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

​MANSON, GEORGE (1850–1876), Scottish artist, son of Magnus Manson, an Edinburgh merchant, was born at Edinburgh on 3 Dec. 1860. After he had left school he spent some months in the workshop of a punch-cutter, where he was engaged in cutting dies for printers' types. In May 1866 he entered the wood-engraving department of Messrs. W. & R. Chambers, publishers, and during an apprenticeship of five years with that firm produced a number of woodcuts, including some tailpieces for 'Chambers's Miscellany,' He found time to attend the School of Art, to copy in the Scottish National Gallery, and to contribute to a Sketching Club; and he spent his summer holiday of 1870 in London, making studies in the national collections. His indentures haying been cancelled by his request in August 1871, he devoted himself more assiduously to the work of the Edinburgh School of Art, and in the following year he gained a free studentship and a 'silver medal for a water-colour study. In 1873 he travelled in France, Belgium, and Holland, visiting Josef Israels at the Hague. Shortly after his return his health failed, and he was compelled, early in 1874, to go south to Sark, where he made some of his best sketches. He returned to Scotland for a short time, and in January 1875 went to Paris, to take lessons in etching in the studio of M. Cadart. He was back in England in April, and he settled for a few months at Shirley, near Croydon. In September he sought change at Lympstone in Devonshire, where he died on 27 Feb. 1876. He is buried in the neighbouring churchyard of Gulliford. He has left a small water-colour portrait of himself when an apprentice, and another executed in 1874, and hung in 1876 in the exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy. A good photograph (1873) is reproduced in Mr. Gray's 'Memoir.' In his engraving Manson was an acknowledged disciple of Bewick, copying his simple and direct line effects, and preferring to work 'from the solid black into the white, instead of from the white into grey by means of a multiplicity of lines.' His paintings, which deal with homely and simple subjects, are realistic transcripts from nature, and are chiefly notable for their fine schemes of colour. Many of his works are reproduced in the 'Memoir.'
[George Manson and his Works, Edinb. 1880, containing a biographical preface by J. M. Gray, founded on material given by the artist's friends; information kindly supplied by J. R. Pairman, esq., and W. D. McKay, R.S.A.; Hamerton's Graphic Arts, pp. 311-12; Scotsman, 1 March 1876.]
G. G. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mant, Walter Bishop

​MANT, WALTER BISHOP (1807–1869), divine, eldest son of Richard Mant [q. v.], was born on 25 June 1807 at Buriton, Hampshire. He matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford, on 6 Feb. 1824, and graduated B.A. 1827, M.A. 1830. In 1831 he took orders, and was appointed archdeacon of Connor by his father. In October 1834 he was preferred to the rectory of Hillsborough, co. Down, and was appointed archdeacon of Down. For many years he was provincial grand master, and afterwards provincial grand chaplain, of the freemasons of Down and Antrim. Like his father, whose biographer he became, he wrote verse. In antiquarian subjects he took considerable interest, and contributed to the 'Proceedings' of local societies, he preached on Sunday, 4 April 1869, and died of influenza two days later at the archdeaconry, Hillsborough; he was buried on 10 April at Hillsborough.
He published:
* 'Horas Apostolicæ,' &c, 1839, 8vo.
* 'The Man of Sorrows … five Discourses,' &c, Oxford, 1852, 8vo.
* 'Memoirs of … Richard Mant,' &c, Dublin, 1857, 8vo.
* 'Christophoros and other Poems,' &c, 1861, 8vo.
* 'Bible Quartetts,' &c.[1862],32mo (three numbers).
* 'Scientific Quartetts,' &c [1862-3], 32mo (six numbers).
[Belfast Newsletter, 7 April and 12 April 1869; Guardian, 14 April 1869, p. 400; Ewart's Handbook of Diocese of Down, Connor, and Dromore, 1886, p. 49; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886.]
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mantell, Thomas

​MANTELL, Sir THOMAS (1751–1831), antiquary, born in 1751, was the only son of Thomas Mantell, surgeon, of Chilham, Kent, by Catharine, daughter of John Nichols, rector of Fordwich. He belonged to the Kentish branch of the Mantells. Pegge the antiquary was his godfather. Early in life he settled at Dover in his father's profession, but retired on being appointed agent for prisoners of war and transports at Dover. In 1814 he was appointed agent for packets at Dover, a post at that time demanding unremitting attention. He was for many years a magistrate at Dover, and six times its mayor. He was knighted on 13 May 1820 during his mayoralty. He died at his house in Dover on 21 Dec. 1831, aged 80, and was buried in the family vault at Chilham. He married Anne, daughter of William Oakley, but left no family.
Mantell was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1810. He investigated the tumuli in various parts of Kent, and was a collector of antiquities. His publications are: 1. 'Short Directions for the Management of Infants,' 1787. 2. 'Case of Imperforate Anus successfully treated' in 'Memoirs of Medicine,' vol. iii. 1792. 3. 'An Account of Cinque Ports Meetings, called Brotherhoods and Guestlings,' Dover, 1811, 4to.; reissued with additions as 'Cinque Ports, Brotherhoods, and Guestlings,' Dover, 1828, 4to. 4. 'Coronation Ceremonies . . . relative to the Barons of the Cinque Ports,' &c., Dover, 1820, 4to.
[Gent. Mag. 1832, pt. i. pp. 88, 89, 651; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
W. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macgradoigh, Augustin

Aughuistín Magraidhin in the ODNB.
​MACGRADOIGH, AUGUSTIN (1349–1405), also called Magraidin (O'Donovan), Magradian, and MacCraith (O'Reilly), Irish chronicler, probably a native of Heath, was born in 1349. He entered the convent on Oilen-na-naomh in Loch Ree of the Shannon, and became a canon-regular of St. Austin. He became famous as a scribe, and was versed in secular as well as religious learning. He continued the annals of Tighearnach O'Brian [q. v.] to the year 1405, and his death is recorded in those annals by a subsequent hand. The O'Clerys (Annala Rioghachta Eireann, ii. 754) give'a long extract from a bookwritten in part by him and called 'Liubhar an Oilen,' but it is not certain that this, which is not now extant separately or in full, is a different work from his continuation of 'Tighearnach,' Some lives of saints which he is said to have written, have not been identified in modern times, but are probably in existence. He died in the last week of October 1405 at Oilen-na-naomh.
[O'Curry's Lectures, i. 73, and Appendix xxxix., where his obituary notice is given in Irish; Annala Rioghachta Eireann, ed. O'Donovan, ii. 755; Colgan's Acta Sanctorum Hiberniæ, p. 5; Ware's Writers of Ireland, ed. Harris, p. 87; Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society, 1820, i. 21; O'Conor's Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Machin, John (d.1751)

​MACHIN, JOHN (d. 1751), astronomer, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society on 30 Nov. 1710, acted as its secretary from 1718 to 1747, and sat on the committees appointed by the same body in 1712 to investigate the dispute between Newton and Leibnitz (Weld, History of the Royal Society, i. 410). On 16 May 1713 he succeeded Dr. Torriano [q.v.] as professor of astronomy in Gresham College, and held the post until his death, which occurred in London on 9 June 1751. Machin enjoyed a high mathematical reputation, but his attempt to rectify Newton's lunar theory in his 'The Laws of the Moon's Motion according to Gravity,' appended to Motte's translation of the 'Principia,' London, 1729, was a poor performance. His ingenious quadrature of the circle was investigated by Hutton (Tracts, i. 266), and be computed in 1706 the value of π by Halley's method to one hundred places of decimals (Jones, Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos, p. 243). A large work on the lunar theory taken in hand by him in 1717 never saw the light, but a mass of his manuscripts is preserved by the Royal Astronomical Society; and, writing to Jones in 1727, he asserted his claim to the parliamentary reward of 10,000l. for amending the lunar tables (Rigaud, Corresponedence of Scientific Men, i. 280).
Machin contributed to the 'Philosophical Transactions:'
* 'Inventio Curvæ quam corpus descendens brevissimo tempore describerat' (xxx. 860).
* 'A Case of a Distempered Skin' (xxxvii. 299).
* 'The Solution of Kepler's Problem' (xl. 205).
His quadrature was reprinted in Maseres's 'Use of the Negative Sign in Algebra' (p. 289).
[London Mag. xx. 284; Nichols's Illstr. of Lit. iv. 23; Rigaud's Corresp. of Scientific Men, vol. i. passim; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]
A. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macgeorge, Andrew

​MACGEORGE, ANDREW (1810–1891), antiquarian writer and historian, son of Andrew Macgeorge, lawyer, was born 13 May 1810, in Glasgow, where he received his school and university education. He was admitted into the Faculty of Procurators in 1836, becoming about the same time a member of his father's firm. After his father's death he was head of the firm till 1889, when he retired. Recognised as a sound ecclesiastical lawyer, Macgeorge was connected with some famous cases in the courts of the church of Scotland, and was in controversy an uncompromising churchman. He wrote, under the pseudonym of Veritas,' an elaborate series of articles on the principles of the free church, which were collected later for private circulation. He was skilled in heraldry, and as an antiquary he contributed important papers to the Archaeological Society of Glasgow. His love of art is illustrated by his biography of W. L. Leitch [q. v.], and by many water-colour paintings and clever caricatures. For 'Rab and his Friends,' by Dr. John Brown (1810-1882) [q. v.], he drew an illustration of the dog-fight, and Thackeray highly commended some of his caricatures when shown them by Dr. Brown. He took an active interest in the welfare of public institutions in Glasgow, notably the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, which was founded by his exertions, and of which he was long the secretary. His alma mater conferred on him the degree of LL.D. four months before his death, which took place at Row, Dumbartonshire, 4 Sept. 1891. In 1841 he married Miss Pollock of Whitehall, near Glasgow, ​who survived him with an only daughter, the wife of the Rev. Dr. Alison of Edinburgh.
Macgeorge's works are: 1. 'Insignia of Glasgow,' 1866. 2. 'Principles of the Free Church,' 1873. 3. 'Free Church Claims: their Real Character and Tendency,' 1877. 4. 'Old Glasgow: the Place and the People,' 1880, illust. 8vo and 4to, 1888; an able and trustworthy treatise. 5. 'Flags, their History and Use,' illust. 4to, 1881, a work of much research and interest. 6. 'William Leighton Leitch, Landscape Painter,' 1884. 7. 'The Church in its relation to the Law and the State,' a dissertation contributed to Professor Story's 'Church of Scotland, Past and Present, and also issued separately, 1891. For the Maitland Society he edited 'Miscellaneous Papers illustrative of the Reigns of Mary and James VI,' 1834, 4to.
[Glasgow Herald, 6 Sept. 1891; Helensburgh and Gareloch Times, 7 Sept. 1891; personal knowledge.]
T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macgill, Hamilton Montgomery

Hamilton Montgomerie MacGill in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​MACGILL, HAMILTON MONTGOMERY, D.D. (1807–1880), united presbyterian divine, born in 1807 in Catrine, Ayrshire, was educated at Mauchline,and entered Glasgow University in 1827 and the Divinity Hall of the United Secession church in 1831. He was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Kilmarnock in March 1836, and was ordained minister of Duke Street Church, Glasgow, in February 1837 as colleague to Dr. Muter. In 1840 he separated, with part of the congregation, from Duke Street, and formed the Montrose Street Church. In 1858 he became home mission secretary of the united presbyterian church, and he resigned his pastoral connection. He previously edited the 'Juvenile Missionary Magazine,' and now became editor also of the 'Missionary Record.' In 1868 Macgill resigned the home secretaryship on becoming foreign mission secretary, and that office he neld at his death. He received the degree of D.D. in 1870 from the university of Glasgow. He was an eloquent and popular preacher, and performed his secretarial duties with care and judgment. He died 3 June 1880.
Macgill published, besides sermons and addresses, an elaborate 'Life of Dr. Heugh,' his father-in-law, in 1850, and the, well-known and learned work, entitled 'Songs of the Christian Creed and Life,' selected and translated, 1876.
[Personal knowledge; memorial notice in United Presb. Mag. July 1880; Annals and Statistics of the U. P. Church.]
T. B. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Evans, Daniel (1792-1846)

​EVANS, DANIEL (1792–1846), Welsh poet, commonly called Daniel Du o Geredigion, that is Black Daniel of Cardiganshire, was born in 1792 at Maes y Mynach in the parish of Llanvihangel-ystrad in that county. His father, David Evans, was a well-to-do farmer, and he was the second of three sons. He was educated at Lampeter grammar school under Eliezer Williams, and subsequently went to Jesus College, Oxford, where in 1814 he proceeded B.A. with a third class in classics (Honours Register of Oxford, p. 199). He was elected to a fellowship, in his college, took holy orders, and proceeded M.A. 1817, and B.D. 1824. Though retaining his fellowship, he resided mostly in Wales, where he won prizes at Eisteddfodau, and became famous as a poet. His disorderly and irregular life was brought to a tragical end by his suicide on 28 March 1846. He was buried in the churchyard of Pencarreg in Carmarthenshire, the parish whence his family had come, and where many of his relatives were buried. Daniel Du's first published Welsh poem was a short pamphlet of twenty pages, printed in 1826 at Aberystwith, and called ‘Golwg ar gyflwr yr Iuddewon.’ He next issued in 1828 ‘Cerdd arwraidd ar y gauaf,’ in his friend Archdeacon Beynon's ‘Cerddi arwraidd ar yr hydref a'r gauaf.’ In 1831 his collected works were published at Llandovery with the title ‘Gwinllan y Bardd; sef prydyddwaith ar amrywiol destunau a gwahanol fesurau.’ A second edition was published at Lampeter in 1872, with considerable additions, mainly collected from unpublished sources. The simple and unaffected style and the homely intelligibility of Daniel Du's poems have given him a wide popularity in Wales, especially in his native county. The few English poems in the collection are of very inferior merit.
T. F. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Evans, Edward (1789-1835)

​EVANS, EDWARD (1789–1835), printseller, was born in 1789, and was for some time a compositor in the printing-office of Messrs. Nichols & Son, then of Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, by whom he was advanced to the post of reader. Having saved money he opened a print shop, and gradually accumulated an extensive stock. He is known for his ‘Catalogue of a Collection of Engraved Portraits, comprising nearly 20,000 Portraits of Persons connected with this Country,’ n. d., 8vo, published at Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, where he died 24 Nov. 1835, aged 46. His widow, Anne E. Evans, and son, Edward David, brought out a second volume in 1853 at No. 403 Strand, whither the business was removed in that year. The two volumes profess to describe about fifty thousand prints, and form a most useful guide to English engraved portraits.
His eldest son, Edward David Evans (1818–1860), mentioned above, carried on the shop in the Strand until his death there on 15 Aug. 1860, aged 42. He was succeeded by his brother and partner, Albert.
[Gent. Mag. December 1835, new ser. iv. 663, October 1860, 3rd ser. ix. 434.]
H. R. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Evans, Daniel (1774-1835)

​EVANS, DANIEL (1774–1835), independent minister at Mynyddbach, Glamorganshire, was born at Maindala, Eglwyswrw, Pembrokeshire, 16 Jan. 1774. As a youth he was fond of frequenting prayer-meetings in private houses. At an early age he became church member, and soon afterwards began preaching with great enthusiasm from house to house. He thus trained himself for the future work, and became very successful as a missionary. His first settlement was at Llanwrtyd, Brecknockshire, as co-pastor with the Rev. Isaac Price, from 1796 to 1799. He went in 1799 to Bangor, where his congregation had but twenty-five members, who were not able to give him 10l. a year. He often wondered what could have brought him to so poor a place, but thanked God that he had a little private means. He enlarged his own congregation and established seven new ones in the immediate neighbourhood, several of them self-supporting. In 1808 he removed to Mynyddbach, where he was again very suc​cessful. During six months, in 1828–9, he added no fewer than 650 to the membership of his churches. He died at Mynyddbach 3 March 1835. His published works are (all Welsh): 1. ‘On the Salvation of Children.’ 2. ‘Reasons for Dissent.’ 3. ‘Memoir of Rev. Lewis Rees’ (father of Dr. Abraham Rees, the encyclopædist). 4. ‘Memoir of Rev. J. Davies, Alltwen.’ 5. ‘Memoir of Rev. W. Evans, Cwmllynfell.’ 6. ‘Memoir of Rev. J. Davies, Llansamlet.’ 7. A Hymn-book. 8. ‘The Golden Cistern.’ 9. ‘The Basket (Cawell) of Unleavened Bread.’ 10. ‘Ten Sermons’ (posthumous).
R. J. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Evans, Evan (1804-1886)

​EVANS, EVAN (1804–1886), generally known in Wales as Evans bach Nantyglo, dissenting minister, was born at Gellillyndy, Llanddewibrefi, Cardiganshire, 8 March 1804. He commenced preaching with the Calvinistic methodists in 1825; became a total abstainer in 1830, and met with much persecution for his advocacy of temperance principles, which were new in those days. In 1847 he joined the independents, and continued a popular minister among them through life. In 1869 he was induced to emigrate to America, whither a daughter and several brothers and sisters had gone before him, taking up his residence at Oakhill, Ohio. In 1881 he collected a small Welsh church in Arkansas, the first in the state, and continued in charge of it until his death on 29 Oct. 1886. His wife died in January of the same year.
His literary works are: ‘Rhodd Mam i'w Phlentyn;’ he edited the monthly magazine called ‘Cyfaill Plentyn;’ ‘y Cyfamod Gweithredoedd,’ &c., 2nd edit., 1842; ‘Cofiant Parch. D. Stephenson, Brynmawr;’ ‘Ffordd Duw yn y Cyssegr a'r Mor;’ ‘Athrawiaeth a Dyledswydd,’ being two volumes of sermons, 1864 and 1866; he translated ‘Daioni a Thoster Duw,’ by John Owen, D.D., 1843; ‘Corff Duwinyddiaeth,’ by Dr. Brown of Haddington, 1845; ‘Cynydd y Cristion,’ by Dr. Goodwin, 1847; ‘Codiad a Chwymp Pabyddiaeth,’ by Dr. Fleming, 1849; ‘Crefydd Gymdeithasol,’ by Matthias Maurice, 1862; he also published ‘Ystafell Weddi, neu Allwedd Ddirgel y Nefoedd,’ by Brooks, translated by Rev. W. Williams, Talgarth, 1845.
R. J. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Evans, Cornelius

​EVANS, CORNELIUS (fl. 1648), impostor, a native of Marseilles, was the offspring of a Welshman and a woman of Provence. A certain resemblance which he bore to the Prince of Wales induced him to come to England in 1648, and pass himself off as the prince. Taking up his quarters at an inn at Sandwich, he gave out that he had fled from France because the queen his mother contemplated poisoning him. The mayor of the town paid his homage to him, while one of the aldermen lodged him at his own house, and treated him in every respect as the heir-apparent. Evans received these attentions with condescension, and obtained a number of presents from the well-to-do people of the county. His reign, however, had an undignified ending. A certain courtier, whom the queen and Prince Charles sent over expressly, came to Sandwich and denounced Evans as an impostor. Evans, far from showing any discomfiture, coolly ordered the mayor to take the courtier into custody. Meanwhile a party of royalists came to seize Evans, who fled by a back door. He was, however, soon captured, conducted to Canterbury, and thence to London, where he was committed to Newgate. He quickly contrived to make his escape, after which nothing more was heard of him.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Evans, Edward (fl.1615)

​EVANS, EDWARD (fl. 1615), divine, son of a clergyman, was born at West Meon, Hampshire, in 1573, and educated at Winchester, whence he matriculated at New College, Oxford, 10 Oct. 1593, and took the two degrees in arts, B.A. 27 Nov. 1598, M.A. 21 Jan. 1602. He had been admitted fellow of his college in 1595, but resigned in 1604. On 23 Dec. 1601 he was instituted by the college to the vicarage of Heckfield, Hampshire, which he resigned in January 1601–2. Two years later the college presented him to the vicarage of Chesterton, Oxfordshire, 15 Nov. 1604, where he remained until 1610. Evans, who was ‘a noted preacher of his time ​in the university,’ published ‘Verba Dierum; or, the Dayes Report of God's glory. … Foure Sermons [on Ps. xix. 2],’ 4to, Oxford, 1615. In that year he does not appear to have been beneficed. Wood has wrongly ascribed the authorship of these sermons to another Edward Evans, who was born and educated at Llanrwst, Denbighshire, entered Christ Church, Oxford, in 1598 when aged 16, and graduated B.A. 15 Feb. 1603, M.A. 13 March 1606.
[Manuscript notes by P. Bliss in a copy of Verba Dierum in the British Museum; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 168; Wood's Fasti Oxon. (Bliss), i. 299, 317.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Evans, David Morier

​EVANS, DAVID MORIER (1819–1874), financial journalist, the son of Joshua Lloyd Evans of Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire, was born in 1819. He formed an early connection with journalism, and became assistant city correspondent on the ‘Times,’ a post which he occupied several years, and left to assume the direction of the money articles in the ‘Morning Herald’ and ‘Standard.’ He left the ‘Standard’ at the end of 1872, and in the following March started a paper called the ‘Hour,’ on which he spent his entire means, being adjudicated a bankrupt 19 Dec. 1873. His health broke down under the strain of his financial difficulties, and he died on the morning of 1 Jan. 1874, aged 54. He was buried in Abney Park cemetery, Stamford Hill, the funeral being attended by a large number of brother journalists among whom he was popular. In addition to his regular work Evans was connected with several other commercial and financial periodicals, among them being the ‘Bankers' Magazine,’ to which he was one of the principal contributors, the ‘Bullionist,’ and the ‘Stock Exchange Gazette.’ He also conducted the literary and statistical departments of the ‘Bankers' Almanac and Diary.’ He published several books, all bearing on or arising out of city affairs, chief among which were: 1. ‘The Commercial Crisis, 1847–8.’ 2. ‘History of the Commercial Crisis, 1857–8, and the Stock Exchange Panic, 1859.’ 3. ‘Facts, Failures, and Frauds: Revelations, Financial, Mercantile, and Criminal,’ 1859. 4. ‘Speculative Notes and Notes on Speculation Ideal and Real,’ 1864. 5. ‘City Men and City Manners.’ He was married, and left issue.
A. V.