OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Porter, Robert (d.1690)

​PORTER, ROBERT (d. 1690), ejected divine, was born in Nottinghamshire, and educated at Cambridge, but the college is not specified. He became vicar of Pentrich, Derbyshire, in 1650, succeeding John Chapman (d. 1 Nov. 1652), who had been sequestered by the parliamentary commissioners. The living yielded an income of but 15l., which was brought up to ‘near fifty’ by the parishioners. Porter refused other preferment, and devoted himself to parish work. In his principles he was a very moderate nonconformist of the school of John Ball (1585–1640) [q. v.] He became a member of the Wirksworth presbyterian classis, and was moderator at its first recorded meeting on 16 Dec. 1651. Great deference was paid to his judgment, especially in cases of conscience. He was ejected from Pentrich by the Uniformity Act of 1662; his farewell sermon is in ‘England's Remembrancer,’ 1663. He remained in the parish, preaching privately in his own house. On the coming into force (25 March 1666) of the Five Mile Act, he retired to Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, but still ministered occasionally to his old flock preaching by night at ‘an obscure house’ in Longcroft Fields. After the indulgence of 1672 he established a congregation at Mansfield, but he always attended the services of the parish church, and held his own meetings out of church hours. Hence he was never molested. He died at Mansfield on 22 Jan. 1690. His sister Ann married John Oldfield or Otefield [q. v.]
Posthumous was his ‘Life of Mr. John Hieron, with … Memorials of ten other worthy Ministers,’ &c. 1691, 4to, a valuable collection of Derbyshire nonconformist biographies used by Calamy (four copies in Brit. Mus.)
[Calamy's Account, 1713, pp. 180 sq.; Cox's Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire, 1879, iv. 357 sq.; Minutes of Wirksworth Classis in Derbyshire Archæol. and Nat. Hist. Soc. 1880, pp. 150 sq.]
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Swetnam, Joseph

​SWETNAM, JOSEPH (fl. 1617), called the woman-hater, kept a fencing school at Bristol, as appears from an excessively rare work by him, entitled ‘The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence. Being the first of any English-mans in​vention, which professed the sayd Science …’ London, 1617, 4to. His principal work, however, is ‘The Araignment of lewd, idle, froward, and unconstant Women; or the Vanitie of them, choose you whether. With a commendation of wise, vertuous, and honest Women,’ London (T. Archer), 1615, 4to, and again 1619, 1628, 1634, 1690? ‘to which is added a second part, containing many dialogues … and jovial songs,’ 1702, 8vo; 1707, 12mo; 1733, 12mo; and 1807, reprinted by Smeeton. A Dutch translation by a clergyman named William Christaens was printed at Leyden, 1641, and Amsterdam [1645?]. This coarse and violent attack on the fair sex elicited the following indignant replies: 1. ‘Asylum Veneris, or a Sanctuary for Ladies, justly protecting them, their virtues and sufficiencies, from the foule aspersions and forged imputations of traducing Spirits,’ London, 1616, 12mo. 2. ‘The Worming of a Mad Dogge; or, a Soppe for Cerberus, the Jaylor of Hell. No Confutation, but a sharpe Redargution of the bayter of Women. By Constantia Munda,’ London, 1617, 4to. 3. ‘Ester hath hang'd Haman; or, an answere to a lewde pamphlet, entituled the Arraignment of Women,’ by Ester Sowernam (pseudonym), London [1617], 4to. 4. ‘A Mouzell for Melastomus, the Cynicall Bayter of, and foule mouthed Barker against Evahs sex. By Rachel Speght,’ London, 1617, 4to [see under Speght, Thomas]. 5. ‘Swetnam, the Woman-hater, arraigned by Women. A new Comedie [in four acts and in verse] acted at the Red Bull, by the late Queenes Seruants,’ London, 1620, 4to; privately reprinted in an edition limited to sixty-two copies, Manchester, 1880, 4to, with introduction, notes, and illustrations by the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart, LL.D.
He must be distinguished from his contemporary namesake, Joseph Swetnam, Sweetnam, or Sweetman (1577–1622), a native of Northamptonshire, who entered the Society of Jesus in Portugal in 1606, was sent to the English mission in 1617, but was banished in 1618. He was in Lancashire again in 1621, and becoming penitentiary at Loretto, died there on 4 Nov. 1622. He wrote: 1. ‘The Progress of St. Mary Magdalene into Paradise,’ St. Omer, 1618, 8vo. 2. ‘The Paradise of Pleasure in the Litanies of Loretto,’ St. Omer, 1620, and translated from the Spanish Anthony Molina's treatise ‘On Mental Prayer,’ and Francis Arias's ‘Treatise of Exhortation,’ published in one volume, St. Omer, 1617, 12mo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Swift, Robert

​SWIFT, ROBERT (1534?–1599), chancellor of Durham, born at Rotherham about 1534, belonged to a Yorkshire family settled there (Testamenta Eboracensia, v. 196–7). A member of it, Robert Swift, was steward to Francis Talbot, fifth earl of Shrewsbury [q. v.] (Lodge, Illustrations, i. 233–9), and another Robert (1568–1625), high sheriff of Yorkshire, was father of Barnham Swift (d. 1634), who in 1627 was created Viscount Carlingford, an Irish peerage which became extinct on his death. His daughter Mary became the wife of Robert Feilding, ‘Beau Feilding’ [q. v.] Dean Swift was said to be descended from the same family (Hunter, Hallamshire, ed. Gatty, pp. 363–6; Hunter, South Yorkshire, i. 204–5; G. E. C[okayne]'s Complete Peerage, ii. 148).
Swift was, by command of the royal visitors, admitted on 4 July 1549 a scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, on Riplingham's foundation. He proceeded B.A. in 1552–3, and on 25 March following was admitted a fellow on the Lady Margaret's foundation. On Mary's accession he left England, and while abroad is said to have graduated LL.B. at Louvain, the expense being paid by some English merchants resident at Antwerp (memorial inscription). He returned after Mary's death, and in 1561 became spiritual chancellor of Durham. On 28 March 1562 he was collated to the first stall in Durham Cathedral (Le Neve, iii. 308), and in the following year was appointed rector of Sedgefield, though he was not ordained deacon until 5 Oct. 1563. He resigned the chancellorship in 1577. On 12 May 1596 he endowed the school at Sedgefield founded by Tobie or Tobias Matthew [q. v.], bishop of Durham, with a cotehouse for the benefit of such children as were unable ‘to pay for their school hire’ (Surtees, Durham, iii. 419). In 1599 he was placed on a commission for the suppression of heresy (Rymer, xvi. 386). He died in that year, and was buried in Durham Cathedral, an inscription to his memory being placed on his tomb. ​His wife Anne, daughter of Thomas Lever [q. v.], is said to have been the first clergyman's wife who set foot in the college of Durham. She survived him, and bequeathed 5l. to Sedgefield school and 10l. to St. John's College.
Swift's manuscript commonplace book is now in the library of the dean and chapter at Durham. Many ecclesiastical documents drawn up by him, including an account of the proceedings in the consistory court while he was chancellor, were printed in ‘Extracts … from the Courts of Durham’ (Surtees Soc.), 1845, and in the ‘Injunctions … of Richard Barnes, bishop of Durham’ (Surtees Soc.), 1850.
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Swinburne, Henry (1560?-1623)

1904 Errata appended.
​SWINBURNE, HENRY (1560?–1623), ecclesiastical lawyer, born at York about 1560, was son of Thomas Swinburne of that city, and his wife Alison, daughter of one ‘Dalynson’ (Paver, Pedigrees of Families of York, p. 20). The family was widely spread in Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, and from a collateral branch is descended the present baronet of Capheaton (Surtees, ​Durham, ii. 278–9; Burke, Peerage and Baronetage, 1896). Henry was educated at the free school at York, and then sent when sixteen years old to Hart Hall, Oxford, where he matriculated on 17 Dec. 1576 (Oxford Univ. Reg. ii. ii. 71). He afterwards migrated to Broadgates Hall (afterwards Pembroke College), whence he graduated B.C.L. at some uncertain date (Macleane, Hist. of Pembroke Coll. 1897, pp. 92–3). He disqualified himself for a fellowship by marrying while at Oxford Ellen, daughter of Bartholomew Lant of that city, and retired to York, where he commenced practice in the ecclesiastical court as a proctor. He eventually became commissary of the exchequer and judge of the consistory court at York. He died in 1623, and was buried in York minster, where a handsome monument bearing an inscription to his memory was erected. An engraving from a plate presented by Sir John Swinburne, bart., of Capheaton, is given in Drake's ‘Eboracum,’ 1736, p. 377. Swinburne's will, dated 20 May 1623, with a codicil dated 15 July, was proved on 24 June 1624. The name of Swinburne's second wife was Margaret. She survived him, with a son Tobias, to whom Swinburne left his house in York, and who became an advocate of Doctors' Commons (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714, p. 1448).
Swinburne was author of two books on ecclesiastical law, which are important from their intrinsic merit, and from being the first written in England on their respective subjects. They are: 1. ‘A Briefe Treatise of Testaments and last Willes …’ London, 4to, 1590 (the colophon bears date 1591). Another edition appeared in 1611, and a third, ‘newly corrected and augmented,’ in 1633. Later editions were issued in 1635, 1640, 1677, 1678, 1728, and 1743. A ‘seventh’ edition was prepared for press by John Joseph Powell [q. v.] and James Wake, and published in 3 vols. 1803, 8vo. 2. ‘A Treatise of Spousals or Matrimonial Contracts … by the late Famous and Learned Mr. Henry Swinburne …’ London, 1686, 4to; another edition, 1711, 4to. In the preface it is stated that Swinburne contemplated a work on tithes, which he did not live to complete.
A. F. P.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.262 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 229 | i | 7 f.e. | Swinburne, Henry (1560?-1623): after 1500-1714; insert Yorkshire Archæolog. Journal, i. 202, vii. 54; |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Swete, John

​SWETE or TRIPE, JOHN (1752?–1821), antiquary, born about 1752, was the son of Nicholas Tripe of Ashburton in Devonshire. John (who afterwards assumed the surname of Swete) matriculated from University College, Oxford, on 19 Oct. 1770, graduated B.A. in 1774, and proceeded M.A. in 1777. He took holy orders, and on 27 Aug. 1781 he was made a prebendary of the diocese of Exeter (Le Neve, Fasti, i. 431, 433). In later life he resided at Oxton House, near Kenton, in the neighbourhood of Exeter. He died in 1821, leaving several children. His son, John Beaumont Swete, succeeded to his estates.
He published: 1. Three poetical pieces in Polwhele's ‘Traditions and Recollections,’ 1826, pp. 240–2. 2. Seven poetical pieces signed ‘S.,’ in ‘Poems chiefly by Gentlemen of Devonshire and Cornwall,’ ed. Polwhele, 1792, ii. 34, 205–9, 233. 3. Three antiquarian articles signed ‘N. E.’ in ‘Essays by a Society of Gentlemen at Exeter,’ 1796. These essays occasioned a quarrel between him and Polwhele, who regarded their publication as a breach of confidence and as calculated to injure his own work on Devonshire, then approaching completion. The misunderstanding was increased by some strictures on Swete's essays which appeared in the ‘European Magazine’ under the signature ‘W.,’ and which he mistakenly attributed to Polwhele.
Swete also left a manuscript description of Devonshire in the possession of his family. It forms an itinerary of the county, commencing in 1792 and terminating in 1802, and contains a full description of the places visited in his journeys, illustrated by sketches made and dated at the time. The portion relating to Torquay was published in the ‘Torquay Directory’ in 1871.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKowen, James

​McKOWEN, JAMES (1814–1889), Ulster poet, was born at Lambeg, near Lisburn, co. Antrim, on 11 Feb. 1814, and received an elementary education at a local school. After working as a boy at a thread manufactory he entered Messrs. Richardson's bleach works, Belfast, and remained there during the whole of his active life. About 1840 he had begun to contribute racy poems to the ‘Northern Whig’ and other Ulster papers, generally over the signature of ‘Kitty Connor,’ and he also wrote a little for the ‘Nation,’ using the signature of ‘Curlew.’ One of his pieces, ‘The Old Irish Cow,’ became very popular throughout his native province, while another, ‘The Ould Irish Jig,’ a humorous effusion, is known throughout Ireland. He died on 22 April 1889. His poems have secured him a place in several Irish anthologies, where his name is sometimes misspelt McKeown. Like many other popular Irish poets, his writings have not yet been collected, but there are nine of his poems in ‘The Harp of Erin,’ a collection of Irish verse edited by Ralph Varian (‘Duncathail’), Dublin, 1869.
[Northern Whig, 24 April 1889; information from friends of McKowen.]
D. J. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKay, Archibald

​McKAY, ARCHIBALD (1801–1883), poet and topographer, was born at Kilmarnock in 1801. After receiving a scanty education he was apprenticed to a handloom weaver, but subsequently abandoned the loom and became a bookbinder. He also conducted a circulating library in King Street, Kilmarnock, where he died in April 1883. He wrote:
* 'Poems,' 12mo, 1830.
* 'Recreations of Leisure Hours,' 12mo, 1832 (2nd edition in 1844), a collection of pieces in prose and verse.
* 'A History of Kilmarnock,' 12mo, 1848 (other editions in 1858 and 1864), a creditable compilation.
* 'Ingle-side Lilts,' 12mo, 1855.
His poems attracted considerable attention, and some of the pieces, such as 'My First Bawbee,' 'My ain Couthie Wife,' and 'Drouthy Tam' (first published in 1828), gained great popularity.
[Rogers's Modern Scottish Minstrel, v. 85; Times, 27 April 1883.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKerrow, John

​McKERROW, JOHN (1789–1867), presbyterian divine, born in Mauchline, Ayrshire, 15 May 1789, received his early education in the village school, and in 1803 proceeded to Glasgow University, where he distinguished himself as a student. He entered in August 1807 the Divinity Hall of the Secession Church at Selkirk, which was under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Lawson, and in 1812 was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Kilmarnock. He was shortly afterwards called by the congregations of Ecclefechan and Bridge of Teith, and was ordained at Teith on 25 Aug. 1813 as colleague and successor to the Rev. William Fletcher. At the same time McKerrow for some years conducted without assistance and gratuitously all the correspondence of the united secession synod, and controlled to a great extent its missionary operations. In 1841 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Washington College, U.S.A. His jubilee was celebrated in August 1863. He died at Teith 13 May 1867. He was eminently distinguished for his pastoral fidelity and zeal.
McKerrow published detailed accounts of the rise and progress of his church and of its missions, and his work is always accurate in matters of fact and clear in style. The titles of his publications are: 1. 'History of the Secession Church,' 1839. 2. 'The Office of Ruling Elder in the Christian Church,' to which in 1846 a prize of 50l. was awarded. 3. 'History of the Foreign Missions of the Secession and United Presbyterian Churches,' 1867. McKerrow was also a frequent contributor to the 'Christian Repository,' the 'Edinburgh Theological Magazine,' the 'United Secession Magazine,' and other religious periodicals.
[The above works by McKerrow; biographical notice in U. P. Mag. September 1867.]
T. B. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKewan, David Hall

​McKEWAN, DAVID HALL (1816–1873), water-colour painter, born in London on 16 Feb. 1816, was son of David McKewan, manager to Messrs. Hall of Custom-House Quay, Lower Thames Street, London, and Matilda, his wife. He studied water-colour painting under David Cox the elder [q. v.], and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1836. McKewan obtained some note as a water-colour painter, especially in drawing rocky scenes and the interiors of old mansions, such as Knole, Haddon Hall, &c. He was elected an associate of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-colours in 1848, and a full member in 1850; he was a large contributor to the exhibitions of that society. McKewan died on 2 Aug. 1873. He published in 1869 'Lessons on Trees in Water Colours,' and made the drawings for R. P. ​Leitch's 'Landscape and other Studies in Sepia,' published in 1870.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880; private information.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKinlay, John

​McKINLAY, JOHN (1819–1872), Australian explorer, born in 1819 at Sandbank, on the Clyde, emigrated in 1836 to New South Wales to join an uncle who was a prosperous squatter. He took up several runs near the South Australian border, and quickly made a reputation as an expert bushman.
When in 1861 the government of South Australia decided to send an expedition to trace the fate of Robert O'Hara Burke and Wills, and effect further exploration, the command was offered to McKinlay. He left Adelaide on 16 Aug. 1861, and within three weeks of the date of the grant of the assembly was at Kapunda. His party consisted of about ten men, and besides horses he took bullocks and camels, as well as sheep for food. He proved that Lake Torrens did not exist, but came upon several new lakes, one of which was named after him. At Cooper's Creek he found the remains of Gray, the first victim of the Burke and Wills expedition: under the impression, afterwards corrected, that he had discovered the graves of the leaders, he proceeded to carry out the second part of his instructions, and explore the country between Eyre's Creek and Central Mount Stuart. He struck the coast at Gulf Carpentaria on 19 May 1862, but did not actually get to the sea. Turning southwards, he made his way over the mountains of Queensland, and across the Burdekin River to Port Denison, which he reached on 25 Sept. 1862. He had lost none of his party, but they had been reduced to the greatest straits, and had eaten most of the camels and horses, as well as the other animals that they brought with them. ‘The peculiar incidents met with threw an entirely new light upon the physical geography of some parts of the desert; … and we must add that for cool perseverance and kind consideration for his followers, for modesty, and yet for quiet daring, McKinlay was unequalled as an explorer’ (Wood). For this expedition the South Australian government voted McKinlay 1,000l.; the public of the colony presented him with a testimonial, and the Royal Geographical Society with a gold watch.
In September 1865 McKinlay was again despatched by the South Australian government to explore the northern territory in a peculiarly rainy season, from the perils of which McKinlay's extraordinary ingenuity seems alone to have saved his party.
On his return from this journey McKinlay returned to pastoral occupations, but his hardships had worn him out, and he died on 31 Dec. 1872. He was married. A monument was erected to him at Gawler, South Australia, not far from the point of his departure on his great expedition.
[Davis's Tracks of McKinlay across Australia, ed. Westgarth; Wood's Hist. of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia, vol. ii.; Mennell's Dict. Austral. Biog.]
C. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McKenzie, Murdoch (1743-1829)

​McKENZIE, MURDOCH, the younger (1743–1829), commander in the navy and hydrographer, born in 1743, was the nephew of Murdoch McKenzie the elder [q. v.] He is said to have been a midshipman of the Dolphin in her voyage round the world under Commodore John Byron [q. v.], 1764-6. In 1771 he succeeded his uncle as surveyor of the admiralty. In 1773 he was surveying the coast of Cornwall, in 1775 the coast of Kent, in 1779 the south coast of Devon. On 5 Aug. 1779 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the navy, but the promotion made no difference in his work. In 1780 he surveyed the channel between the Isle of Sheppey and the mainland, an idea having been started that the Dutch might attempt to get again into the Medway by this passage. In 1781 he surveyed the Needles, at the request of the Trinity House, in order to determine the best way of protecting vessels from the rocks. About this time his eyesight began to fail, but he continued to act as chief surveyor of the admiralty till 1788. His charts were not published till 1804, and it does not appear that he had anything to do with that stage of the work. He was promoted to be commander on 31 Jan.' 1814, and died on 27 Jan. 1829, in his eighty-sixth year (Gent. Mag. 1829 pt. i. p. 188). He is described as of Minehead in Somerset. The confusion between the two hydrographers of the same name is almost inextricable, and the 'Treatise on Marine Surveying' is commonly attributed to the nephew.
[Dawson's Memoirs of Hydrography, i. 8.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McLaren, Duncan

​McLAREN, DUNCAN (1800–1886), politician, son of John McLaren, farmer, was born at Renton, Dumbartonshire, 12 Jan. 1800. At the age of twelve he was apprenticed for four years to a draper at Dunbar. From Dunbar he removed to Haddington, and thence in 1818 to Edinburgh, where the whole of his subsequent life was passed. Here he was employed under John Lauder & Co., in the High Street, until 1824, when he commenced business as a draper, in a shop opposite St. Giles's Church. In 1838 he became member .of the town council of Edinburgh, and he was successively baillie, treasurer, and finally provost from 1851 till 1864. When he was appointed treasurer the city was almost bankrupt, but he made satisfactory arrangements with the creditors, including the imperial treasury. In 1862 he unsuccessfully contested Edinburgh as a liberal, and in connection with the contest received from the 'Scotsman,' in an action for libel, the sum of 500l., which he gave away in charity. At the general election of 1865 he took his seat for Edinburgh, and continued to represent the city for sixteen years, acquiring in the House of Commons a position of so much authority on Scottish questions that he used to be called 'the member for Scotland.' He took part in passing the act for the commutation of the annuity tax, a local church rate peculiar to Edinburgh and Montrose. He also helped to pass the Burgess Act and the Irish Sunday Closing Act. On his retirement in 1881 he received a testimonial from his ​fellow-members, and the citizens of Edinburgh placed his portrait by Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A., in the council chamber. The public act on which he most prided himself was the establishment of the Heriot Free Schools in 1836, with the surplus funds of the trust, but his efforts failed to prevent the transference of these schools to the school board in 1884. He died at Newington House, Edinburgh, 26 April 1886, having married in 1829 Grant, youngest daughter of William Aitken, a merchant at Dunbar; she died in 1838. He married secondly, in 1836, Christina, daughter of William Renton; she died in 1841. He married thirdly, in 1848, Priscilla Bright, daughter of Jacob Bright of Rochdale.
A replica of Sir George Reid's portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.
McLaren published:
* 'History of the Resistance to the Annuity Tax under each of the four Church Establishments for which it has been levied,' 1836.
* 'Facts regarding the Seat-Rents of the City Churches of Edinburgh,' 1840.
* 'Evidence given before the House of Commons respecting the Annuity Tax,' 1861.
* 'History of the Annuity Tax and of the Smuggled Clause in the Act of 1809,' fourth ed. 1851.
* 'Information for Reformers respecting the Cities and Boroughs of the United Kingdom,' 1859.
* 'Facts respecting the Contagious Diseases Acts,' 1870.
* 'The C. D. Acts in India, Official Report of Mr. McLaren's Speech in the House of Commons,' a reprint, 1889.
[J. B. Mackie's Life and Works of D. McLaren, 2 vols. 1888, with two portraits; Times, 27 April 1886, p. 9.]
G. C. B.