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

1904 Errata appended.
​BENSON, MARTIN (1689–1752), bishop of Gloucester, was the son of the Rev. J. Benson, rector of Cradley, Herefordshire, and was born there on 23 April 1689. He was educated at the Charterhouse and at Christ Church College, Oxford, of which he became a tutor. He subsequently travelled on the continent, where he met Berkeley, his friend and correspondent for thirty years, and Secker, whose sister he married. Soon after his return he became, in 1721, archdeacon of Berkshire. In 1724 he obtained one of the 'golden' prebends in Durham Cathedral; and in 1726 was made chaplain to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George II. In 1727 he was presented to the rectory of Bletchley, and in 1728, on occasion of a royal visit to Cambridge, received the degree of D.D. In January 1735 he was nominated bishop of Gloucester, probably as amends to his friend and patron Lord Chancellor Talbot, for the mortification he had suffered by the rejection of his nominee Dr. Rundle, whose promotion to Gloucester had been successfully opposed by the Bishop of London (Rundle). On his appointment Benson declared his resolution to accept no higher preferment, and kept his word, though Gloucester was at that time one of the poorest of the bishoprics. He revived the institution of rural deans, and expended considerable sums in repaving the choir of the cathedral, adding pinnacles to the lady chapel, and thoroughly repairing the palace. He personally visited the diocese of York, under commission from Archbishop Blackburne, then advanced in years, who left him a service of plate by his will. Exhausted, as was thought, with the fatigue and anxiety of tending Bishop Butler in his last illness, Benson died, universally beloved and lamented, on 30 Aug. 1752, and was buried in his cathedral. Benson belonged to the best type of English prelate of his time, and was one of the select circle of eminent divines protected and encouraged by Lord Chancellor Talbot, of which Butler was the most distinguished ornament. Berkeley called him 'Titus, the delight of mankind,' and Pope celebrated him along with his illustrious friend in the famous couplet—
Manners with candour are to Benson given,
To Berkeley every virtue under heaven.
His only publications were some separate sermons.
R. G.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.23 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Benson, Robert (1797-1844)

​BENSON, ROBERT (1797–1844), recorder of Salisbury, was the youngest son of the Rev. Edmund Benson, priest-vicar of Salisbury Cathedral, and was born in that city on 6 Feb. 1797. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. 1818, M.A. 1821), was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1821, and practised in the courts of equity. In 1823 he went to Corsica as one of the commissioners to carry into effect the bequests of General Paoli, and on his return he published 'Sketches of Corsica; or a Journal written during a visit to that island in 1823, with an outline of its history and specimens of the language and poetry of the people,' London, 1825, 8vo. He was elected deputy recorder of Salisbury in 1829, and became recorder in 1836. In 1837 he published his best work, 'Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Arthur Collier,' the contemporary expounder of Berkeley's metaphysical doctrine. In 1848 there appeared the 'History of Salisbury,' a large folio volume, forming part of Sir Richard Colt Hoare's 'History of Modern Wiltshire,' with the joint names of Robert Benson and Henry Hatcher, of Salisbury, as the authors. A controversy took place between those two gentlemen with reference to this work, of which it appears Benson wrote only a very insignificant portion. Benson died unmarried at the house of his only surviving sister in the Close, Salisbury, on 21 June 1844, and was buried in the cathedral with the other members of his family.
[Gent. Mag. N. S. xxii. 323; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Graduati Cantab. (1873), 33.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Egg, Augustus Leopold

​EGG, AUGUSTUS LEOPOLD (1816–1863), subject painter, was the son of Egg the well-known gunmaker in Piccadilly, where he was born on 2 May 1816. Having mastered the first elements in drawing under Henry Sass, in Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury, he obtained admission as a student into the Royal Academy in 1836, and appeared as an exhibitor first in that institution in 1838, where he exhibited 'A Spanish Girl.' This was followed by 'Laugh when you can' in 1639, and a scene from 'Henry IV' in 1840. But his first work of importance, 'The Victim,' was exhibited at Liverpool, and subsequently was engraved in the 'Gems of European Art.' He also contributed for many years to the Society of British Artists in Suffolk Street. He suffered from a weak constitution, and during a journey in Africa, undertaken for the benefit of his health, he died at Algiers on 26 March 1863, and was buried there. Egg was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1848, and an academician in 1860, in which year he painted a scene from the 'Taming of the Shrew.' His portrait by Frith, engraved by J. Smyth, appeared in the 'Art Union Monthly Journal of 1847, p. 312. Works of his best quality are: 'Queen Elizabeth discovers she is no longer young' (1848); 'Peter the Great sees Katherine for the first time' (1850); 'The Life and Death of ​Buckingham' (1855); scenes from 'Esmond' (1857-8); a triptych of the 'Fate of a Faithless Wife' (1858); and 'The Night before Naseby' (1859). In the National Gallery there is a canvas, 'Scene from Le Diable Boiteux' (1844).
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Egerton, John (1646-1701)

​EGERTON, JOHN, third Earl of Bridgewater (1646–1701), was the eldest surviving son of the second earl [q. v.], by his wife, the Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of the first Duke of Newcastle. Born 9 Nov. 1646, he was made one of the knights of the Bath at the coronation of Charles II; and in the parliament called by James II he was returned as one of the knights for Buckinghamshire, sitting by his courtesy title of Viscount Brackley. In 1686 he succeeded his father in the peerage and in the ​following year King James removed him from the lord-lieutenancy of Buckinghamshire, as he was then counted among the disaffected peers. At the Revolution of 1688 Bridgewater concurred in the vote of the House of Lords for settling the crown on the Prince and Princess of Orange. Upon his accession William III reconstituted the earl lord-lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. He was also sworn a member of the privy council, and appointed first commissioner of trade and the plantations. In March 1694–5 Bridgewater bore one of the banners of England and France at the funeral of Queen Mary. On 31 May 1699 he was nominated first commissioner for executing the office of lord high admiral of England; and on 1 June following he was appointed one of the lords justices of the kingdom during the kings absence beyond the seas, being subsequently confirmed in the office. Bridgewater was a man of excellent character, and well proved in the public business. He presided in the House of Lords, during the absence of Lord-chancellor Somers, on the occasion of the important debates on the Resumption Bill. On several occasions he prorogued parliament at the command of the king. He stood high in his sovereign's confidence, and died during his tenure of office as first lord of the admiralty, 19 March 1700–1. He was much lamented as 'a just and good man, a faithful friend, and a wise counsellor.' He married first, Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Middlesex (who died in 1670); and secondly, Jane, eldest daughter of the Duke of Bolton. He was succeeded in the earldom by his third son, Scroop Egerton, who, after holding important posts in the state, was created Duke of Bridgewater, 18 June 1720. It was this duke who first conceived the idea of the great Bridgewater canal, and he obtained the first of the acts for putting the project in force.
[Collins's Peerage of England, ed. Brydges, vol. iii., 1812; Macaulay's Hist, of England, vol. v.]
G. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Egerton, John (1721-1787)

​EGERTON, JOHN (1721–1787), bishop of Durham, son of Henry Egerton, bishop of Hereford, by Lady Elizabeth Ariana Bentinck, daughter of the Earl of Portland, was, born in London on 30 Nov. 1721, and educated at Eton and at Oriel College, Oxford, where he was admitted a gentleman commoner on 20 May 1740. He was ordained deacon and priest by Hoadly, bishop of Winchester, on 21 and 22 Dec. 1745, and on the 23rd of the same month was collated by his father to the rectory of Ross, Herefordshire, and on 3 Jan. following to the prebend of Cublington in Hereford Cathedral He took the degree of B.C.L. at Oxford on 30 May 1746, was appointed king's chaplain 19 March 1749, and dean of Hereford 24 July 1750. On 4 July 1756 he was consecrated bishop of Bangor, having previously received the degree of D.C.L. He continued to hold, in commendam, the rectory of Ross and the prebend of Cublington. He was translated to the see of Lichfield and Coventry on 12 Oct. 1768, and a few days afterwards was admitted to the prebend of Wildland, and a residentiaryship in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. On 8 July 1771 he succeeded Dr. Trevor as bishop of Durham. He had previously declined the primacy of Ireland. At Durham he displayed much address and talent for conciliation in promoting the peace and prosperity of the palatinate. He restored harmony in the county, which had been divided by elections, and in the city, which had been torn to pieces by disputes. In the discharge of his episcopal functions he was diligent, conscientious, just, and dignified; and in private life was amiable, hospitable, and scholarlike. He was a great benefactor to the county by encouraging public works. He promoted the enclosure of Walling Fen in Howdenshire; assisted materially in rebuilding a bridge over the Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead, and in 1780 granted a new charter, restoring ancient and affording new privileges, to the city of Durham. He also obtained acts of parliament to relieve a large body of copyholders at Lanchester, Hamsteel Fell, and in the manor of Howdenshire, from certain onerous dues. He made extensive improvements at the episcopal palaces, and was a liberal supporter of many religious and educational institutions.
His first wife was Lady Anne Sophia, daughter of Henry de Grey, duke of Kent, whom he married on 21 Nov. 1748, and who died in 1780. By her he had issue a daughter and three sons. The first son died in infancy, and the others, John William and Francis Henry [q. v.], both succeeded to the earldom of Bridgewater. He married secondly, on 31 March 1782, Mary, sister of Sir Edward Boughton, bart.
His only publications were three single sermons, 1757, 1761, and 1763. He died at his house in Grosvenor Square, London, on 18 Jan. 1787, and was buried in St. James's Church.
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Egerton, Sarah

​EGERTON, SARAH (1782–1847), actress, was the daughter of the Rev. Peter Fisher, rector of Little Torrington, Devonshire. After the death (1803) of her father she took to the stage, appearing at the Bath theatre on 3 Dec. 1803 as Emma in 'The Marriage Promise' of John Till Allingham. Here she remained for six or seven years, playing as a rule secondary characters. Her last benefit at Bath took place on 21 March 1809, when she played Gunilda in Dimond's 'Hero of the North' and Emmeline in Hawkesworth's 'Edgar and Emmeline.' She probably married Daniel Egerton [q. v.] soon afterwards. He was playing leading business in Bath. Her first recorded appearance as Mrs. Egerton was at Birmingham in 1810. On ​25 Feb. 1811, as Mrs. Egerton from Birmingham, she played Juliet at Covent Garden with no very conspicuous success. Marcia in 'Cato,' Luciana in 'Comedy of Errors,' Emilia in 'Othello' followed during the same season. She could not struggle against the formidable opposition of Mrs. Siddons and subsequently of Miss O'Neill, and it was not until she took to melodrama that her position was assured. In the 'Miller and his Men' by Pocock she was (21 Oct. 1813) the original Ravina. Again she relapsed into obscurity, from which, in adaptations from the 'Waverley Novels,' she permanently issued. 'Guy Mannering, or the Gipsy's Prophecy,' by Daniel Terry, was produced at Covent Garden on 12 March 1816. John Emery [q. v.]]] was originally cast for Meg Merrilies, but refused positively to take the part. Under these circumstances the management turned almost in despair to Mrs. Egerton, whose success proved to be conspicuous. Helen Macgregor in Pocock's 'Rob Roy Macgregor, or Auld Lang Syne,' 12 March 1818, followed. Her services having been dispensed with at Covent Garden, she played (13 Jan. 1819), at the Surrey, Madge wildfire in Thomas Dibdin's 'The Heart of Midlothian, or the Lily of St. Leonard's,' and subsequently Young Norval in Home's 'Douglas,' played as a melodrama. In 1819-1820 she appeared at Drury Lane, then under Elliston's management, as Meg Merrilies, playing during this and the following seasons in tragedy and melodrama and even in comedy. She was the Queen to Kean's Hamlet, and appeared as Clementina Allspice in 'The Way to get Married,' Volumnia in 'Coriolanus,' Jane de Montfort in the alteration of Joanna Baillie's DeMontfort,' brought forward for Kean 27 Nov. 1821, Alicia in 'Jane Shore,' and many other characters. When, in 1821, her husband took Sadler's Wells, she appeared with conspicuous success as Joan of Arc in Fitzball's drama of that name. Subsequently she played in melodrama at the Olympic, also under her husband's management. Soon after Egerton's death in 1835 she retired from the stage, accepting a pension from the Covent Garden Fund. She died at Chelsea on 3 Aug. 1847, and was buried on 7 Aug. in Chelsea churchyard. A third-rate actress in tragedy, she approached the first rank in melodrama. Macready (Reminiscences, i. 125) says 'her merits were confined to melodrama.'
J. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Egerton, Stephen

​EGERTON, STEPHEN (1555?–1621?), puritan divine, was born in London about 1555. He became a member of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, and earned so great a reputation for learning that a fellowship was only denied him on account of the poverty of his college. He took the M.A. degree in 1579, and on 9 July 1583 was incorporated at Oxford. He had already taken orders and attached himself to the puritan party, being one of the leaders in the formation of the presbytery at Wandsworth, Surrey, which has been described as the first presbyterian church in England. In 1584 he was suspended for refusing to subscribe to Whitgift's articles, but he does not appear to have remained long under censure, for shortly afterwards he was active in promoting the 'Book of Discipline,' and was one of those nominated by the puritan synod to superintend the proper performance of its articles. During the imprisonment of Barrow and Greenwood in 1590 Egerton was sent by the Bishop of London to confer with them, and several letters passed between him and them; but later in the same year he himself was summoned, together with several other ministers, before the high commission, and was committed to the Fleet prison, where he remained about three years. In 1598 he became minister of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, London. He was one of those chosen to present the millenary petition for the further reform of the church in 1603, and in May of the following year he introduced a petition to the lower house of convocation for the reformation of the prayer-book. He remained in his cure at Blackfriars till his death, which took place about 1621, being assisted in his latter years by William Googe, who succeeded him. He was described by Dr. Nowell, in a letter, as a 'man of great learning and godliness.'
Egerton published several sermons, few of which remain. Chief among those of his works still extant are 'A Brief Method of Catechising,' first issued in 1594, which in 1644 reached a forty-fourth edition; and a translation from the French of Matthew Virel entitled 'A Learned and Excellent Treatise containing all principal Grounds of the Christian Religion, ' the earliest edition of which now remaining is the fourth, published in 1597, and the latest the fourteenth in 1635. Egerton's preface to this book contains some well-chosen and sensible remarks on the choice of reading. In addition to his own books he wrote introductions for several publications by his fellow-puritans, including Rogers, Pricke, Baine, and Byfield.
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howman, John

​HOWMAN, JOHN (1518?–1585), abbot of Westminster. [See Feckenham, John de.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hoy, Thomas

​HOY, THOMAS (1659–1718), physician and poet, born on 12 Dec. 1659 (School Reg.), was son of Clement Hoy of London. He was admitted into Merchant Taylors' School in 1672, and was elected a probationary fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, in 1675. He graduated B.A. 1680, M.A. 1684, M.B. 1686, and M.D. 1689. He was appointed regius professor of physic at Oxford in 1698. Hearne, whose opinion of 'a ranck low church whigg' is not likely to be impartial, says that he owed his appointment to the influence of Dr. Gibbons with Lord Somers, and that he scandalously neglected the duties of his office. According to Wood he practised as a physician 'in and near the antient Borough of Warwick,' but in 1698 Evelyn, writing from Wotton, speaks of Dr. Hoy as 'a very learned, curious, and ingenious person, and our neighbour in Surrey.' He died, it is said, in Jamaica in or about 1718. Besides contributing to the translations of Plutarch's 'Morals,' 1684, of Cornelius Nepos, 1684, and of Suetonius's 'Life of Tiberius,' 1689, he published: 1. Two essays, the former 'Ovid de arte Amandi, or the Art of Love,' book i.; the latter 'Hero and Leander of Musæus from the Greek,' London, 1682. 2. 'Agathocles, the Sicilian Usurper;' a poem, London, 1683, fol.
C. J. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howlett, Samuel Burt

​HOWLETT, SAMUEL BURT (1794–1874), surveyor and inventor, only son of Samuel Howlett of Gracechurch Street, London, and grandson of John Howlett of the Hall, Pulham St. Mary the Virgin, Norfolk, was born on 10 July 1794. He entered the corps of Royal Military Surveyors and Draughtsmen as cadet on 20 Aug. 1808, and became a favourite pupil of John Bonnycastle, the mathematician [q. v.] Howlett at the age of fourteen drew the diagrams for the fourth edition of Bonnycastle's Euclid. On becoming a commissioned officer he surveyed single-handed parts of Berkshire and Wiltshire for the ordnance survey. The corps being reduced in 1817, after the peace, he was on half-pay until 1824, when he was appointed assistant, and in 1830 chief military surveyor and draughtsman to the board of ordnance. In 1826 he was an exhibitor at the Royal Academy, and in 1828 he published an ingenious treatise on perspective. As inspector of scientific instruments for the war department he was led to make improvements in the mountain barometer and in the stadiometer then used at the School of Musketry. He also invented an anemometer, and a method of construction, now widely adopted, for large drawing-boards, with compensations for moisture and temperature. Several papers written by him on these inventions and on cognate subjects were published in the 'Professional Papers of the Royal Engineers.'
From early manhood he spent much time in promoting church schools and in charitable work among the poor. He retired at the age of seventy-one, and died at Bromley in Kent on 24 Jan. 1874.
His elder son, the Rev. Samuel Howlett, B.A. Cambr. (d. 1861), was mathematical lecturer at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. His younger son, Richard Howlett, F.S.A., is one of the editors of the Rolls series of Chronicles.
[Private information.]
W. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howth, Lords

​HOWTH, Lords. [See St. Lawrence, Christopher, Nicholas and Robert.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howlett, John

​HOWLETT, JOHN (1731–1804), political economist, was doubtless son of John Howlett of Bedworth, Warwickshire. He matriculated from St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, on 10 Nov. 1749, aged 18, and graduated B.A. from St. John's College in 1755, M.A. in 1795, and B.D. in 1796. He was presented to the living of Great Dunmow, Essex, in 1771, and was also vicar of Great Badow. He died at Bath on 29 Feb. 1804.
Howlett wrote much on the statistics and condition of the people, and severely criticised the theories and writings of Dr. Price. In contradiction to Price he maintained that enclosures resulted from the increase in population. As an economist he is wanting in originality. His merits as a statistician consist chiefly in the miscellaneous information which he brought together.
His works, apart from separately published sermons, are:
* 'An Examination of Dr. Price's Essay on the Population of England and Wales,' 1781.
* 'An Enquiry into the Influence which Enclosures have had upon the Population of England,' 1786.
* 'An Essay on the Population of Ireland,' 1786.
* 'Enclosures a cause of Improved Agriculture,' 1787. This is a rejoinder to the reviews of his previous work on enclosures.
* 'The Insufficiency of the causes to which the Increase of our Poor and the Poor's Rates have been generally ascribed,' 1788.
* 'At end of Wood's Account of Shrewsbury House of Industry a Correspondence with Howlett,' 1795.
* 'An Examination of Mr. Pitt's Speech in the House of Commons on 12 Feb. 1796, relative to the condition of the Poor,' 1796.
* 'Dispersion of the present gloomy apprehensions of late repeatedly suggested by the Decline of our Corn Trade, and conclusions of a directly opposite tendency established upon well-authenticated facts. To which are added Observations upon the first Report of the Committee on Waste Lands,' 1798.
* 'The Monthly Reviewers reviewed in a Letter to those Gentlemen, pointing out their Misrepresentations and fallacious Reasonings in the Account of the Pamphlet,' &c., 1798.
* 'An Inquiry concerning the Influence of Tithes upon Agriculture,' &c. (with remarks on Arthur Young), 1801.
[Gent. Mag. 1804, pt. i. p. 282; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; McCulloch's Lit. of Political Economy; Works.]
E. C. K. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howlett, Bartholomew

​HOWLETT, BARTHOLOMEW (1767–1827), draughtsman and engraver, born in Louth in Lincolnshire in 1767, was son, by his first marriage, of Bartholomew Howlett, a native of Norfolk, who was settled at Louth. Howlett came to London and served as apprentice to James Heath [q. v.] the engraver. He was mainly employed on topographical and antiquarian works. In 1801 he engraved and published 'A Selection of Views in the County of Lincoln,' with seventy-five plates from drawings by Girtin, Nash, and others, of which a later edition appeared in 1805. He also executed plates for Wilkinson's 'Londina Illustrata,' Bentham's 'History of Ely,' Frost's 'Notices of Hull,' Anderson's 'Plan and Views of the Abbey Royal of St. Denys,' the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' and similar works. In 1817 he made a number of drawings for a projected 'History of Clapham,' of which one number only was published. When the Royal Hospital of St. Katherine, near the Tower, was pulled down in 1826, Howlett made a number of drawings, with a view to a publication, which never appeared. For John Caley [q. v.] Howlett made drawings of about a thousand seals of English monastic and religious houses. Subsequently he fell into pecuniary difficulties, and died at Newington, 18 Dec. 1827, aged 60.
[New Monthly Magazine, June 1828; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. i. 321, vii. 69, 5th ser. ix.488; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]
L. C.