OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Tinsley, William

​TINSLEY, WILLIAM (1831–1902), publisher, born in 1831, was the son of a Hertfordshire gamekeeper. He was educated at a dame's school, and as a child worked in the fields. He came to London in 1852 and obtained employment at Notting Hill. He joined his younger brother Edward in the publishing business of Tinsley Brothers in Holywell Street, Strand, in 1854. They afterwards moved to Catherine Street, Strand. After issuing some small volumes of essays by W. B. Jerrold and J. E. Ritchie, their first serious venture was G. A. Sala's novel 'The Seven Sons of Mammon' (1861). The next success of the firm was with Miss Braddon's (Mrs. Maxwell) 'Lady Audley's Secret' (1862) and 'Aurora Floyd' (1863). They published 'The New Quarterly Review' (1854-9), but lost money in supporting ’The Library Company,' founded to rival Messrs. Mudie's and Messrs. W. H. Smith & Son's circulating libraries. Edward Tinsley died at a little over the age of thirty in 1866 {Athen(mm, 22 Sept. 1866). In 1868 Tinsley started 'Tinsley's Magazine,' which was for some time edited by Edmund Yates and afterwards by the publisher himself; it continued till 1881. For many years the firm was the chief producer of novels and light literature in London. Among the authors whose works were issued by the Tinsleys were Ouida (Louise de la Ramée), William Black, Thomas Hardy, Sir W. H. Russell, J. S. Le Fanu, Joseph Hatton, Tom Hood, Blanchard Jerrold, Justin McCarthy, Andrew Halliday, Mrs. Cashel Hoey, Sir Walter Besant. Viscount Morley, Benjamin Leopold Farjeon, George Meredith, G. A. Lawrence (Guy Livingstone), Mrs. Henry Wood, Edmund Yates, Henry Kingsley, Mrs. Lynn Linton, Mrs. Riddell, Rhoda Broughton, Jean Ingelow, Mrs. OUphant, Florence Marryat, Anthony Trollope, Mortimer Collins, Wilkie Collins, James Payn, Sir Richard Burton, George MacDonald, Captain Mayne Reid, W. Harrison Ainsworth, Ameha B. Edwards, George A. Henty, G. Manville Fenn, and Alfred Austin.
In 1878 Tinsley failed, with liabilities amounting to about 33,000l. He published in 1900 his reminiscences of the authors and actors he had known, under the title of 'Random Recollections of an Old Publisher,' 2 vols., with a photogravure after a photograph. He died at Wood Green, Middlesex, on 1 May 1902.
[The Bookseller, 8 May 1902; The Times, 3 May 1902; The Publishers' Circular, 10 May 1902; H. Sutherland Edwards, Personal Recollections, 1900, pp. 134-42 (doubtful accuracy); G. A. Sala, Life, 1895, i. 425; E. Yates, Recollections, 1884, ii. 87-88; S. M. Ellis, W. H. Ainsworth and his Friends, 1911, passim.]
H. R. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Tomson, Arthur

​TOMSON, ARTHUR (1859–1905), landscape painter, born at Chelmsford, Essex, on 5 March 1859, was sixth child of Whitbread Tomson by his wife Elizabeth Maria. From a preparatory school at Ingatestone in Essex he went to Uppingham. As a lad he showed an artistic bent, and on leaving school he studied art at Dusseldorf. Returning to England in 1882. he settled down to landscape painting, working chiefly in Sussex and Dorset. hH} landscapes were poetic, and rather similar in sentiment to the art of George Mason and Edward Stott. Although he was at his best in landscape, cats were favourite subjects of study, and he occasionally painted other animals. At the New English Art Club, of which he was an early member and in whose affairs he took warm interest, he was a regular exhibitor, but he also showed at the Royal Academy from 1883 to 1892 and at the New Gallery. An excellent and characteristic example of his refined art is the canvas called 'The Chalk Pit,' which was presented by his widow to the Victoria and Albert Museum. He was also an interesting writer on art, and his book on 'Jean-François Millet and the Barbizon School' (1903; reissued in 1905) is sympathetic and discriminating. For some years he was art critic for the 'Morning Leader,' under the pseudonym of Verind, and he contributed to the 'Art Journal' descriptions of places in the southern counties, illustrated by his own drawings. He illustrated 'Concerning Cats,' poems selected by his first wife 'Graham R. Tomson' (1892).
He died on 14 June 1905 at Robertsbridge, and was buried in Steeple churchyard, near Wareham, in Dorset.
Tomson married in 1887 his first wife Rosamund (1863-1911), writer of poetry, yoimgest child of Benjamin Williams Ball, whom he divorced in 1896, and who afterwards married Mr. H. B. Marriott Watson. Tomson married secondly in 1898 Miss Hastings, a descendant of Warren Hastings, who survived him with a son.
[Art Journal, 1905; Grave's Roy. Acad. Exhibitors, 1906; private information.]
F. W. G-n.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Torrance, George William

​TORRANCE, GEORGE WILLIAM (1835–1907), musician and divine, born at Rathmines, Dublin, in 1835, was eldest son of George Torrance, merchant tailor, and was a chorister in Christ Church Cathedral from 1847 to 1851, under Sir Robert Prescott Stewart [q. v.]. He was organist for a short time at Blackrock, and then at St. Andrew's in 1852 and at St. Aim's in 1854. A 'Te Deum' and 'Jubilate' which he composed in early youth showed promise, and in 1854 he composed an oratorio, ' Abraham,' which was performed — with Sir Robert Stewart at the organ — at the Antient Concert Rooms, Dublin, next year. In order to complete his musical studies he went to Leipzig in 1856, returning to Dublin in 1858. A second oratorio, 'The Captivity' (words by Goldsmith), was given at the Antient Concert Rooms on 19 December 1864. Meanwhile drawn towards the ministry, he entered Trinity College in 1859, and graduated B.A. in 1864, proceeding M.A, in 1867. Ordained deacon in 1865 and priest in 1866, he was curate of St. Michael's, Shrewsbury (1865–7), and of St. Ann's, Dublin (1867–9).
In 1869 Torrance went in search of health to Australia, holding successively the curacies of Christ Church, Melbourne (1870-1); St. John's, Melbourne (1871–7); and the incumbencies of All Saints, Geelong (1877–8); Holy Trinity, Balaclava (1878–94); and St. John's, Melbourne (1894–9). In 1879 he received the degree of Mus.D. from Dublin University, and in 1880 Melbourne University conferred on him a similar honour. His third oratorio, 'The Revelation,' was produced at Melbourne in June 1882.
In 1897 Torrance returned to Ireland, and was appointed chaplain to the bishop of Ossory, being made in 1899 bishop's vicar choral and librarian of St. Canice's Cathedral library, and in 1900 prebendary of Killamery and canon of St. Canice's. He was also registrar for the united dioceses of Ossory, Ferns, and Leighlin. He continued to compose much sacred and secular music. In January 1902 he won the prize of ten guineas offered by the 'School Music Review' for the best coronation song for school singing, namely, 'Come, raise we now our voices,' published as No. 676 of Novello's 'School Songs.' In 1903 his madrigal 'Dry be that tear' obtained the Molyneux prize and the society's medal, offered by the Madrigal Society (London). Two of his anthems, 'Who shall roll us away' and 'I will pray the Father,' were published in Novello's 'Octavo Anthems,' and ten of his hymns are included in the 'Church Hymnal' (Ireland) — 'Euroclydon' being still a favourite. He died on 20 Aug. 1907. He was married, and his wife died two days before him.
[Grove's Dict. of Music, 1910; private information; personal knowledge.]
W. H. G. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Thurston, Katherine Cecil

​THURSTON, Mrs. KATHERINE CECIL (1875–1911), novelist, born at Wood's Gift, Cork, on 18 April 1875, was only child of Paul Madden, banker, of Wood's Gift by his wife Catherine Barry. The father was chairman and director of the Ulster and Leinster bank and an intimate friend of Charles Stewart Parnell [q. v.]. He was elected mayor of Cork and took a leading part in local politics on the nationalist side. Katherine's early life was passed at her father's house, where she was privately educated. Of a vivacious temperament, she became devoted to riding and swimming. But it was not till after her marriage in 1901 to Ernest Charles Temple ​Thurston, the novelist, that she evinced literary ability.
Her career as a writer began with 'The Circle' (1903), which, if less sensational than her subsequent novels, showed originality. In 1904 she acquired wide fame through the publication of 'John Chilcote, M.P.,' which appeared simultaneously in America under the title of 'The Masquerader.' Mrs. Thurston handled an improbable story of impersonation and mistaken identity with much skill and force. None of her subsequent works attained the same degree of popularity. 'The Gambler' (1906), a brightly written study of Irish life and scenery, was followed by 'The Mystics' (1907) and 'The Fly on the Wheel' (1908), novels of a more conventional type. In 'Max' (1910) Mrs. Thurston repeatad with less success a story of impersonation. In all her work a genuine gift for story-telling is combined with a fluent style and signs of intellectual insight.
Meanwhile domestic disagreements arose with her husband, and on 7 April 1910 she obtained a decree nisi. Mrs. Thurston, who was of delicate health, suffered periodically from fainting fits. She died from asphyxia during a seizure at Moore's Hotel, Cork, on 5 Sept. 1911. She was buried in the family grave at Cork. The bulk of her property passed to her executor, A. T. Bulkeley Gavin, M.D.
[The Times, 8 April 1910 and 7 Sept. 1911; Athenæum, 9 Sept. 1911; private information.]
G. S. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wyvill, Christopher (1792-1863)

​WYVILL, CHRISTOPHER (1792–1863), rear-admiral, second son of Christopher Wyvill [q. v.], was born on 6 May 1792. He entered the navy in 1805, served in the Tribune frigate in the Channel and in the Fame in the Mediterranean. From 1810 to 1813 he was in the Thames with (Sir) Charles Napier [q. v.], and in the Volontaire with Captain Granville George Waldegrave [q. v.] In May 1813 he was appointed lieutenant of the Kingfisher sloop, by acting order which was confirmed on 5 July. He afterwards served on the Halifax and home stations till promoted to be commander on 29 July 1824. In April 1827 he was appointed to the Cameleon, then in the Mediterranean, and, taking a passage out in the Dartmouth frigate, succeeded in preventing what threatened to be a terrible accident. Some of the men had ​got at a cask of rum, and in drawing off the spirit set it on fire. Wyvill volunteered for the service, and, with one of the gunner's mates, plugged the cask and extinguished the flames. In the Cameleon he was employed on the coast of Greece and in the suppression of piracy. In October 1828 he was appointed to the Asia, flagship of Sir Pulteney Malcolm [q. v.], whom in April 1830 he followed to the Britannia. When the Britannia paid off he was promoted to be captain, 22 Feb. 1832. From 1840 to 1847 he commanded the Cleopatra on the North American station, and afterwards at the Cape of Good Hope, where from 1844 she was almost continuously employed in suppressing the slave trade on the east coast of Africa (Egerton, Life of Sir Geoffrey Hornby, pp. 22–3). From 1849 to 1853 Wyvill was again on the Cape of Good Hope station in command of the Castor; and from June 1854 till 31 Jan. 1856, when he attained the rank of rear-admiral, he was superintendent of Chatham dockyard. He died at the Grange, Bedale, Yorkshire, on 29 Jan. 1863, aged 71 (Gent. Mag. 1863, i. 395).
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; United Service Gazette, 7 Feb. 1863; Navy Lists.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Yallop, Edward

​YALLOP, EDWARD (d. 1767), author and translator. [See Spelman.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wyrcester, William

​WYRCESTER, WILLIAM (1415–1482?), chronicler. [See Worcester.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Webb, Alfred John

​WEBB, ALFRED JOHN (1834–1908), Irish biographer, born in Dublin on 10 June 1834, was eldest son of Richard Davis Webb, a printer in Abbey Street, by his wife Hannah Waring of Waterford. He was of Quaker family, and his father was a zealous worker in the anti-slavery movement and for social reform generally. In youth Alfred started a fund for the victims of the Irish famine of 1846–7. He was first sent to a day school kept by Quakers in Dublin, and later to Dr. Hodgson's High School, Manchester. On leaving this place he was apprenticed to his father's trade. About twenty he was sent to Australia, partly to benefit his health by change of climate, and partly for purposes of business. The business came to nothing, and he went off to the gold-fields. Recalled to England, he worked his passage home as a deck hand on a sailing vessel, although he had ample money for his journey (Freeman's Journal, 1 Aug. 1908). On his return to Ireland he resumed work in his father's printing office, becoming manager and proprietor. Interesting himself in Irish affairs, he was one of the earliest advocates of the home rule movement, which Isaac Butt [q. v.] inaugurated in 1870. He was a supporter of the united Irish party under Parnell, but left that leader in 1887. In 1890 he was returned as anti-Parnellite M.P. for West Waterford, and remained its representative until 1895. For many years he was one of the treasurers of the party funds. He died on 30 July 1908 near Hillswick in the Shetland Isles, while on a holiday. He was buried at the Quaker burial ground at Temple Hill, Blackwick, co. Dublin. He married Elizabeth, daughter of one of the Shackletons of Ballitore. She predeceased him in 1906. He had no children. Webb was an enthusiastic traveller. Indian politics occupied his attention, and he visited that country more than once—the last time in 1898, when he was president of the Indian National Congress. Much of his leisure was devoted to literature. His chief work was ‘A Compendium of Irish Biography,’ Dublin, 1877, which, inadequate as it is, is so far the best separate work of its kind in existence. He was a frequent contributor of travel sketches and political and general articles to the ‘Freeman's Journal,’ the ‘Irish Monthly,’ and the New York ‘Nation,’ and also published ‘The Opinions of some Protestants regarding their Irish Catholic Fellow-Countrymen’ (3rd edit. 1886); ‘The Alleged Massacre of 1641’ (1887); and ‘Thoughts in Retirement.’
[Freeman's Journal, 1 Aug. 1908; The Times, 1 Aug. 1908; Annual Register, 1908, p. 132; Brit. Mus. Cat.; information from his sister, Miss Deborah Webb.]
D. J. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Watts, Henry Edward

​WATTS, HENRY EDWARD (1826–1904), author, born at Calcutta on 15 Oct. 1826, was son of Henry Cecil Watts, head clerk in the police office at Calcutta, by his wife Emily Weldon. He was educated at a private school at Greenwich, and later at Exeter grammar school, where he became head-boy. Plans of proceeding to Exeter College, Oxford, or of training for the Honourable East India Company's Service came to nothing. At the age of twenty Watts returned to Calcutta, whence, after working as a journalist for some years, he went to Australia in search of an elder brother who had gone to the gold-diggings and was never heard of again. After an unsuccessful venture in mining, Watts joined the staff of the ‘Melbourne Argus,’ of which paper he became editor in 1859. On his return to England he was attached to a short-lived liberal newspaper at York, where he contracted small-pox, a disease of which he bore marked traces in after-life. Later he removed to London, and about 1868 joined the ‘Standard,’ acting as leader-writer and sub-editor in the colonial and literary departments. At this period he was also home correspondent for the ‘Melbourne Argus.’ He occupied rooms in Pall Mall before settling at 52 Bedford Gardens, Campden Hill, where he died of cancer on 7 Nov. 1904. He was unmarried. A contributor to the ‘Westminster Review,’ the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ ‘Blackwood's,’ ‘Fraser's,’ the ‘Saturday Review,’ and the ‘St. James's Gazette,’ he is best remembered for his translation of ‘Don Quixote’ (1888; revised edit. 1895), originally begun in collaboration with A. J. Duffield. The first edition contained ‘a new life of Cervantes,’ which was corrected, enlarged, and issued separately in 1895. Watts also wrote a biographical sketch of Cervantes for the ‘Great Writers’ series in 1891, an essay on Quevedo for an English edition of ‘Pablo de Segovia’ (1892), illustrated by Daniel Vierge, and ‘Spain’ (1893) for the ‘Story of the Nations’ series.
Watts had no linguistic gifts, and only once travelled in Spain, when he went with his friend, Carlisle Macartney, for the purpose of visiting places associated with Cervantes or with ‘Don Quixote’; yet his workmanlike knowledge of Spanish, his literary taste, and fluent English style enabled him to produce a well-annotated translation and to make a marked advance on the eighteenth-century versions which he condemned. His life of Cervantes is less satisfactory: apart from recent crucial discoveries, of which he was ignorant, Watts's work is disfigured by an extravagant hero-worship. A man of violent prejudices, Watts allowed his personal likings and antipathies to disturb his literary judgments. Though harsh in speech and brusque in manner, he was not unpopular at the Savile Club, London, of which he was an original member and an habitual frequenter.
[Private information.]
J. F-K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Archibald, Thomas Dickson

​ARCHIBALD, Sir THOMAS DICKSON (1817–1876), judge, born at Truro, Nova Scotia, in 1817, was sixth son of Samuel George Williams Archibald, LL.D., of Nova Scotia, by Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Dickson of Onslow, Canada. Like Sir Adams George Archibald [q. v. Suppl.], he was descended from Samuel Archibald who emigrated to Nova Scotia from Ireland. The father was attorney-general of Nova Scotia, 1831–41; advocate-general, 1837–41; ​master of the rolls and judge of the vice-admiralty court, 1841–6; and sometime speaker of the assembly.
Thomas was educated at Pictou Presbyterian College, and in 1837 qualified for practice as attorney and barrister-at-law in Nova Scotia. A visit to Europe, however, in the following year resulted in his settling in England, and on 11 Nov. 1840 he was admitted at the Middle Temple, where, after some years of practice as a certificated special pleader, he was called to the bar on 30 Jan. 1852. He was one of the favourite pupils of Serjeant Petersdorff, whom he assisted in the compilation of his ‘Abridgment.’ At the bar his perfect mastery of the technicalities of pleading (then a veritable black art) stood him in such stead that, though not an especially persuasive advocate, he slowly gained a lead on the home circuit. In 1868 he was appointed junior counsel to the treasury, and on 20 Nov. 1872 he succeeded Sir James Hannen [q. v. Suppl.] as justice of the queen’s bench, being at the same time invested with the coif. On 5 Feb. 1873 he was knighted. Transferred to the common pleas on 6 Feb. 1875 (vice Sir Henry Singer Keating, resigned), he retained his place and acquired the status of justice of the high court on the subsequent fusion of the courts by the Judicature Act. He died at his residence, Porchester Gate, Hyde Park, on 18 Oct. 1876, leaving a well-merited reputation for sound law, unfailing conscientiousness, and courtesy.
Archibald married, in 1841, Sarah, only daughter of Richard Smith of Dudley Priory, Worcestershire, by whom he left issue.
He was author of ‘Suggestions for Amendment of the Law as to Petitions of Right: a Letter to William Bovill, Esq., M.P.,’ London, 1859, 8vo.
[Law Mag. and Rev. Feb. 1877; Ann. Reg. 1876, p. 155; Gent. Mag. 1841, i. 645; Royal Kalendars, 1831–46; Law List, 1852; Law Times, lxii. 11, 15; Burke’s Landed Gentry; Haydn’s Book of Dignities, ed. Ockerby.]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Anning, Mary

​ANNING, MARY (1799–1847), discoverer of the ichthyosaurus, daughter of Richard Anning, a carpenter and vendor of natural curiosities at Lyme Regis, was born in that town in May 1799. On 19 Aug. 1800 she narrowly escaped death by ​lightning. She is presumed to have had some rudimentary education at the parish school, and seems to have learnt from her father how to collect fossils, a pursuit she began to turn to good account after his death in 1810, earning a livelihood thereby.
It was in 1811 that Mary Anning made the discovery to which she owes her fame. She noticed some bones projecting from the face of a cliff near Lyme, traced the position of the skeleton with a hammer, and then hired men to dig out the lias block in which it was embedded. The skeleton, thirty feet long, is now in the British Museum; its discovery created a sensation among geologists, and a long controversy took place before the name Ichthyosaurus was agreed upon, and its position in natural history determined. This discovery Mary Anning followed up by finding the first specimen of Plesiosaurus, and in 1828 of Pterodactylus (Woodward, Geology, 1887, p. 262; Owen, Palæontology, pp. 220 sqq.; Nicholson and Lydekker, Palæontology, ii. 1124). Owing to her skill and care many fine examples of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri were discovered and preserved. She also discovered the pens and ink sacs of fossil Loligo. Among those whose studies she assisted, and whose collections she enriched, were Sir E. Home, Dr. W. Buckland, the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, Sir H. de la Beche, Colonel Birch, Lord Enniskillen, and Sir P. Egerton. A small government grant was obtained for her from Lord Melbourne, and this, supplemented from other sources, procured her a small annuity.
She died from cancer in the breast on 9 March 1847, and was buried at Lyme, in the church of which the Geological Society fifteen years afterwards placed a memorial window to her. The local guide book remarked that ‘her death was in a pecuniary sense a great loss to the place, as her presence attracted a large number of distinguished visitors’ (Beauties of Lyme Regis). Among them was the king of Saxony, of whose visit an account is given by Carl Gustav Carus in his ‘England und Schottland im Jahre 1844,’ Berlin, 1845.
A posthumous portrait in pastel, executed in 1850 by B. J. M. Donne, hangs in the apartments of the Geological Society at Burlington House.
[Quarterly Journal Geol. Soc. vol. iv. p. xxiv; Roberts's Hist. of Lyme Regis, 1834, p. 284; All the Year Round, xiii. 60–3; private information.]
B. B. W.