OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Middlemore, George

​MIDDLEMORE, GEORGE (d. 1850), lieutenant-general, received a commission in the 86th foot (now 2nd royal Irish rifles) when that corps was raised as ‘General Cuyler's Shropshire Volunteers’ in 1793. He was a lieutenant in the regiment in February 1794, and became captain 15 Oct. the same year. He commanded a company in the 86th, and embarked as marines in the Brunswick, 74 guns, Captain Lord Charles Fitzgerald, which served in the Channel with Admiral Cornwallis in 1795, and afterwards with Lord Duncan in the North Sea. He subsequently served with his regiment at the Cape, Madras (it was not at the capture of Seringapatam as sometimes stated), Ceylon, and Bombay, and he accompanied the expedition up the Red Sea to Egypt, where he commanded the grenadier company. With Colonel Ramsay he went on a mission to the Turkish capitan pacha relative to the plots against the Mamelukes. After the return of his regiment to India he served at Madras as aide-de-camp to Sir David Baird [q. v.], with whom he came home. On 14 Sept. 1804 he was promoted to a majority in the 48th foot (now 1st Northampton regiment) at Gibraltar. He served with it in Portugal in 1809, and at the battle of Talavera, when Colonel Donellan was mortally wounded, he commanded it during the greater part of its famous advance to the rescue of the guards (see Napier, rev. ed. ii. 176–7), which ‘tended so much to the success of the action’ (Gurwood, iii. 370). On that occasion the regiment won its badge of the Star of Brunswick, or ‘Coldstream Star.’ Wellington recommended him for promotion in the strongest terms: ‘He is an excellent officer, and if his conduct then did not, I may say, demand promotion, his good conduct and attention to his duty would warrant it’ (ib.) Middlemore received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel and a gold medal, and was created C.B., 4 June 1815. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel 12th garrison battalion, and was subsequently on half-pay thereof through ill-health. He was appointed assistant-quartermaster-general in the Severn district in 1813, and in 1814 inspecting field-officer at Nottingham. He afterwards held a like post at Cork. He became a major-general in 1830, and for five years commanded the troops in the West Indies. In 1836 he was made governor of the island of St. Helena, and held that post at the time of the removal of the remains of Napoleon I in 1840. He was made a lieutenant-general in 1841 and was colonel in succession of the 76th and 48th foot. He died at Tunbridge Wells, 18 Nov. 1850. His son, Lieutenant-colonel R. F. Middlemore (captain, half-pay, 91st foot), was his aide-de-camp at St. Helena.
[Cannon's Hist. Rec. 86th Royal County Down Regt. and Muster-rolls of the same; Napier's Peninsular War, rev. ed., account of Talavera in vol. ii.; Gurwood's Wellington Desp. vol. iii.; Gent. Mag. 1851, pt. i. p. 95. Some letters and memoranda of General Middlemore are printed in Theodore Hook's Life of Sir David Baird, vol. i.]
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Michell, Matthew

​MICHELL or MITCHELL, MATTHEW (d. 1752), commodore, was promoted to be lieutenant of the Advice with Captain William Martin [q. v.] on 11 April 1729. He afterwards served in the Royal Oak and Ipswich, and in August 1738 was promoted to the command of the Terrible bomb, employed in the North Sea. In 1740 he commanded the Swift sloop in the Channel; and in June 1740 was posted to the Pearl frigate, one of the squadron which, on 18 Sept. 1740, sailed for the South Seas under the command of Commodore George (afterwards Lord) Anson [q. v.] At Madeira he was moved into the Gloucester of 50 guns, the only ship of force, besides the Centurion, which doubled Cape Horn and reached Juan Fernandez. The sufferings of her crew from scurvy and want of water had been very great, and many men had died. When the few survivors had recovered their health, and with such reinforcements as circumstances permitted, the Gloucester rejoined the commodore off Paita in November 1741, continued with him during the remainder of his cruise on the American coast, and sailed with him for China. The sickness broke out again worse than before, and in a violent storm the ship lost her topmasts and sprang a leak. With jury-topmasts she sailed so badly as to endanger the safety of her consort; she had only sixteen men and eleven boys able, in any way, to do duty, and many of these were sick. She had seven feet of water in the hold, and there were no means of freeing her or of stopping the leak. It was therefore determined to abandon her and set her on fire. Michell, with the miserable remnant of his ship's company, went on in the Centurion to Macao, whence he took a passage home in a Swedish ship. He arrived in England in June 1743, and in October was appointed to the Worcester, in which he joined the fleet under Sir John Norris [q. v.] in January 1743-4. He was afterwards commodore of a small squadron on the coast of Flanders and off Dunkirk, on which service he continued until March 1748, when, on the plea that his private affairs required his presence in England, he was permitted to resign his command. In 1747 he was elected member of parliament for Westbury. He died 'in the prime of life,' 29 April 1752. He married in 1749 Frances, daughter of Mr. Ashfordby of Norfolk Street, London, with whom, it was announced, he received a fortune of 20,000l. The name is commonly misspelt Mitchell. The spelling given here is that of his own signature.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Micklethwaite, John

​MICKLETHWAITE, Sir JOHN, M.D. (1612–1682), physician, son of Thomas Micklethwaite, rector of Cherry Burton, Yorkshire, was born in 1612 and baptised, 23 Aug., in the church of Bishop Burton, three miles from Beverley. He entered at the university of Leyden as a medical student 15 Dec. 1637 (Peacock, Leyden Students, p. 68), and took the degree of M.D. at Padua in 1638. He proceeded M.D. by incorporation at Oxford 14 April 1648. On 26 May 1643 he was appointed assistant physician at St. Bartholomew's Hospital to Dr. John Clarke, whose eldest daughter he married, and he was elected physician 13 May 1653. The Long parliament, 12 Feb. 1644, had recommended him for promotion, 'in the place of Dr. Harvey, who hath withdrawn himself from his charge and is retired to the party in arms against the Parliament.' He was elected a fellow of the College of Physicians 11 Nov. 1643, and delivered the Gulstonian lectures in 1644. He was elected censor seven times, was treasurer from 1667 to 1675, and president from 1676 to 1681. When Charles II in 1681 was taken ill at Windsor, he was sent for by order in council, and attained much repute by his treatment of the king, on whose recovery he was knighted. He was physician in ordinary to the king. He died of acute cystitis 29 July 1682, and was buried in the church of St. Botolph, Aldersgate, where his monument, with a long inscription, still remains. His death and achievements were celebrated in a ​ broadside, 'An Elegy to commemorate and lament the Death of the most worthy Doctor of Physick, Sir John Micklethwaite.' His portrait, representing him in a flowing wig, was given to the College of Physicians by Sir Edmund King [q. v.], and hangs in the dining-room.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Michell, Nicholas

​MICHELL, NICHOLAS (1807–1880), miscellaneous writer, born at Calenick, near Truro, on 4 June 1807, was son of John Michell (1774–1868). The latter, known as the father of the tin trade, was a tin smelter and chemist, and one of the discoverers of tantalite. Nicholas, after attending the Truro grammar school, was employed in the office of his father's smelting works at Calenick, and afterwards in London. He wrote poems from an early age; was encouraged by Thomas Campbell and other literary men, and contributed to the ‘Forget-me-not,’ the ‘Keepsake,’ and other annuals. But it was not till after the publication of his ‘Ruins of Many Lands’ in 1849 that Michell succeeded in attracting much public attention. This work supplies poetical descriptions of nearly all the existing remains of ancient people and kingdoms in the old and new world. His next work, produced in 1853, was the ‘Spirits of the Past,’ a title altered in a subsequent edition to ‘Famous Women and ​Heroes.’ ‘The Poetry of Creation’ followed in 1856, and ‘Pleasure,’ a poem in the heroic measure, appeared in 1859, with sketches and tales introduced. ‘The Immortals, or Glimpses of Paradise,’ was composed in 1870 in Cornwall, and is the most imaginative of the author's productions. ‘Sibyl of Cornwall,’ a story in verse, deals with love and adventure, the scene being laid on the north coast of his native county. He also wrote several novels, but these did not obtain so large a circulation as his poems. He died in Tehidy Terrace, Falmouth, 6 April 1880, and was buried in St. Kea churchyard on 12 April.
Michell married, on 3 Aug. 1836, Maria, second daughter of John Waterhouse of Halifax, Yorkshire; she died in Penzance on 9 June 1887, aged 74.
Besides the works already mentioned, Michell was the author of: 1. ‘The Siege of Constantinople, with other Poems,’ 1831. 2. ‘Living Poets and Poetesses, a Biographical and Critical Poem,’ 1832. 3. ‘An Essay on Woman,’ 1833. 4. ‘The Saxon's Daughter, a Tale of the Crusades,’ 1835. 5. ‘The Fatalist, or the Fortunes of Godolphin,’ 3 vols. 1840. 6. ‘The Traduced, an Historical Romance,’ 3 vols. 1842. 7. ‘The Eventful Epoch, or the Fortunes of Arthur Clive,’ 3 vols. 1846. 8. ‘London in Light and Darkness, with all the Author's Minor Poems, now first collected,’ 1871. 9. ‘The Heart's Great Ruler, a Poem,’ and ‘Wanderings from the Rhine to the South Sea Islands,’ 1874. 10. ‘Nature and Life, including all the Miscellaneous Poems with many Original Pieces,’ 1878.
A collected edition of his ‘Poems’ appeared in 1871.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Linwood, William

​LINWOOD, WILLIAM (1817–1878), classical scholar, born in 1817, was the only son of William Linwood of Birmingham. He was educated at Birmingham grammar school under Dr. Cooke and Dr. Jeune (Academy, 5 Oct. 1878, p. 337), and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated 10 Dec. 1835, and graduated B.A. 22 May 1839, M.A. 26 May 1842 (Cat. Oxf. Grad.) He was student of his college from 1837 to 1851. In 1836 he gained the Hertford, Ireland, and Craven scholarships, and in 1839 obtained a first-class in classics and the Boden Sanskrit scholarship. He took orders, and was for some time assistant-master at Shrewsbury School. In 1850–1 he was public examiner at Oxford. He died on 7 Sept. 1878. Linwood is described as using ancient Greek like a vernacular tongue, and as being able to compose any number of Euripidean verses impromptu. His scholarship hardly found full scope in his publications, which are more or less intended for elementary students. The best known are his ‘Lexicon to Æschylus,’ ‘a clearly arranged and serviceable work, containing some emendations of his own very modestly proposed,’ and his edition of Sophocles, which was long used in English schools. Blaydes and Paley (in Sophocles, in ‘Bibliotheca Class.’ i. p. xxxiv; ii. p. vi) speak of the notes to Linwood's ‘Sophocles’ as being hurriedly compiled. Linwood published: 1. ‘A Lexicon to Æschylus,’ London, 1843, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1847, 8vo. 2. ‘Suggestions for the Improvement of Greek and Latin Prose Composition,’ Oxford, 1845, 8vo. 3. ‘Remarks on the Present State of Classical Scholarship … in the University of Oxford,’ 1845, 8vo. 4. ‘Anthologia Oxoniensis, decerpsit G. L.,’ London, 1846, 8vo. 5. ‘Sophoclis Tragœdiæ’ (with Latin notes), 1846, 8vo; 1852, 8vo; 4th ed. 1877, 8vo. 6. ‘A Treatise on Greek Tragic Metres, with the choric parts of Sophocles metrically arranged,’ London, 1855, 8vo. 7. ‘Remarks and Emendations on some Passages in Thucydides,’ 2 pts., London, 1860, 8vo (2nd issue). 8. ‘Observata quædam in nonnulla Novi Testamenti loca,’ London [1865], 8vo. 9. ‘De Conjecturæ ope in Novi Testamenti emendatione admittenda,’ London, 1867, 8vo. 10. ‘Remarks on Conjectural Emendation [of the] New Testament,’ London, 1873, 8vo. 11. ‘The Theban Trilogy of Sophocles’ (with notes), 1878, 8vo. 12. Various sermons.
[Academy, 28 Sept. 1878, p. 315; Athenæum, 21 Sept. 1878, p. 371; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Martin's Handbook of Contemp. Biog.; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
W. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lipscomb, William

​LIPSCOMB, WILLIAM (1754–1842), miscellaneous writer, baptised on 9 July 1754, was the son of Thomas Lipscomb, surgeon, of Winchester. He entered Winchester College in 1765 (Kirby, Winchester Scholars, p. 260), whence he matriculated at Oxford as a scholar of Corpus Christi College on 6 July 1770 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, iii. 855). In 1772 he won the prize for English verse, the subject being the ‘Beneficial Effects of Inoculation.’ It was printed in 1793, and in the ‘Oxford Prize Poems’ in 1807 and 1810. He graduated B.A. in 1774, and M.A. in 1784. For some years he was private tutor and subsequently chaplain to the Duke of Cleveland at Raby Castle, Durham. In 1789 he was presented to the rectory of Welbury in the North Riding of Yorkshire, which he was allowed to hand over to his son Francis in 1832. He was also master of St. John's Hospital, Barnard Castle, Durham. He died at Brompton, London, on 25 May 1842. By his marriage in 1780 with Margaret, second daughter of Francis Cooke, cashier of the navy, he had a large family. His eldest son, Christopher (1781–1843), was appointed in 1824 the first bishop of Jamaica (Gent. Mag. new ser. xx. 210–2; Kirby, p. 285).
Lipscomb wrote:
* ‘Poems. … To which are added Translations of select Italian Sonnets,’ &c., 4to, Oxford, 1784.
* ‘The Pardoner's Tale from Chaucer,’ modernised, 8vo, London, 1792.
* ‘The Case of the War considered in a Letter to Henry Duncombe, Esq.,’ 8vo, London, 1794.
* ‘A Second Letter to Henry Duncombe, Esq.’ 8vo, London, 1795.
* ‘The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer completed in a Modern Version,’ 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1795. George Lipscomb, M.D. [q. v.], was his cousin.
[Gent. Mag. 1842, pt. ii. pp. 100–1.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Linwood, Mary

​LINWOOD, MARY (1755–1845), musical composer and artist in needlework, was born in 1755 at Birmingham, where she was still living in 1776. She afterwards removed to Leicester. She obtained a considerable reputation for her clever imitation of pictures in worsted embroidery, two or three of which were worked before she was twenty. In both 1776 and 1778 she exhibited a specimen of her needlework at the exhibitions of the Society of Artists, and a Mrs. Hannah Linwood, probably her mother, exhibited a piece of needlework in the former year. In 1798 she opened at the Hanover Square Rooms an exhibition of her work, which she afterwards removed to Leicester Square, to Edinburgh, Dublin, and the chief provincial towns. It contained one hundred copies of pictures by the old and modern masters, and a portrait of herself after Russell, taken in her nineteenth year. The Countess of Wilton, writing in 1841, speaks of the exhibition as still open in London, and in terms of great admiration. ‘Miss Linwood's exhibition,’ she writes, ‘used to be one of the lions of London, and deserves to be so now.’ She worked with stitches of different lengths on a fabric made specially for her, and she superintended the dyeing of her wools. ‘Salvator Mundi,’ after Carlo Dolci, was regarded as her masterpiece. Her last work, ‘The Judgment of Cain,’ occupied her ten years, and was finished in her seventy-fifth year. After this the failure of her sight prevented her from using her needle. A good example of her work, a portrait of Napoleon, is in the South Kensington Museum. Among her musical compositions were ‘David's First Victory,’ an oratorio, some songs, and other vocal music. She died at Leicester on 2 March 1845. She published ‘Leicestershire Tales,’ 4 vols. London, 1808, 12mo.
[Brown's Dict. of Musicians; Redgrave's Dict.; Descriptive Cat. of Tapestry and Embroidery at South Kensington Museum; Countess of Wilton's Art of Needlework; Cat. of Miss Linwood's Exhibition; Algernon Graves's Dict.]
C. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Power, Manley

​POWER, Sir MANLEY (1773–1826), lieutenant-general, born in 1773, was son of Thomas Bolton Power, esq., of the Hill Court, near Ross, Herefordshire, by Ann, daughter of Captain Corney. His great-grandfather, John Power (d. 1712), had married Mercy, daughter of Thomas Manley of Erbistock, Denbighshire. Manley's first commission as ensign in the 20th foot was dated 27 Aug. 1783, when he was apparently between nine and ten years old. He was promoted to be lieutenant in 1789, and captain of an independent company in 1793. Transferred to the 20th foot on 16 Jan. 1794, he was promoted major in that regiment in 1799 and lieutenant-colonel in 1801.
Power saw much active service. After spending two years (1795–7) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he served with the expedition to Holland in 1799; afterwards went to Minorca in 1800, and, with his regiment, joined in Egypt, in 1801, the force commanded by Sir Ralph Abercromby [q. v.] He was present at the siege and capitulation of the French troops at Alexandria. On 25 Oct. 1802 he was placed on half-pay, but from 1803 to 1805 acted as assistant adjutant-general at the Horse Guards. On 6 June 1805 he was made lieutenant-colonel of the 32nd foot, and became colonel in the army in 1810. He took part in the Peninsular war, serving with the Duke of Wellington's army in Spain till 1813, when he was promoted major-general. He was then at​tached to the Portuguese army under General Beresford, and commanded a Portuguese brigade at the battles of Salamanca, Vittoria, Nivelle, and Orthes. For his services he received a cross and clasp, and was made knight-commander of the Portuguese order of the Tower and Sword. The honour of K.C.B. was conferred on him on 2 Jan. 1815. He subsequently served on the staff in Canada, and held the office of lieutenant-governor of Malta. He died at Berne, Switzerland, on 7 July 1826.
Power married, first, in 1802, Sarah, daughter of J. Coulson, by whom he had a son Manley (1803–1857); the latter became a lieutenant-colonel commanding the 85th regiment. He married, secondly, in 1818, Anne, daughter of Kingsmill Evans, colonel in the Grenadier guards, of Lydiart House, Monmouthshire. His eldest son by her, Kingsmill Manley Power (1819–1881), was captain in the 9th and 16th Lancers, and served with distinction in the Gwalior and Sutlej campaigns.
W. B-t.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Power, Joseph

​POWER, JOSEPH (1798–1868), librarian of the university of Cambridge, son of a medical practitioner at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, was born in 1798. He was admitted pensioner at Clare College, Cambridge, on 21 March 1817. He graduated B.A. in 1821, when he was tenth wrangler, and M.A. in 1824. He was elected fellow of his college in 1823 (19 Dec.), and served the office of dean; but, as there was no vacancy in the tuition, he removed in 1829 to Trinity Hall, where he became fellow on ​21 Feb., one of the two tutors, and lecturer. In the same year he was proctor. In 1844 he returned to his former college, and was re-elected fellow on 2 Jan. In 1845 he was a candidate for the office of librarian of the university, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. J. Lodge. His opponent was the Rev. J. J. Smith, M.A., fellow of Gonville and Caius College, an extremely hard-working and industrious person. Power, on the other hand, though able, was known to be fond of literary ease. It was remarked, therefore, that the senate had to choose between work without Power, and Power without work. Power beat his opponent by 312 votes to 240. He resigned the office on 13 Feb. 1864. In 1856 he was presented by Clare College to the vicarage of Litlington, Cambridgeshire, which he held till 1866, when the same patrons presented him to the rectory of Birdbrook, Essex. He died there on 7 June 1868.
Power kept up his study of mathematics, and continued to write upon them till late in life. He was also an accurate scholar, and a thorough master of both the theory and the practice of music. His geniality, love of hospitality, and wide interests made him a universal favourite.
He contributed the following papers to the Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society: ‘A general Demonstration of the Principle of virtual Velocities,’ 1827; ‘A Theory of Residuo-capillary Attraction,’ 1834; ‘Inquiry into the Causes which led to the fatal Accident on the Brighton Railway, 2 Oct. 1841,’ 1841; ‘On the Truth of a certain Hydrodynamical Theorem,’ 1842; ‘On the Theory of Reciprocal Action between the Solar Rays and the different Media by which they are reflected, refracted, and absorbed,’ 1854. To these may be added ‘Inquiry into the Cause of Endosmose and Exosmose,’ British Association Report, 1833.
J. W. C-k.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Power, Lionel

​POWER, LIONEL (fl. 1450?), composer and writer on musical theory, is mentioned among fourteenth and fifteenth century composers by John Hothby [q. v.], in his ‘Dialogus in Arte Musica,’ a manuscript preserved in Florence, and quoted by Morelot and incorrectly by Coussemaker, who read ‘Iconal’ for ‘Leonel.’ Among the curious manuscripts in the volume once belonging to the monastery of the Holy Cross, Waltham, and now in the British Museum (Lansdowne MS. 763), is a tract on musical theory, entitled ‘Lionel Power of the Cordis of Musike.’ This work contains the rudiments of extempore descant, and thereby furnishes evidence of the existence of such a practice in early times. It describes the laws of harmonical combination adapted to the state of music as far back as the reign of Henry IV (Hawkins, History of Music, 2nd edit. i. 248, 255). Both Burney and Hawkins give extracts from Power's manuscript.
Of manuscript music by Power there are in the ‘Liceo Filarmonico’ of Bologna, Codex 37: 1. ‘Salve Regina;’ 2. ‘Alma Redemptoris;’ and 3. ‘Ave Regina.’ They are respectively signed ‘Leonell Polbero,’ ‘Leonelle,’ and ‘Leonel’ (Ambros). Several pieces by Leonell Anglicus are preserved in Codices 87 and 90 of the cathedral chapter-books of Trent, and a ‘Kyrie eleison’ by Power appears on a flyleaf of a Sarum gradual in Brit. Museum Lansdowne MS. 462, fol. 152. Other music by him is in the Este Library in Modena.
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Power, Marguerite A.

Marguerite Agnes Power in the ODNB.
​POWER, Miss MARGUERITE A. (1815?–1867), was a daughter of Colonel Power, and niece of Marguerite, countess of Blessington [q. v.] She spent much time with her aunt, and after the break up at Gore House in April 1849, Miss Power and her sister accompanied their aunt to Paris. Miss Power wrote a memoir of Lady Blessington, which was prefixed to Lady Blessington's novel, ‘Country Quarters,’ published in 1850; it is reprinted in the ‘Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron with the Countess of Blessington,’ 1893.
From 1851 to 1857 Miss Power edited the ‘Keepsake.’ In 1860 she published a poem, ‘Virginia's Hand,’ dedicated to John Forster. It is a story told in poor blank verse, and evidently written under the influence of Mrs. Browning's ‘Aurora Leigh.’ Landor, however, highly praised Miss Power's poetical efforts, especially a poem written by her in Heath's ‘Book of Beauty.’ Her last publication was an account of a winter's residence in Egypt, entitled ‘Arabian Days and Nights, or Rays from the East,’ 1863. It is dedicated to Janet and Henry Ross, with whom she stayed at Alexandria. Miss Power died, after a long illness, in July 1867. She was an accomplished woman, possessing considerable personal attractions and some sense of humour (cf. Hall, Book of Memories, pp. 404–5).
Her works, other than those already mentioned, are: 1. ‘Evelyn Forester: a Woman's Story,’ 1856. 2. ‘The Foresters,’ 2 vols. 3. ‘Letters of a Betrothed,’ 1858. 4. ‘Nelly Carew,’ 1859, 2 vols. 5. ‘Sweethearts and Wives,’ 1861, 3 vols., 2nd edit. She also contributed to the ‘Irish Metropolitan Magazine,’ ‘Forget-me-not,’ and ‘Once a Week.’
E. L.