OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hood, Thomas (1835-1874)

​HOOD, THOMAS, the younger (1835–1874), known as Tom Hood, humorist, only surviving son of Thomas Hood [q. v.], poet and humorist, was born at Lake House, Wanstead, Essex, 19 Jan. 1835. From March 1835 till 1838 he was with his parents abroad. After attending a private school at St. John's Wood, he went to University College School in 1845, and then to the grammar school at Louth, Lincolnshire. On 10 Jan. 1853 he matriculated from Pembroke College, Oxford, with a view to reading for the church; he passed his examinations, but did not take a degree. He early commenced writing. His first poem, ‘Farewell to the Swallows,’ appeared in ‘Sharpe's Magazine,’ 1853, ii. 44. While residing at Shutta, near Looe in Cornwall, in 1857, his first book, ‘Pen and Pencil Pictures,’ passed through the press, and soon reached a second edition. He obtained employment on the ‘Liskeard Gazette’ in 1856, and was editor during 1858–9. He lived in Cornwall till 1860. While there he was a frequent guest of Sir William and Lady Molesworth at Pencarrow. Chiefly through Lady Molesworth's interest he was admitted into the war office as a temporary clerk in the accountant-general's department on 11 July 1860. There he became a great favourite, and was noted for his skill as a caricaturist. He left the war office in May 1865 to become editor of ‘Fun,’ the comic newspaper which had been founded in 1861. Hood not only wrote much for his paper, but drew and engraved many of its illustrations. His jokes were somewhat mechanical, but his verses were always lively, and were produced with little effort. His ‘Rules of Rhyme, a Guide to English Versification,’ printed in 1869, was twice reissued (1877 and 1889). For the ‘Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine’ he wrote his best novel, ‘Captain Masters's Children,’ a work issued in three volumes in 1865. ‘Tom Hood's Comic Annual’ was first issued by him in 1867, and has been continued annually since. With his sister, Frances Freeling Broderip [q. v.], he illustrated and wrote many children's books, and throughout his life he practised painting, drawing, modelling, and carving. He died at Gloucestershire Cottage, Peckham Rye, Surrey, 20 Nov. 1874.
Hood's novels, besides that already noticed, include:
* ‘Vere Vereker's Vengeance,’ 1865.
* ‘A Golden Heart,’ a novel, 1867, 3 vols.; 1868.
* ‘The Lost Link,’ 1868, 3 vols.
* ‘Money's Worth,’ 1870, 3 vols.
* ‘Love and Valour,’ 1871, 3 vols.
His ‘Favourite Poems’ appeared at Boston, Massachusetts, 1877, with a memoir by his sister. Hood edited many miscellaneous collections in prose and verse.
[Favourite Poems, with a Memoir by his sister, F. F. Broderip, 1877; Gent. Mag. January 1875, pp. 77–88, by Henry W. Lucy; Illustrated Sporting News, 12 Aug. 1865, pp. 357, 363, with portrait; Illustrated London News, 28 Nov. 1874, p. 521, with portrait; Cartoon Portraits, 1873, p. 64, with portrait; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub. i. 252.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hood, Francis Grosvenor

​HOOD, FRANCIS GROSVENOR (1809–1855), lieutenant-colonel of the grenadier guards, born on 4 March 1809, was second son of Lieutenant-colonel Francis Wheler Hood, son of Henry, second viscount Hood, and grandson of Samuel, first viscount [q. v.] His mother was Caroline (d. 11 March 1858), only daughter of Sir Andrew Snape Hamond [q. v.] His father was killed when in his thirty-third year, on the heights of Aire, on 2 March 1814, and was, in the words of Wellington, ‘an officer of great promise and merit’ (Despatches, ed. Gurwood, vii. 346; Gent. Mag. 1814, pt. i. pp. 413, 492). Francis joined the grenadier guards in 1827, was promoted to his lieutenancy and captaincy in 1830, became captain and lieutenant-colonel on 31 Dec. 1841, and on 27 June 1854 was gazetted major of the third battalion of the grenadiers. He proceeded with that battalion to the Crimea, and led it at the battle of the Alma on 20 Sept. 1854, when his conspicuous gallantry and judgment contributed most effectively to the defeat of the enemy, and he received the special thanks of the commander-in-chief. On 18 Oct. 1855 Hood was in command of the covering party guarding the trenches and guns before Sebastopol, and was shot dead while taking an observation. Lord Raglan, in his despatch of 23 Oct., described Hood as an excellent officer, and wrote that he was ‘deeply lamented.’
Hood married in 1842 his first cousin, Elizabeth Jane, second daughter of Sir ​Graham Eden Hamond [q. v.], but had no issue.
[Burke's Peerage, s.v. Viscount Hood; Kinglake's Invasion of the Crimea, 6th edit. iii. 220222, 239 sq., iv. 442; Gent. Mag. 1855, i. 63-4.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Byrne, Oscar

​BYRNE, OSCAR (1795?–1867), ballet-master, was the son of James Byrne, an actor and a ballet-master. His first appearance, according to one authority, was made in 1803 at Drury Lane Theatre in a ballet arranged by his father from 'Ossian,' and called 'Oscar and Elwina,' which had been first presented twelve years previously at Covent Garden. A second authority states that he played his first part at Covent Garden 16 Nov. 1803 as Cheerly in Hoare's 'Lock and Key.' Much of Byrne's early life was passed abroad or in Ireland. In 1850 Charles Kean, in his memorable series of performances at the Princess's Theatre, engaged Oscar Byrne, who arranged the ballets for the principal revivals. In 1862 Byrne went to Drury Lane, then under Falconer and Chatterton. His last engagement was at Her Majesty's Theatre, when Mr. Falconer produced his ill-starred drama of 'Oonah.' In his own line Oscar Byrne showed both invention and resource. He died rather suddenly on 4 Sept. 1867 at the reputed age of seventy-two, leaving a young wife and seven children.
[Oxberry's Dramatic Chronology; private information.]
J. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Byrnstan

​BYRNSTAN, BIRNSTAN, or BEORNSTAN (d. 933), bishop of Winchester, was in early life a king's thegn or minister of Eadward the Elder, in which capacity he attests charters of the years 900–2 (Codex Diplomaticus, mlxxvi. and mlxxvii.; cf. Liber de Hyda, pp. 97, 101, 116). In 902 he became a priest, and very probably a secular canon in the new minster of Winchester, which Ælfred the Great had projected, and Eadward himself established under the headship of Grimbald. Between 902 and 910 Byrnstan frequently appears as attesting charters, including especially the series of grants made by the king to the churches of Winchester (Cod. Dipl. mlxxxiv–mccvi.; Liber de Hyda, p. 105). After this we have no trace of his activity for twenty years. Whether an increasing fervour of devotion drove him from the court to those ascetic practices for which he became celebrated, and whether, as the later monastic writers assert, he forsook the secular life of a canon for the regular obligations of a monk, cannot be determined. The fact that the most zealous champion of the monks revived his cultus makes the latter very probable. The charters of the twenty years are too few to enable us to base any inference upon them; but in 931 the resignation of the bishopric of Winchester by the saintly Frithestan was succeeded by the election of Byrnstan to rule over the diocese with which he had been so long connected. On 29 May he was consecrated by Frithestan, but he only ruled over the church two years and a half, dying on All Saints' day 933 (Anglo-Saxon Chron. s.a.). Florence puts his death in 934, and his consecration in 932; but the attestation of a charter of 933 by Bishop Ælfheah, his successor (Cod. Dipl. mcix.), and the definite statement of the chronicle as to the length of his government of his bishopric, make the earlier date preferable. The only acts of Byrnstan as bishop that have survived are his attestation of a few charters (ib. mciii–viii.) Byrnstan had been bishop so short a time that his saintliness and charity were almost at once forgotten, until his memory was revived, a generation later, by Bishop Æthelwold. Henceforward he received the honours due to one of the holiest of the early bishops of Winchester. William of Malmesbury commends his sanctity, his humility, and his care for the poor, whose feet he daily washed, and whose needs he supplied with a lavish hand. He also tells how Byrnstan said every day a mass for the repose of the souls of the dead, and how by night, regardless of the terrors that haunt churchyards, he perambulated the cemetery in the midst of which the new minster was built, reciting psalms for the same pious purpose. In 1150 his relics were translated to a nobler sepulchre, along with those of Birinus, of Swithun, and the most famous of the occupants of the see.
T. F. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Byron, Thomas

​BYRON, Sir THOMAS (d. 1644), commander of the Prince of Wales's regiment during the civil war, was fifth son of Sir John Byron of Newstead, Nottinghamshire, by Anne, daughter of Sir Richard Molineux of Sefton, Lancashire, and brother of John, first Lord Byron [q. v.] Clarendon, who characterises him as a ‘very valuable and experienced officer,’ states that the Prince of Wales's regiment, ‘the titular command whereof was under the Earl of Cumberland,’ was ‘conducted and governed’ by him (History (1849), App. 2, n. 5). Wood mentions that a degree was conferred on him at Oxford in 1642, but ‘of what faculty’ he ‘knows not.’ While in command of his regiment at the battle of Hopton Heath, near Stafford, 19 March 1642–3, he was so severely wounded by a shot in the thigh as to be compelled to leave the field (Clarendon, History, vi. 281). ‘Sir Thomas Byron, at the head of the prince's regiment, charging their foot, broke in among them, but they having some troops of horse near their foot fell upon him, and then he received his hurt, bleeding so that he was not able to stay on the field’ (‘The Battaile on Hopton Heath’). On 7 Dec. 1643 he was attacked in the street at Oxford by Captain Hurst of his own regiment, owing to a dispute about pay (Dugdale, Diary; Carte, Letters, i. 27, Trevor tells the story to Ormonde). Hurst was shot on 14 Dec. Byron died of the wound on 5 Feb. 1643–4 (Dugdale, Diary). He was buried on 9 Feb. 1643–4 in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, ‘on the left side of the grave of Wm. Lord Grandison in a little isle joyning on the south side of the choir’ (Wood, Fasti, ii. 42). By his wife Catherine, daughter of Henry Braine, he had two sons, who predeceased him. His wife was buried in Westminster Abbey on 11 Feb. 1675–6.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Byrne, William

1904 Errata appended.
​BYRNE, WILLIAM (1743–1805), landscape engraver, was born in London in 1743. He studied for some time under his uncle, a Birmingham engraver of arms, and at the ​age of twenty-two gained the Society of Arts medal for a plate of the ‘Villa Madama,’ after Richard Wilson. He then went to Paris and became a pupil of Aliamet and afterwards of J. G. Wille. He was a member of the Incorporated Society, and exhibited in Suffolk Street between 1760 and 1780. He died in Titchfield Street, London, on 24 Sept. 1805, and was buried at Old St. Pancras Church. His works, which are numerous, display much skill in aerial perspective and beauty in the finish of the skies. Among them are ‘The Antiquities of Britain,’ after Hearne; ‘The View of the Lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland,’ after Joseph Farington; ‘Apollo watching the Flocks of King Admetus,’ after Lauri; ‘The Flight into Egypt,’ after Domenichino; ‘The Death of Captain Cook;’ ‘The Waterfall of Niagara,’ after Wilson, &c. Byrne had a son and three daughters, who all became artists; two daughters, Anne Frances and Letitia, are noticed above. His second daughter, Mary, married James Green (1771–1834) [q. v.]
L. F.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.47 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 129 | i | 24 | Byrne, William: after success insert His second daughter, Mary, married James Green, 1771-1834 [q. v.] |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simeon, Joseph

Emmanuel Lobb in the ODNB.
​SIMEON or SIMONS, JOSEPH (1594–1671), jesuit and dramatist, whose real name was Emmanuel Lobb, born at Portsmouth in 1594, was at the age of eleven sent to Portugal to learn the language with a view to mercantile life. There he was converted to the catholic faith by the jesuit father Henry Floyd. After a while he was sent to the college of the English jesuits at St. Omer, and he entered the English College at Rome, under the assumed name of Joseph Simeon, on 13 Oct. 1616. Having received minor orders in 1617, he left Rome for Belgium on 14 Sept. 1619, was received into the Society of Jesus at Liège, and was professed of the four vows on 25 Jan. 1632–3. After professing rhetoric and the belles-lettres in the English College at St. Omer for five years, he became professor of theology, philosophy, and sacred scripture in the English theologate of the Society of Jesus at Liège. In 1647 he was appointed rector of the English College at Rome, and in 1650 rector of the theologate at Liège. He was also instructor of the tertian fathers at Ghent. Being subsequently sent to the English mission he was at one period rector of the college of St. Ignatius. In 1667 he became the English provincial. When residing in London in 1669 he was consulted by the Duke of York, whom he afterwards reconciled to the Roman catholic church (Clarke, Life of James II, i. 440, 441; Sanders, Life of James II, 1704, p. 14). He died in London on 24 July 1671.
Simeon was author of the following tragedies, all of which are in five acts and in verse: 1. ‘Zeno, Tragœdia,’ Rome, 1648, 8vo, Antwerp, n.d. 12mo. 2. ‘Mercia, Tragœdia,’ Rome, 1648, 8vo. 3. ‘Theoctitus sive constans in Aula virtus,’ Liège, n.d. 12mo. 4. ‘Tragœdiæ quinque, quarum duæ postremæ nunc primum lucem vident,’ Liège, 1657, 12mo; Cologne, 1680 and 1697, 12mo. The two ​additional pieces are ‘Vitus, sive Christiana fortitudo,’ and ‘Leo Armenus, sive Impietas punita.’ These tragedies were frequently acted in Italy and Spain. The style is elegant and dignified, but the subjects are unattractive.
Oliver ascribes to him an ‘Answer to Dr. Pierce's Sermon preached before his Majesty 1 Feb. 1663. By J. S.,’ London, 1663, 12mo. Others ascribe the authorship to John Sergeant [q. v.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simeon Stock

Simon Stock in the ODNB.
​SIMEON STOCK, Saint (1165?–1265), general of the Carmelite friars, is said to have been born in Kent of noble parents about 1165. From his earliest years he was devoted to religion, and, according to the legend, owed his surname to the fact that from his twelfth year he lived a hermit's life in the trunk or stock of a tree for twenty years. In 1201 he is alleged to have entered the Carmelite order, and afterwards to have studied at Oxford, graduating as bachelor in theology. In 1215 he became vicar-general of the order in the west, and on 30 Jan. 1226 obtained from Honorius III a confirmation of the Albertine rule, which was renewed by Gregory IX on 6 April 1229. Afterwards Simeon went to Palestine, and was present at the general meeting of the order in 1237, when the migration to the west was determined on. Simeon came to England with Alan the general in 1244, and at a chapter held at Aylesford in the following year was chosen sixth general of the order in succession to Alan. As general he obtained a revision of the Carmelite rule from Innocent IV in 1248. He died at Bordeaux on 16 May 1265. In 1276 Nicholas III sanctioned the celebration of mass in Simeon's honour in the Carmelite church at Bordeaux. The privilege was extended to all the churches of the order by Paul V. St. Simeon Stock is famous as the propagator of the ‘scapular,’ a garment consisting of two woollen bands worn over the shoulders—a peculiar distinction of his order, which is said to have been revealed to him by the Virgin in a vision in 1251, with the assurance that no one who died wearing it could be lost. The legend was contested by Launoy, the famous French theologian in the seventeenth century, who asserted that it was not to be found before John Palæonydorus, who wrote about 1480. The legend seems to be of older date than this, and possibly originated in the fourteenth century; but the ascription of it to Peter Swaynton, a disciple and contemporary of Simeon Stock, is not well founded. Simeon is credited with having written: 1. ‘Canones cultus divini.’ 2. ‘Homiliæ ad populum.’ 3. ‘De Christiana pœnitentia,’ inc. ‘Amos super Tribus sceleribus.’ 4. ‘Epistolæ ad fratres.’ 5. ‘Ad Christoparam Virginem Antiphonæ,’ inc. ‘Ave Stella Matutina.’ His writings are of little extent and less importance.
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simeon of Warwick

Simon of Warwick in the ODNB.
​SIMEON of Warwick (d. 1296), historian, became a Benedictine monk at St. Mary's, York, and in 1258 was elected abbot, receiving the temporalities on 25 July. In 1269 he obtained the forestry of Farindale Forest from the king, and in 1270 began the rebuilding of the choir of his abbey church. He died on 6 July 1296. Simeon wrote ‘Historia Cœnobii sui’ and ‘De regula patris Benedicti.’ Both are contained in Bodleian MS. 1892. An edition of Simeon's ‘Annals,’ with extracts from the ‘Chartularies of St. Mary's, York,’ has long been projected by the Surtees Society.
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simeonis, Symon

​SIMEONIS, SYMON (fl. 1322), traveller and Franciscan, is known only from his ‘Itinerary’ of his travels, preserved in a manuscript at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (Cod. 407 of the end of the fourteenth century; Nasmith, Cat. Libr. MSS. cccc. 384, 1777), and published by James Nasmith (‘Itineraria Symonis Simeonis et Willelmi de Worcestre,’ Cambridge, 1778). Symon states that he quitted Ireland after celebrating the provincial chapter of his order on St. Francis's day (4 Oct.) 1322, at ‘Clen.,’ no doubt Clane in the county Kildare, where a Franciscan convent had been founded in 1258 (Annals of the Four Masters, s. a.). He travelled in company with Hugo Illuminator (?Limner), also a friar minor, to Wales, and thence to London. From London the two friends proceeded to France, journeying through Beauvais and Paris to Troyes. Prevented by the war then going on in Lombardy from entering Italy by way of Lausanne, they took ship on the Saône and Rhône, and thus reached Arles, whence they went on by land through Nice, Piacenza, Mantua, Verona, and Padua to Venice. Here they again embarked, and made a coasting voyage down the Hadriatic and the Mediterranean, calling at many of the seaports on the mainland and islands, and eventually arrived at Alexandria on 14 Oct. 1323, after a quick voyage of five days from Candia. Of all he saw after leaving England Symon gives notices of various interest, though generally brief; but Tanner (Bibl. Brit. p. 702) somewhat exaggerates in assigning the same character to his remarks on England, which contain, with few exceptions, little more than a list of the places he passed through.
Symon and Hugh went up the Nile to Cairo, where they made a long stay. His experiences here furnish Symon with materials for a detailed account of the country and of the manners and religion of its inhabitants, an account which displays unusual intelligence and observation. From Egypt the travellers were preparing to pass on into the Holy Land, when Hugh fell sick and died. His companion proceeded on his journey, and reached Jerusalem. But with his description of the exterior of the city the manuscript breaks off, and its survival is the only evidence of the completion of his pilgrimage and of his presumable return to the west.
Symon Simeonis is called by Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy, who was ignorant that the ‘Itinerary’ had appeared in print, Symon Fitz Semeon (the e being an evident mistake in Nasmith's ‘Catalogus,’ which is not repeated in his edition of the work); but if Symon be of Anglo-Irish descent, his name would more likely be FitzSimon, and it is in any case hazardous to guess at a name which might equally well begin with an Irish prefix.
[Itinerarium Symonis Simeonis.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simeon, John

​SIMEON, Sir JOHN (1756–1824), master in chancery, born in 1756, was the son of Richard Simeon of Reading, and brother of Charles Simeon [q. v.] He matriculated from Merton College, Oxford, on 23 Oct. 1775, aged 19 (Foster, Alumni Oxon.) Having become a student of Lincoln's Inn on 12 Nov. 1773, he was called to the bar in Trinity term 1779. The same year he was elected recorder of his native town of Reading, and held that position until his resignation in 1807. He also represented it in parliament from June 1797 to 1802, when he suffered defeat, and again from 1806 to 1818. In 1789 he published a treatise on the ‘Law of Elections,’ which was well received by the profession; a second edition appeared in 1795. In November 1795 Simeon was appointed a master in chancery in ordinary, and discharged the duties of the office for twenty-eight years; for the last sixteen years of his life he was senior master. On 7 March 1812 he was placed at the head of the commission, composed of himself, Count Münster, and General Herbert Taylor, for placing George III's real and personal estate in trust during his majesty's illness; this delicate business was executed without salary. He acted as a commissioner for the protection of the king's property until his majesty's death in 1820. In consideration of his services a baronetcy was conferred upon Simeon on 22 May 1815, and by royal license on 26 May 1820 he received a grant of supporters to be borne by him and his successors in the title. On 9 July 1817 he petitioned to be called to the bench of Lincoln's Inn, but his application was not granted. Sir John died on 4 Feb. 1824, leaving by his wife Rebecca, eldest daughter of John Cornwall of Hendon, Middlesex, three sons and three daughters.
W. R. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simmons, Bartholomew

​SIMMONS, BARTHOLOMEW (1804–1850), Irish poet, was born at Kilworth, co. Cork, in 1804, and entered the excise branch of the civil service in 1830. He first appeared as a poet in ‘Bolster's Magazine,’ 1826–8, and soon after began to contribute to ‘Blackwood's Magazine.’ There he printed his poem, ‘Napoleon's Last Look,’ which has found a place in several anthologies. Christopher North made eulogistic reference to his poetic gift in the ‘Noctes Ambrosianæ.’ Simmons contributed to several other periodicals, sometimes under the signature of ‘Harold.’ He died unmarried on 21 July 1850 at his lodgings in Acton Street, Gray's Inn Road, London. His poems were collected and published in London in 1843.
D. J. O'D.