 1905. He married on 17 Dec. 1850 Ameha Marcia (d. 1899), daughter of William Gill, vicar of Malew, a well-known Manx scholar and representative of an ancient local family. Of four sons and three daughters, two sons, Mr. James Stowell Gell, high bailiff of Douglas and Castletown, and William Gell, vicar of Pontefract, Yorkshire, with one daughter, survive.
[The Times, 13 March 1905; Men of the Time, 1899; official Debates of the Legislature, vols. 1 to 22.]
W. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Gibbins, Henry de Beltgens

​GIBBINS, HENRY DE BELTGENS (1865–1907), writer on economic history, born at Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony, on 23 May 1865, was eldest son of Joseph Henry Gibbins of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, by his wife Eleanor, daughter of the Hon. J. de Beltgens of Stanford, Dominica. Educated at Bradford grammar school, he won a scholarship at Wadham College, Oxford, in 1883, and obtained a second class in classical moderations in 1885, and a second class also in the final classical schools in 1887. He graduated B.A. in the following year. In 1890 he won the Cobden prize for an economic essay in the University of Oxford, and in 1896 received the degree of D.Litt. at Dublin.
From 1889 to 1895 he worked as assistant master at the Nottingham high school. In 1891 he was ordained deacon and in 1892 priest, serving the curacy of St. Matthew's, Nottingham, from 1891 to 1893. From 1895 to 1899 he was vice-principal of Liverpool College; from 1899 to 1906 headmaster of King Charles I school at Kidderminster; in 1906 he was made principal of Lennoxville University in Canada. Ill-health obliged him to leave Canada after a short stay. On 13 Aug. 1907 he was killed by a fall from the train in the Thackley tunnel between Leeds and Bradford. He married Emily, third daughter of Dr. J. H. Bell of Bradford, by whom he had one daughter.
Gibbins devoted himself to economic study from his Oxford days and published:
* ‘Industrial History of England,’ 1890.
* ‘The History of Commerce in Europe,’ 1891, 2nd edit. 1897.
* ‘English Social Reformers,’ 1892, 2nd edit. 1902.
* ‘British Commerce and Colonies,’ 1893, 4th edit. 1909.
* ‘Economics of Commerce,’ 1894, Spanish trans. 1903.
* ‘Industry in England,’ 1896.
* ‘The English People in the Nineteenth Century,’ 1898; 2nd edit. 1900; Russian trans. 1901.
* ‘Economic and Industrial Progress of the Century,’ 1901.
He was a contributor to Palgrave's ‘Dictionary of Political Economy’ and edited for Messrs. Methuen their ‘Social Questions of the Day’ series (1891) and also their ‘Commercial’ series (1893). His economic work popularly illustrated the historical methods of economic study.
[The Times, 14 Aug. 1907; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; private information.]
M. E.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Salmon, John Drew

​SALMON, JOHN DREW (1802?–1859), ornithologist and botanist, born about 1802, lived from 1825 to 1833 at Stoke Ferry and from 1833 to 1837 at Thetford, Norfolk, whence he removed to Godalming, Surrey. He was afterwards manager of the Wenham Lake Ice Company, and resided over their office in the Strand. He visited Holland in 1825, the Isle of Wight in 1829, and the Orkneys in 1831. He was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1852. He died at Stoke Ferry, on 5 Aug. 1859, aged 57.
Salmon was an enthusiastic naturalist, but wrote little. He published in 1836 ‘A Notice of the Arrival of Twenty-nine migratory Birds in the Neighbourhood of Thetford, Norfolk.’ Seven papers on ornithology and botany appeared between 1832 and 1852 in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ the ‘Zoologist’ and the ‘Phytologist;’ that on the flora of the neighbourhood of Godalming being reprinted by Newman in ‘The Letters of Rusticus,’ 1849. Salmon's manuscript notes on the plants of Surrey were incorporated in the ‘Flora of Surrey,’ which Thomas M. Brewer edited for the Holmesdale Natural History Club in 1863. Salmon began in 1828 to form a collection of eggs, part of which he bequeathed to the Linnean Society. The remaining portion, with his herbarium and natural history diaries from 1825 to 1837 he left to the Norwich Museum.
[Trans. Norf. and Norwich Naturalists' Soc. ii. 420; Proc. Linn. Soc. 1859–60, p. xxix; Gent. Mag. 1859 ii. 317; information kindly furnished by Professor A. Newton, W. G. Clarke, esq., and Thomas Southwell, esq.]
B. B. W.