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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Godkin, James

​GODKIN, JAMES (1806–1879), writer on Ireland, was born at Gorey, co. Wexford, in 1806. Ordained pastor of a dissenting congregation at Armagh in 1834, he afterwards became a general missionary to Roman catholics, in connection with the Irish Evangelical Society, and in 1836 issued ‘A Guide from the Church of Rome to the Church of Christ.’ In 1842 he published ‘The Touchstone of Orthodoxy’ and ‘Apostolic Christianity, or the People's Antidote against Puseyism and Romanism.’ Having written a prize essay on federalism in 1845 (‘The Rights of Ireland’), Godkin's connection with the Irish Evangelical Society ceased, and he turned his attention to journalism. Proceeding to London in 1847, he became a leader writer for provincial journals, Irish and Scotch, and a contributor to reviews and magazines. He published in 1848 ‘The Church Principles of the New Testament.’ Returning to Ireland in 1849, Godkin established in Belfast the ‘Christian Patriot.’ He afterwards became editor of the ‘Derry Standard,’ and then, removing to Dublin, he for several years held the chief editorial post on the ‘Daily Express.’ While engaged on this paper he acted as Dublin correspondent for the London ‘Times.’ For thirty years Godkin was a close student of every phase of the Irish question. In 1850 he was an active member of the Irish Tenant League.
Some of Godkin's writings on ecclesiastical and land questions had a large influence. Before the introduction of Mr. Gladstone's Irish legislative measures in the House of Commons Godkin published an elaborate treatise on ‘Ireland and her Churches’ (1867), advocating church equality and tenant security for the Irish people. In 1869 Godkin, as special commissioner of the ‘Irish Times,’ traversed the greater part of Ulster and portions of the south of Ireland in order to ascertain the feelings of the farmers and the working classes on the land question. The result of these investigations appeared in his work, ‘The Land War in Ireland’ (1870). In 1871 Godkin wrote, in conjunction with John A. Walker, ‘The New Handbook of Ireland,’ and in 1873 he published his ‘Religious History of Ireland; Primitive, Papal, and Protestant.’ He was also the author of ‘Religion and Education in India,’ and an ‘Illustrated History of England from 1820 to the Death of the Prince Consort.’ On the recommendation of Mr. Gladstone Queen Victoria conferred a pension on Godkin in 1873 for his literary services. He died in 1879.
[Read's Cabinet of Irish Literature; Ward's Men of the Reign; Godkin's Works.]
G. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Godfrey of Winchester

​GODFREY of Winchester (d. 1107), Latin poet, was a native of Cambrai, and was appointed prior of St. Swithin's, Winchester, by Bishop Walkelin in 1081 (Ann. Wint.) William of Malmesbury (Gest. Reg. v. 444, and Gest. Pont. ii. 877) says that he was distinguished for his piety and literary ability, which was shown by his epistles written in a pleasant and familiar style, as also by his epigrams; but that, despite his store of learning, he was a man of great humility. The monastery profited by Godfrey's liberality, and under his rule it acquired its high reputation for hospitality and piety. He was bedridden for many years before his death, which took place on 27 Dec. 1107 (Ann. Wint. and his epitaph in Bodl. MS. 535, f. 37 b, printed by Tanner). Godfrey was the author of a large number of epigrams, in which he imitated Martial with some success; they are divided by Pits into disticha, tetrasticha, &c.; the collection is entitled in Bodl. MS. Digby 112, ‘Liber Proverbiorum,’ in Cott. MS. Vit. A. xii. ‘De moribus et vita instituenda,’ and no doubt is the same as the ‘De diversis hominum moribus’ given by Pits. These two manuscripts also contain nineteen short poems ‘De Primatum Angliæ Laudibus’ (or ‘Epigrammata Historica’), as for instance on Cnut, Edward the Confessor, and Queen Matilda. These epigrams and poems are printed in ‘Latin Satirical Poets of the Twelfth Century,’ Rolls Series, edited by Mr. T. Wright. In MS. Digby 65 there are also sixteen other short pieces ascribed to Godfrey, and including an ‘Epitaphium Petri Abelardi,’ which of course is not by him. Clearly there has been some confusion, and even of the nineteen ‘Epigrammata Historica’ printed by Mr. Wright, ten are also ascribed to Serlo of Bayeux. In the same manuscript (Digby 65) there is a ‘Carmen de Nummo,’ which is there ascribed to Godfrey, and probably correctly, though Twine (in C. C. C. MS. 255) claimed it for Hildebert, bishop of Mans. In Digby 112 three short poems, one beginning ‘Res odiosa nimis,’ printed by Mr. Wright (ii. 161), ‘Versus de historiis Veteris Testamenti,’ and ‘Versus de historia Romana,’ are inserted between the ‘Liber Proverbiorum’ and ‘Epigrammata Historica,’ and the whole ends ‘Explicit Libellus Domini Godfridi;’ they may therefore be his compositions. Pits also names an ‘Epithalamium Beatæ Mariæ Virginis,’ and the prologue of such a poem ascribed to Godfrey is given by Twine (MS. C. C. C. Oxford, 255); but this is only the prose prologue of the Epithalamium in Digby 65, which is probably by John Garland [q. v.] Godfrey's epistles seem to have perished.
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hastings, Henry (1551-1650)

​HASTINGS, HENRY (1551–1650), eccentric sportsman, was second son of George, fourth earl of Huntingdon. He married Dorothy, second daughter and coheiress of Sir Francis Willoughby (the builder of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire). She died on 15 Dec. 1638, and through her he acquired Woodlands Park, near Horton, Dorsetshire, together with other remains of the old estate of the Filiols, where he continually resided. Some give him a second wife, Mrs. Jane Langton, but she is not mentioned in his epitaph. In 1645 his estate at Woodlands, valued in 1641 at 300l. per annum, was sequestered, owing to his attachment to the king, but he afterwards compounded for it by the sum of 500l. He died on 15 Oct. 1650, all but a centenarian, and with his wife and their son, Sir George Hastings, who died in 1657, was buried in the Hastings aisle in the belfry of the old church of Horton.
Hastings was the typical country squire of the time. He was of low stature, but strong and well knit, ‘well-natured, but soon angry.’ He always dressed in green, and keeping all sorts of hounds and hawks, devoted himself daily to the chase. His hall was hung with sporting trophies, while favourite dogs and cats occupied every warm or sunny corner. His table was cheaply but abundantly provided from his farms and fishponds, and his hospitality was extreme, but he never himself exceeded, or permitted others to exceed. The pulpit of a neighbouring chapel, long disused for purposes of devotion, formed his larder, and therein, as the safest place, was always to be found a venison pasty or the like. Some features of his character may have been worked up by Addison into his portraits of Sir Roger de Coverley and Will Wimble. A singular account was written of him by Sir A. Ashley Cooper, first earl of Shaftesbury, and was inscribed on a portrait of him at Lord Shaftesbury's seat, Winterbourne St. Giles. Many other amusing details of his domestic economy may be found in Shaftesbury's character, which was first printed in Dr. Leonard Howard's ‘Collection of Letters and State Papers,’ 1753; it was reprinted in the ‘Connoisseur,’ No. 81, 14 Aug. 1755 (Christie, Life of Shaftesbury, i. 25). Dr. Drake (who printed it in Hone's ‘Everyday Book,’ ii. 1624) has omitted some disparaging remarks which Shaftesbury added. Shaftesbury lived near Hastings's residence, and, as a firm adherent of the parliamentary cause, was perhaps prejudiced against the sportsman's character. Woodlands passed into the hands of the Roys, and was subsequently added to Lord Shaftesbury's estate.
The portrait belonging to Lord Shaftesbury was engraved by Bretherton, and may be seen in Hutchins's ‘Dorsetshire.’
M. G. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hastings, Hugh

​HASTINGS, Sir HUGH (1307?–1347), soldier, born about 1307, was elder son of John, second baron Hastings [q. v.], by his second wife, Isabel, daughter of Hugh le Despenser the elder, earl of Winchester [q. v.] He married Margery, elder daughter and eventual heiress of Sir Jordan Foliot, in whose right he acquired estates at Elsing and Gressenhall, Norfolk; he served in Flanders in 1340, and on 25 Feb. 1342 was summoned to parliament, but received no later summons. In 1343 he held a command in Flanders, when three hundred prisoners were captured (Knighton ap. Scriptt. Decem, 2586), and in the same year was in Brittany. He accompanied Henry, earl of Derby (afterwards Duke of Lancaster), to Gascony in 1345, was with him at Bergerac in July, and in the fight at Auberoche in October. In 1346 he formed one of the garrison at the siege of Aguillon (Froissart, iii. 48, 67, 124–5). He died in 1347 and was buried in Elsing Church, which he had built; in the east window there are portraits of Hastings and his wife, with the arms ‘or, a maunche gules,’ and in the chancel there is a very fine brass to his memory (Gough, Ancient Sepulchral Monuments, vol. i. pt. ii. 98–101; Carter, Specimens of Ancient Sculpture, pp. 13, 14, 38, with plates). On a marble slab in the chancel there is the inscription, ‘Yis churche hathe been wrowt by Howe de Hastyng and Margaret hys wyf.’ Margery Hastings died in 1349; she left a son Hugh, who is perhaps the Sir Hugh Hastings who served with John of Gaunt in Spain in 1367 (Froissart). He died at Kalkwell Hill, Yorkshire, in 1369, and was buried in the Friars Church at Don​caster. His son, a third Hugh Hastings, was father of Sir Edward Hastings (1381–1437) [q. v.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hastings, George Fowler

​HASTINGS, GEORGE FOWLER (1814–1876), vice-admiral, second son of Hans Francis, eleventh Earl of Huntingdon [q. v.], by his first wife, was born on 28 Nov. 1814. He entered the navy in September 1824, and on 7 Jan. 1833 was promoted to be lieutenant. He was then appointed to the Excellent gunnery-ship at Portsmouth; in May 1834 to the Revenge in the Mediterranean; and in September 1837 to the Rhadamanthus steamer, also in the Mediterranean. On 30 June 1838 he was made commander; in the following January was appointed to the coastguard; and in August 1841 to the Harlequin, in which he went out to China, arriving in time to take part in the closing operations of the war, after which he was employed in the suppression of piracy on the coast of Sumatra. On paying off the Harlequin he was advanced to post rank, 31 Jan. 1845. From September 1848 to February 1851 he commanded the Cyclops steam frigate on the west coast of Africa; and from August 1852 to May 1857 the Curaçoa in the Mediterranean and Black Sea during the operations of the war with Russia, his services in which were acknowledged by a C.B., conferred 2 Jan. 1857, and the third class of the Medjidie. In January 1858 he was appointed superintendent of Haslar Hospital and the Royal Clarence victualling yard, in which post he continued till he attained his flag on 27 April 1863. From November 1866 to November 1869 he was commander-in-chief in the Pacific, with his flag in the Zealous, one of the earlier wooden-built ironclads. He became vice-admiral on 10 Sept. 1869. In February 1873 he was appointed commander-in-chief at the Nore, which office he held for the usual term of three years, ending 14 Feb. 1876. He died suddenly a few weeks afterwards, on 31 March 1876.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, Thomas (1743-1803)

​JONES, THOMAS (1743–1803), painter, born in 1743, was younger son of Thomas Jones of Kevenlleece, near Aberedw, Radnorshire. Destined for holy orders, he studied at Jesus College, Oxford, for two years from Michaelmas 1759. In 1762 he began to study painting in London under Richard Wilson, R.A., whose style he imitated. He received in 1768 a premium from the Society of Artists. He exhibited for the first time in 1705, sending 'Gentlemen Sporting' to the Society of Artists, of which society he became a fellow. He usually painted Welsh scenery or landscapes with classical subjects, in which J. H. Mortimer [q. v.] introduced figures. In 1774 he exhibited 'The Bard,' suggested by Gray's ode. This picture (engraved by J. R. Smith) was described in the 'Morning Post' for May 1774 as 'finely romantic—a most capital piece. In 1776 William Woollett [q. v.] engraved Jones's picture of 'The Merry Villagers,' and at the time of his death was engaged on a landscape by Jones with the story of 'Dido and Æneas,' which engraving was finished by Bartolozzi, Another picture, 'The Traveller's Repose,' was engraved by James Peake. In 1776 Jones went to Rome, where he resided some years, and also to Naples, where he married a German lady. He returned to England about 1784, and continued to practise in London, and to exhibit occasionally Italian views of the Royal Academy. On the death of his elder brother he inherited the family properly at Aberedw, where he died in May 1803.
L. C.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, Thomas (1752-1845)

​JONES, THOMAS (1752–1845), evangelical divine, was born on 2 April 1752 at Cefn yr Esgair, near Havod, Cardiganshire, where his father farmed his small freehold. In 1765 Jones entered Ystradmeirig grammar school. On leaving school he was curate successively of Eglwys Fach and Llangynvelyn, near Aberystwith (September 1774 to August 1779); of Leintwardine in Herefordshire (August 1779 to December 1780); of Longnor, ​ Shropshire, where he had four churches under his care (December 1780 to July 1781); of Oswestry (July 1781 to January 1782); of Loppington, near Wem (January to November 1785); and finally of Great Creaton in Northamptonshire (November 1785 to 1828), serving also Spratton from 1810 to 1828. Jones was made rector of Creaton in 1828. He resigned in 1833, died on 7 Jan. 1845, and was buried in Spratton churchyard. He left 12l. a year to St. Davids College, Lampeter, to be given for the best essay in Welsh.
Jones and Thomas Charles of Bala were the Welsh clergymen who first conceived the idea of forming bible societies. Jones prevailed upon the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge to publish in 1799 an edition of ten thousand copies of the Welsh bible. These were soon sold out, and his repeated application for another edition met with refusals. His proposal to form a new society for Wales which should print smaller editions at Chester, Shrewsbury, and elsewhere, proved a failure. But when Charles mentioned Jones's project to the committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in December 1802, the British and Foreign Bible Society was forthwith established. Jones acquired great reputation as an evangelical preacher. The following are his most important works: 1. ‘Scriptural Directory,’ 1811; ten editions. 2. ‘The Welsh Looking Glass … by a person who has travelled through that country at the close of the year 1811.’ Published anonymously, 1812, 12mo. 3. ‘Jonah's Portrait,’ 1819, eight editions. 4. ‘The Prodigal's Pilgrimage,’ 1st edit. London, 1825, 12mo; 4th edit. Thames Ditton, 1837, 8vo. 5. ‘The True Christian,’ 1833. 6. ‘The Christian Warrior wrestling with Sin, Satan, the World, and the Flesh, abridged, epitomised, and improved,’ from a work of that name by Isaac Ambrose (1604–1664) [q. v.], 1837. He was also the author of seven works in Welsh, chiefly translations of works by Baxter, Romaine, Berridge, and Sir Richard Hill. A collection of notes made from sermons preached by Jones was edited by Miss Plumptre, under the title of ‘Basket of Fragments,’ 2 vols. London and Retford, 1832–3, 12mo, and has since passed through many editions.
[Memoir of the Rev. Thomas Jones, with portrait, by the Rev. John Owen, 1851; Phillips's Jubilee Memorial of the British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 44; Williams's Enwogion Ceredigion.]
D. Ll. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, Thomas Rymer

​JONES, THOMAS RYMER (1810–1880), zoologist, son of a captain in the navy, was born in 1810. He studied at Guy's Hospital and in Paris, becoming M.R.C.S. in 1833, but found himself unable to practise owing to chronic deafness. He was appointed the first professor of comparative anatomy at King's College, London, in 1836, and was Fullerian professor of physiology at the Royal Institution in 1840–1–2. In 1838, at the meeting of the British Association at Newcastle, he was the only opponent of Ehrenberg, who maintained the polygastric nature of certain infusoria. In the same year the first part of his ‘General Outline of the Animal Kingdom, and Manual of Comparative Anatomy,’ 1838–41, London, 4to, was published with many first-rate woodcuts. It was a great advance on previous text-books, went through several editions, and was long the chief book read by English students. Jones wrote many articles on comparative anatomy for Todd's ‘Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology,’ and several interesting popular works on zoology. He was also an attractive popular lecturer. He died in London on 10 Dec. 1880, having resigned his professorship in 1874. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
Besides a few original papers in scientific journals and the works already noticed, Jones wrote:
* ‘The Natural History of Animals (Invertebrates only), being the substance of three Courses of Lectures as Fullerian Professor,’ London, 1845–52, 8vo.
* ‘The Aquarian Naturalist, a Manual for the Seaside,’ London, 1858, 8vo, with coloured plates.
* ‘The Animal Creation; a popular introduction to Zoology,’ London, 1865, 8vo.
* ‘The Natural History of Birds, a popular introduction to Ornithology,’ London, 1867, 8vo.
* ‘Mammalia: a popular introduction to Natural History,’ London, 1873, 8vo.
He also edited W. Kirby's ‘Bridgewater Treatise,’ for Bohn's series, in 1852; and a translation of the section on ‘Birds’ in A. E. Brehm's ‘Thierleben,’ issued as ‘Cassell's Book of Birds’ in 1869–73.
[Times, 16 Dec. 1880, p. 10c; Nature, xxiii. 174; information from Sir R. Owen.]
G. T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, Thomas (1775-1852)

​JONES, THOMAS (1775–1852), optician, was born on 24 June 1775. In 1789 he entered the establishment of Jesse Ramsden (1735–1800), optician in Piccadilly, London. Subsequently he carried on business on his own account, first at 21 Oxenden Street and afterwards in Rupert Street, and soon attained a high reputation for his skill in constructing astronomical instruments of the larger class, many of which he was commissioned to supply for the principal observatories of Great Britain and the colonies (see a list of the most important in Monthly Notices, xiii. 112). He assisted, in conjunction with Dr. George Pearson, Edward Troughton, Captain W. H. Smyth, and others, in the formation of the Astronomical Society in 1820. On 4 June 1835 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He died on 29 July 1852.
Descriptions of the following instruments invented or improved by Jones have been published: 1. ‘The Englefield Improved Side Transit Instrument,’ for obtaining time with accuracy, Tilloch's ‘Phil. Mag.’ vol. xliii., and separately London, 8vo, 1814. 2. ‘The Sectograph, principally intended for the purpose of dividing right lines into equal parts … dividing angles,’ &c., ‘Phil. Mag.’ vol. xlii., and separately London, 1814, 8vo. 3. An improved hygrometer, ‘Phil. Trans.’ 20 Feb. 1825, vol. cxvi. pt. ii. pp. 53–4. 4. A double eye-piece, ‘Monthly Notices of the Roy. Astron. Soc.’ xii. 95–6. Jones was also the author of ‘A Companion to the Mountain Barometer, consisting of Tables, &c., together with a Description and Use of the most improved Mountain Barometers,’ London, 1817, 8vo; 2nd edit. (? 1820).
W. & S. Jones was the title of another well-known firm of opticians and mathematical instrument makers in Holborn, London, in the early years of this century. The chiefs, William and Samuel Jones, were sons of John Jones, himself an optician of some note, and were at one time employed in the business of George Adams the younger [q. v.] The elder partner, William Jones (1763–1831), received some instruction from Benjamin Martin, and gave lessons in astronomy and mathematics. He was intimate with Priestley, Hutton, Maskelyne, and other well-known men of science, and was a fellow of the Astronomical Society. He published descriptions of a new portable orrery (1782), geometrical and graphical essays, giving a description of mathematical instruments (1798; 4th edit. 1813), and ‘Lectures on Electricity,’ 1800. He also edited and revised a reissue of George Adams's works on natural philosophy (1799 and 1812); wrote many scientific articles in Rees's ‘Encyclopædia’ and the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ and criticised Dr. Wollaston's invention of ‘ periscopic spectacles’ in Nicholson's ‘Jour​nal,’ vols. vii. viii. He retired to Brighton late in life, and died there on 17 Feb. 1831. He left to his surviving brother, Samuel, a valuable mathematical library (Gent. Mag. 1831, pt. i. p. 275; Dict. of Living Authors, 1816; Watt, Bibl. Brit.)
[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, xiii. 112; Imperial Dict. of Universal Biography, iii. 51.]
D. Ll. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, Thomas (1756-1807)

1904 Errata appended.
​JONES, THOMAS (1756–1807), tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge, born at Berriew in Montgomeryshire, 23 June 1756, was educated at Shrewsbury school, and was admitted at St. John's College, Cambridge, 28 May 1774, but migrated 27 June 1770 to Trinity College. He was senior wrangler in 1778, having acted as tutor to the second wrangler, Herbert Marsh [q. v.], subsequently bishop of Peterborough, who became his lifelong friend. He graduated B.A. in January 1779, and was the same year appointed assistant tutor at ​ Trinity College; he was elected fellow 1 Oct. 1781, proceeded M.A. 1782, and in October 1787 was appointed tutor, an office which he held till his death in London 18 July 1807. He was buried in the burial-ground of Dulwich College, and a bust and tablet to his memory were placed in the ante-chapel of Trinity College.
Jones's reputation as a mathematical tutor was very high, and his lectures were notable for their clearness and methodical arrangement, but the number of his pupils overtaxed his strength. He only published a ‘Sermon on Duelling’ (on Exodus xx. 13), Cambridge, 1792, 4to, preached 11 Dec. 1791, as a warning to the younger members of the university soon after a fatal duel had taken place in the neighbourhood, and a very spirited and widely circulated ‘Address to the Volunteers of Montgomeryshire,’ Shrewsbury, which is reprinted in the Powysland Club Collections, xi. 261–4. His friend Marsh published a ‘Memoir of the late Thomas Jones,’ Cambridge, 19 Feb. 1808, which was reissued in Aikin's ‘Athenæum’ (1808); in the ‘Encyclopædia Londinensis,’ xi. 256–8; and separately as a broadsheet at Welshpool.
[Memoir, ut supra; Baker's History of St. John's College, Cambridge, ed. Mayor, ii. 757, 778, 779, 802; Collections of Powysland Club, xi. 254–64; Romilly's Cantabr. Graduati; Evans's Cat. of Engraved Portraits.]
D. Ll. T.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.170 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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