OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edwards, Thomas (fl.1810)

​EDWARDS, THOMAS, LL.D. (fl. 1810), divine, was son of Thomas Edwards (1729– 1785) [q. v.] He graduated LL.B. in 1782 from Clare College, Cambridge. In 1787 he was a fellow of Jesus College, and took his LL.D. degree. He published
* Plutarch, 'De Educatione Liberorum,' with notes, 1791, 8vo.
* 'A Discourse on the Limits and Importance of Free Inquiry in matters of Religion,' Butt, 1792, 8vo.
* 'Remarks on Dr. Kipling's Preface to Beza,' part i. 1793, 8vo.
* 'Criticisms relating to the Dead,' London, 1810, 8vo.
* Various sermons. N. Nisbett, rector of Tunstall, made several attacks upon Edwards's biblical criticisms.
[Brit. Mus. Cat.; Cooper's Memorials of Cambridge, i. 48.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Green, Samuel

​GREEN, SAMUEL (1740–1796), organ-builder, learnt his art under the elder Byfield, Bridge, and Jordan, and afterwards entered into several years' partnership with the younger Byfield. Green built a large number of organs for the cathedrals, and for churches in London and the country, instruments which were famed for their beauty of tone. Green died in something like poverty at Isleworth, Middlesex, 14 Sept. 1796, leaving his business to his widow.
[Grove's Dict. of Music, i. 624, where is a list of Green's organs.]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Green, William (1714?-1794)

​GREEN, WILLIAM (1714?–1794), hebraist, born at Newark, Nottinghamshire about 1714, entered Clare Hall, Cambridge as a sizar on 16 March 1733-4, but was admitted scholar of Mr. Wilson's foundation on 20 Jan. 1736. On 19 Jan. 1737, having taken his B.A. degree, he was admitted scholar of Mr. Freeman's foundation, and on 11 Dec. 1738 became a fellow of Lord Exeter's foundation. He was elected fellow on Mr. Diggon's foundation on 19 Feb. 1739, proceeded M.A. in 1741, and finally on 2 Nov. 1743 succeeded to a fellowship of the old foundation (college books). In 1759 he was presented by the college to the rectory of Hardingham, Norfolk, where he died on 7 Nov. 1794, aged 80 (Mon. Insc.; Gent. Mag. 1794, pt. ii. p. 1060). His wife Mary died on 21 June 1795, aged 75. Some of his correspondence with divines like Secker, Warburton (who advised him on his theological reading), Bagot, and Newton, and with the eminent Hebrew scholars, Newcome, Richard Grey, and Blayney, is printed in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ for 1819. pt.ii., and 1822, pt.i.; in Nichols's ‘Literary Anecdotes,’ vols. viii. ix.; and in Nichols's ‘Illustrations of Literature,’ vol. iv. Green published: 1. ‘The Song of Deborah reduced to metre; with a new translation and commentary,’ 4to, Cambridge, 1753. 2. ‘A new Translation of the Prayer of Habakkuk, the Prayer of Moses, and the cxxxix. Psalm; with a commentary,’ 4to, Cambridge, 1755. 3. ‘A new Translation of the Psalms … with notes … To which is added, A Dissertation on the last prophetick Words of Noah,' 8vo, Cambridge, 1762. 4. ‘A new Translation of Isaiah lii. 13 to the end of liii. … with notes,’ 4to, Cambridge, 1776. 5. ‘Poetical Parts of the Old Testament…newly translated … with notes,' 4to, Cambridge, 1781.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Green, Richard (1716-1793)

​GREEN, RICHARD (1716–1793), antiquary. [See Greene, Richard.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Green, Richard

​GREEN, RICHARD (1803–1863), shipowner and philanthropist, born at Blackwall in December 1803, was the son of George Green, by his first marriage with Miss Perry, daughter of a shipbuilder of repute at Blackwall. On the introduction of the elder Green into Perry's business, he became a shipowner, and fitted out a number of vessels in the whaling trade, thus laying the foundation of the house which at the time of his son's admission to the firm was styled Green, Wigram, & Green. Increasing their operations the partners took advantage of the East India Company's charter to build East Indiamen, for which they became well known. On the death of the head of the firm and the consequent dissolution of partnership, Richard Green continued the business in conjunction with his then surviving brother Henry. Green increased the number of vessels until the discovery of gold in Australia, when he and his brother launched a large number of ships for this voyage also. To this service they were about to add another to China, one vessel ​having made the voyage just before Green's death, and a second being then near completion. Green devoted much care to the improvement of the mercantile marine. The establishment of the Sailors' Home was one of his earliest efforts. In connection with it he provided a course of instruction in navigation for officers and men. He was the principal supporter of schools at Poplar, at which two thousand children were taught and partly clothed. To the Merchant Seamen's Orphan Asylum, the Dreadnought Hospital, the Poplar Hospital, and many other charities he was a great benefactor. Green was affectionately regarded in East London. He warmly interested himself in the naval reserve, and was chairman of the committee and a chief mover in the employment of the Thames Marine Officers' Training Ship. His favourite saying was that 'he had no time to hesitate,' and he was noteworthy for his unfailing promptitude, quick decision, clear judgment, and great business acumen. He died near Regent's Park on 17 Jan. 1863, and his funeral at Trinity Chapel, Poplar (founded by his father), was attended by an immense concourse. Green left by his will a large number of charitable bequests, including a free gift of the building and a perpetual endowment of his Sailors' Home at Poplar.
[Gent. Mag. 1863, i. 262; Illustrated London News memoir; Great Industries of Great Britain.]
J. B-y.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Green, Thomas (1722-1794)

​GREEN, THOMAS, the elder (1722–1794), political writer, the son of Thomas Green of Wilby, Suffolk, an ex-soapboiler, by his wife Jane Mould, was born in 1722. He received a good education, and was possessed of considerable literary power, which he made use of chiefly in writing political pamphlets. Of these the most important were: 1. ‘A Prospect of the Consequences of the Present Conduct of Great Britain towards America,’ 1776. 2. ‘A Discourse on the Imprisoning of Mariners, wherein Judge Foster's Argument is considered and answered,’1777. 3. ‘A Letter to Dr. James Butler of Ireland, occasioned by his late publication entitled "A Justification of the Tenets of the Roman Catholic Religion,"’ 1787. 4. ‘Strictures on the Letter of the R$^t$. Hon. Mr. Burke, and the Revolution in France,’ 1791. He also conducted a periodical, published at Ipswich, where he resided, and called ‘Euphrasy.’ This magazine, which was commenced in 1769, and extended to twelve numbers, was written almost entirely by Green himself, and supported the church of England as against dissenters. Green died on 6 Oct. 1794, and was buried at Wilby. He married Frances Martin, by whom he left a son, Thomas Green (1769-1825) [q. v.]
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Green, Thomas (d.1705)

​GREEN, THOMAS (d. 1705), captain of the Worcester, East Indiaman, on his homeward voyage in 1705, coming north-about to avoid the French cruisers, was forced by stress of weather to put into the Forth while the Scotch public was in a state of wild exasperation consequent on the still recent seizure of the Scotch East Indiaman Annandale in the Thames. The Worcester was arrested by way of reprisal, and was secured at Burnt-island. It then began to be rumoured that the Worcester was not the harmless trader she professed to be, but while in the East Indies had been engaged in piracy. The drunken talk of one of the seamen seemed to corroborate the notion, and a black cook's mate gave positive evidence of the capture of a ship and the murder of the crew. Other evidence was adduced in support of this; and though it was shown that the negro did not join the Worcester till long after the time referred to, and that the other witnesses were not on board, the public feeling ran so strong that Green and his officers were found guilty of piracy and murder, the charge specially naming Captain Robert Drummond and the crew of the Speedy Return as having been so robbed and murdered. There was not only no clear legal evidence of piracy and murder at all, but there was none whatever that Drummond had been murdered, or that he was even dead. But popular fury demanded a victim, and Green, the chief mate Madder, and the gunner Simpson, were accordingly hanged on 11 April 1705, the government being afraid of the riot which threatened to break out if the condemned culprits were pardoned. And yet before the execution had taken place the Raper galley had arrived from the East Indies, and on 30 March two of her seamen made affidavit before the mayor of Portsmouth that they had belonged to the Speedy Return, of which Robert Drummond was captain; that while they were lying in Port Maritan in Madagascar, Drummond and several of the crew being on shore, a large body of pirates came on board, seized the ship, and put to sea in her, took her to Rajapore, and there burnt her, and that they were never attacked by the Worcester or any other ship. There is no reason to doubt the truth of this story, delivered on oath; but it receives additional confirmation from the narrative of Robert Drury (fl. 1729) [q. v.], in which it is said that Drummond's ship was taken by pirates at Madagascar; that Drummond, with three or four hands, was permitted to go on shore near Fort Dauphin (Madagascar, or Robert Drury's Journal,p. 18), and that he was killed at Tullea, seven leagues to the northward of Augustine Bay, by 'one Lewes, a Jamaica negro' (ib. p. v). Writing more than twenty years afterwards, Captain Hamilton (New Account of the East Indies (2nd ed.), i. 320) expressed his opinion that whether Green was innocent of Drummond's murder or not, he deserved hanging for other crimes, and that substantial justice was done. It must, however, be remembered that Hamilton was a Scotchman writing in Scotland [see Hamilton, Alexander].
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, Patrick (fl.1615-1650)

​GORDON, PATRICK (fl. 1615–1650), poet, published in London in 1614, 4to, 'Neptunus Britannicus Corydonis,' a Latin poem, deploring the death of Prince Henry, and congratulating Prince Charles on succeeding his brother as Prince of Wales and the Princess Elizabeth on her marriage with the elector palatine. In 1615 two long narrative poems by 'Patrick Gordon, gent.,' were issued at Dort by George Waters. The first was 'The Famous Valiant Historie of the renouned and valiant Prince Robert, surnamed the Bruce, King of Scotland, &c., and of sundrie other knights both Scots and English, done into heroik verse.' A prose preface and prefatory verse by A. Gordon, Crage, Th. Mitchell, and others, showed much patriotic fervour. The poem, which is of no literary value, was reprinted at Edinburgh in 1718, 12mo, and at Glasgow in 1753. Gordon's second poem was 'The First Booke of the Famous Historye of Penardo and Laissa, otherways callid the Warres of Love and Ambitione … Doone into Heroik verse.' The first editions of these two poems are extremely rare. Only two copies of the 'Penardo' are known to be in existence. One has lately been acquired by the British Museum, where are also copies of the poem on Bruce and the 'Neptunus.'
It is possible that the author is identical with the Patrick Gordon of Ruthven who wrote, about 1650, 'A Shorte Abridgment of Britenes Distemper,' from 1639 to 1649, a prose account of the part played by Scotland in the civil wars. This work was first printed in 1844 for the Spalding Club, under the editorship of John Dunn. The writer was second son of Sir Thomas Gordon of Cluny, Aberdeenshire, by his first wife, Lady Elizabeth, daughter of William Douglas, ninth earl of Angus [q. v.] The father was a devoted adherent of the chief of his clan, George Gordon, sixth earl and first marquis of Huntly [q. v.] Patrick was admitted burgess of Aberdeen on 23 March 1609 at the special request of the first marquis. He married a kinswoman named Murray, daughter of the laird of Cobairdy, by whom he left issue. He was a staunch royalist, and probably wrote his 'Short Abridgment' as a vindication of the Marquis of Huntly, whom he thought Bishop Wishart had used unjustly in his 'Memoirs of Montrose,' issued in 1647. The work is valuable for its firsthand descriptions of both Montrose and Huntly.
[Patrick Gordon's Poetical Works as above; Irving's Lives of the Scottish Poets: Pinkerton's Scottish Poetry; Heber's Cat., ed. Collier, iii. 125; Dunn's Preface to the Short Abridgment of Patrick Gordon of Ruthven, where no mention is made of the earlier poems by 'Patrick Gordon, gent.']
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, Pryse Lockhart

​GORDON, PRYSE LOCKHART (fl. 1834), writer of memoirs, was born 23 April 1762 at Ardersier, Inverness-shire, where his father, the Rev. Harry Gordon, was minister of the parish. After his father's death (15 March 1764) his mother went to live with her father in Banffshire. Young Gordon was educated at the parish school of Banff, and subsequently at the university of Aberdeen, where he did not remain long, obtaining a commission in the marines at the age of fifteen. He was principally employed in recruiting, and seems to have seen no active service except a few cruises, which yielded him, he says, 17l. in prize-money. In 1792 he obtained a commission in a regiment raised by the Duke of Gordon, and after five years' service in Scotland was allowed to accompany his friend Lord Montgomery, an invalid, to Italy, where he remained until 1801, returning to find his regiment disbanded. He obtained employment at Minorca; but as he was on the point of embarking, 'my good fortune threw in my way an amiable young widow,' and rendered him independent of military service. After living at Banff Castle and in London, he went to Sicily with Lord Montgomery in 1811, and remained there until 1813, when he was prostrated by a sunstroke. The following year, after the peace, he took up his residence at Brussels, where he remained until his death, which probably took place some time between 1834 and 1840. In 1823 he wrote a guide for travellers, entitled 'A Companion to Italy,' the success of which led to the appearance of his 'Personal Memoirs' in 1830. This is a very entertaining book, written with good taste and simplicity, and containing many interesting reminiscences of notable persons known to the author, including Lady Hamilton, Rodney, Porson, Dr. Charles Burney, and Perry of the 'Morning Chronicle.' The peculiar interest of the work, however, arises from its sketches of picture and antiquity hunting, at a time when, owing to the disturbed state of the continent, great bargains were to be had, and connoisseurs were especially liable to be imposed upon. Gordon himself obtained for Dr. Burney the copy of Lascaris's Grammar, the first Greek book printed, which is now in the British Museum. His account of its acquisition is the most exciting passage in his book, except perhaps the description of the condition of the English residents at Brussels on the eve of Waterloo. His reminiscences of Rodney are remarkable for the positive assertion that Rodney, upon his return to England, volunteered to Gordon an acknowledgment of his acquaintance with Clerk of Eldin's essay on naval tactics, and his indebtedness to it. In 1834 Gordon published 'Holland and Belgium,' an entertaining book, negligent, and even ungrammatical in diction, but of permanent value for its notes on the Belgian revolution and its causes.
R. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, Lucie

1904 Errata appended.
[Last Letters from Egypt, to which are added Letters from the Cape, by Lady Duff-Gordon, with a Memoir by her daughter, Mrs. Ross, 1875, pp. i-xl, with portrait; Lettres d'Egypte par Lady Duff-Gordon, traduites par Mrs. Ross. Paris, 1879; Reg. and Mag. of Biogr. August 1869, pp. 95-6; Macmillan's Mag. September 1869, pp. 457-62, by the Hon. Mrs. Norton, and October 1874, pp. 530-40, by Janet Ross; Good Words, 1875, pp. 637-40; Times. 29 July 1869, p. 12, and 30 Oct. 1872, p. 7.]
G. C. B.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.138 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 220 | ii | 8 | Gordon, Lucie: for Brandenberg read Brandenburg |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, Robert (1687-1764)

​GORDON, ROBERT (1687–1764), biblical scholar, born in Scotland in 1687, was a member of the family of Kirkhill. He entered the Scotch College at Rome from the diocese of Aberdeen in 1705, was ordained priest, and left Rome in 1712. With the consent of the bishops he stayed at Paris as prefect of studies and procurator, and he did not proceed to the mission till 1718, when he was appointed chaplain to the Duke of Gordon. After the duke's death in 1728 he was sent to Edinburgh as procurator, which office he held till 1740. For many years he was engaged in translating the New Testament into English, and in 1743 he went to Rome to get his version approved before it was sent to the press. He was much opposed by the party called Campbellians, or Pilgrims, and he returned to England in 1745 without having obtained the desired authorisation. On his arrival in London he was apprehended and consigned to a messenger. On finding security for a large sum of money that he would never return to Britain without leave of the government, he was banished from the realm. He went to Flanders, where, and at Paris, he resided till 1749. In that year he returned to Rome, and having formed a hermitage for himself at Nerni, a village about twenty miles from that city, he remained there till 1753, when he went back to Paris, without having been able to get his translation of the New Testament approved. He lived for some time in the Scotch College at Paris, and then retired to Lens, where he died in 1764.
His manuscript translation of the New Testament, containing corrections of mistranslations in preceding catholic versions, was in 1786 in the possession of Dr. Alexander Geddes [q. v.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, Robert (1647-1704)

​GORDON, Sir ROBERT (1647–1704), man of science, born 7 March 1647, was the eldest son of Sir Ludovick Gordon, second baronet of Gordonstoun in Drainie, Elginshire, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Sir Robert Farquhar of Mounie in Daviot, Aberdeenshire. His grandfather was Sir Robert Gordon (1580-1656) [q. v.] According to an unprinted account of the family, quoted by Sir Robert Douglas, he 'travelled much into foreign countries for his improvement, was a man of extensive learning and knowledge, and particularly skilled in mechanics and chemistry, which sufficiently appears by the long correspondence by letters he kept with that celebrated philosopher, Mr. Boyle. He contrived a curious machine or pump for raising of water, which was tried in the Fleet and highly approved of, and found far to exceed anything of that kind then known, both for the facility of working and the quantity of water it discharged; but as neither the inventor, nor the present possessor [his son, Robert, the fourth baronet, who died in 1772], had ever an offer of any encouragement suitable to the merit and usefulness of the thing, it still remains a secret in the family' (Baronage of Scotland, pp. 8-9). Gordon represented Sutherlandshire in the Scotch parliament of 1672-4, sat in the convention of 1678, in that of 1681-2, and again in 1685-6 (Foster, Members of Parliament, Scotland, 2nd edit. p. 153). He was knighted in 1673 and succeeded to the baronetcy in September 1685. He seems to have been somewhat of a favourite with James II, who made him a gentleman of his household, and affected an interest in his scientific inventions (Diary of Patrick Gordon, Spalding Club, pp. 128-9). On 3 Feb. 1686 he was elected F.R.S. (Thomson, Hist. of Roy. Soc. Appendix iv. p. xxviii.) In April 1687 he communicated to the society, by the king's command, a wondrous 'Receipt to cure Mad Dogs, or Men or Beasts bitten by Mad Dogs' (Phil. Trans. xvi. 298). Gordon died in 1704. He was twice married, first, on 23 Feb. 1676, to Margaret, widow of Alexander, first lord Duffus, and daughter of William, eleventh lord Forbes. She died in April 1677, leaving a daughter. His second wife, Elizabeth, only daughter of Sir William Dunbar, bart., of Hempriggs, Wick, brought him a family of three sons and four daughters. The year following his death his widow erected a mausoleum to his memory on the site of the old church of Ogston, immediately to the east of the mansion of Gordonstoun. An underground chamber at Gordonstoun is shown as his laboratory, and he lives in the popular traditions of the neighbourhood as a mighty wizard, 'Sir Robert the warlock.' Two letters addressed to him by Samuel Pepys in May and June 1687 on the subject of payments for his pumps are preserved at Gordonstoun (Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. p. 687).
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, Robert (1665-1732)

​GORDON, ROBERT (1665–1732), founder of Robert Gordon's Hospital, now Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen, was a son of Arthur Gordon, advocate, Edinburgh, and grandson of Robert Gordon (1580-1661) [q. v.] of Straloch. After travelling for some time on the continent, Gordon settled at Danzig, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits; having acquired some wealth he returned to Scotland, and about 1720 took up his abode in Aberdeen. He is said to have been a man of very penurious habits, though of gentlemanly appearance and demeanour, and some pitiful anecdotes of his miserly ways have been handed down. In his settlement, following the example of George Heriot [q. v.] of Edinburgh, the founder of Heriot's Hospital, he conveyed his property, which amounted to 10,300l., to the town council and four of the ministers of Aberdeen as trustees 'to be employed in founding and supporting a hospital for educating indigent children.' At his death in 1732 this legacy became available; a hospital was completed in 1737, at ​a cost of 3,300l., and the fund was left to accumulate till 1750, when the hospital was opened with thirty boys. A subsequent bequest by Alexander Simpson of Collyhill in 1834 increased greatly the resources of the charity; two wings were added to the building and forty boys to the beneficiaries. Between 1750 and 1880, 2,100 boys passed through the hospital.
The management of the charity was for a long time somewhat rigid and artificial, and though some improvements were effected from time to time, it did not undergo any material change till, under the Commission on Endowed Institutions (Scotland), a substantially new constitution was given to it. A provisional order was issued, dated 10 June 1881, with the sanction of the old governors, the object of which was to extend the usefulness of the hospital funds by converting the buildings to some extent into day schools, which should be mainly devoted to the higher branches of a commercial education; by reducing the number of foundationers and boarding them out in families; by admitting day scholars; by instituting competitive bursaries for higher education; by establishing evening classes, and by carrying promising boys on to the university. The order obtained the sanction of parliament and became the new constitution. In the day schools its objects are now prosecuted under a threefold division of classes—commercial, engineering, and classical. Under the charge of Dr. Ogilvie, head-master, the college rapidly rose to a high degree of prosperity. The number of boys receiving education at the college is about a thousand, and the entire number of students 1,250.
W. G. B.