OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sihtric (d.927)

​SIHTRIC or SIGTRYGGR (d. 927), surnamed Gale and Caech (cæcus), king of the Black Gall and White Gall, grandson of Imhar (Inguar) Ragnarsson, came to Dublin with a ‘great royal fleet’ in 888 (Annals of the Four Masters). He left Ireland for Scotland about 902, came back about 916 to Conn Fuait, near Wexford, where he won a battle (Cogadh Gadhael re Gallaibh), and went forth to plunder Leinster, Kildare, and the ‘greater part of the churches of Erin.’ He won back Dublin in 918 (ib.), and fought a battle at Kilmashogue on 15 Sept. 919 against King Niall (Blackknee) [q. v.], who was slain with fifteen other princes (ib.; Sym. Dunelm; Four Masters; A.-S. Chron. s.a. 921). He left Dublin, per potestatem divinam, and crossed to England, where he plundered Davenport (Cheshire) in 920 (Sym. Dunelm; Annales Ultonienses). He ruled the ‘Danes’ and Northumbrians in 925, after Ragnold; met Æthelstan at Tamworth, and married his sister (iii. Kal. Februarii, i.e. 30 Jan., A.-S. Chron. s.a. 925); and died, ‘immatura ætate’ (Ann. Ult.), in ​927. He can hardly be the ninth-century Sitric ‘comes,’ whose moneyer was Gundibertus. But his coins are clearly those that read Sitric ‘cununc’ or rex with tenth-century moneyers Ascolv, Ingelgar, and the famous triangular cross-blazoned fringed gonfanon. His son Guthfrith succeeded him as king. Olaf Sitricson (d. 981) [q. v.], known as Anlaf Cuaran, was another son.
F. Y. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sigheri

​SIGHERI or SIGHERE (fl. 665), king of the East-Saxons, son of Sigebert or Sebert called The Little (fl. 626) [q. v.], succeeded ​his kinsman Swithelm, who died about 665, and reigned in dependence on Mercia conjointly with his uncle Sebbi [q. v.], son of Sæward, one of the sons of Sebert or Saberct (d. 616?) [q. v.] (Sebbi was not his brother, as stated in the article on Offa, fl. 709 [q. v.]) When Sigheri and his uncle became kings the pestilence was raging, and this led Sigheri and part of the people to relapse into idolatry, though Sebbi remained steadfast in the faith. Wulfhere [q. v.], king of Mercia, hearing of this apostasy of the East-Saxons, sent Bishop Jaruman to preach to them, and he brought Sigheri and his party back to Christianity. The names of both Sigheri and Sebbi are affixed to a charter of extremely doubtful value purporting to have been granted by Wulfhere to the abbey of Medeshamstede, afterwards Peterborough; and in another spurious charter Sigheri is represented as confirming a grant to Abbot Egbald, after he had obtained the dominion over Kent, which Bishop Stubbs suggests may represent a tradition that the East-Saxon kings, probably as dependent on Mercia, had some authority in Kent [see under Sigered]. Sigheri and Sebbi were both reigning when Erkenwald [q. v.] was consecrated to the see of London in 675. Sigheri is said by Florence of Worcester and William of Malmesbury to have died before Sebbi, who then reigned alone. (Bishop Stubbs thinks, on the other hand, that as Sigheri's son is described as ‘juvenis’ in 709, Sigheri may have survived Sebbi.) Sigheri is said also to have shared the kingship with Sighard [q. v.] He appears in legend as the husband of the virgin St. Osyth [q. v.], and was the father of Offa (fl. 709) [q. v.], who became king of the East-Saxons after the reigns of Sighuard and Suefred, the sons of Sebbi.
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sihtric (d.871)

​SIHTRIC, SIGTRYGGR, or SIDROC (d. 871), is the name of two earls, surnamed respectively the Old and the Young, who headed (with Earls Osbearn, Fræna, and Harold) one division of the heathen host at the battle of Æscesdun (Ashdown), 871, opposed to the Etheling Alfred, and both fell there.
F. Y. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sihtric (fl.962)

​SIHTRIC or SIGTRYGGR (fl. 962), chief of Northmen, surnamed Cam [crooked], came from over sea to Ui Colgan in Kildare to plunder in 962, and was wounded in the thigh and driven back to his ships by Anlaf Cuaran, after heavy loss of men.
F. Y. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sparke, Joseph

​SPARKE or SPARKES, JOSEPH (1683–1740), antiquary, born in 1683, was son of John Sparke or Sparkes of Peterborough. Having been educated in his native city under a Mr. Warren, he was admitted a pensioner at St. John's College, Cambridge, on 11 July 1699, and graduated B.A. in 1704. Returning to Peterborough, he became registrar of the cathedral. He devoted much time to antiquarian studies. In 1719, in a letter of Maurice Johnson [q. v.] to Dr. Stukeley, he is mentioned as having lately arranged on a new method Lord Cardigan's library at Dean in Northamptonshire. He was also entrusted with the care of White Kennett's valuable collection of early historical and theological documents now in the cathedral library, which he was to supply daily and augment. Kennett's biographer describes Sparke as ‘of very good literature and very able to assist in that good design’ (Newton, Life of Kennett, 1730, p. 149). Together with his friend Timothy Neve (1694–1757) [q. v.], Sparke was the founder of the Gentleman's Society of Peterborough, and prevailed on Bishop Clavering to allow it to meet in ‘a room over the Saxon gate-house’ (Britton, Peterborough Cathedral, pp. 46–7). In October 1722 he had become a member of the well-known society at Spalding, on which it was modelled. In 1723 he edited two folio volumes entitled ‘Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores varii, e codicibus manuscriptis,’ of which both large and small paper editions were published. They contained the ‘Chronicon Angliæ Petriburgense’ attributed to John, abbot of Peterborough (fl. 1380) [q. v.] This was printed by Sparke from a transcript furnished to him by John Bridges of Lincoln's Inn, and, not having been collated with the original (now among the Cotton. MSS. in the British Museum), contains errors. It was re-edited in 1845 for the Caxton Society by Dr. J. A. Giles, and in 1849 for the Camden Society by Thomas Stapleton (1805–1849) [q. v.] The ‘Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores’ included also Fitzstephen's ‘Life of St. Thomas Becket,’ the ‘History of Peterborough Abbey’ by Hugo Albus, Hemingford's ‘Vita Eduardi,’ and the chronicles of Ralph Coggeshall, Benedict of Peterborough, and others. Another volume contemplated by Sparke was to contain Whittleseye's ‘Hereward of Peterborough.’ In 1772 Gough purchased for Michael Tyson [q. v.] ‘Sparke's Peterborough Monkish Historians.’ Sparke died on 20 July 1740, and was buried in Peterborough Cathedral, where there is a monument to him in the retro-choir. His wife Rebecca died on 27 March 1747, aged 56.
G. Le G. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spalding, William

​SPALDING, WILLIAM (1809–1859), author, son of James Spalding, advocate, of Aberdeen, by his wife Frances Read, was born in Aberdeen on 22 May 1809, and graduated M.A. at Marischal College in 1827. He was afterwards writer to the signet for some years in Edinburgh, where he passed advocate in 1833. In the same year he published a notable ‘Letter on Shakespeare's Authorship of the two Noble Kinsmen, a Drama commonly ascribed to John Fletcher,’ Edinburgh, 8vo, of which a reprint was issued by the New Shakspere Society in 1876. He had made an exhaustive study of the Shakespearean and Elizabethan drama, and to the ‘Edinburgh Review’ he contributed articles on ‘Shakespearean Literature,’ July 1840; Hallam's ‘Literature of Europe,’ October 1840; on Beaumont and Fletcher, April 1841 and July 1847; editions of Shakespeare, April 1845; and ‘Shakespeare's Critics,’ July 1849. Through the interest of Jeffrey he was elected on 2 Nov. 1840 to the chair of rhetoric and belles-lettres in the university of Edinburgh, which he exchanged in 1845 for that of logic, rhetoric, and metaphysics at St. Andrews. The latter he held until ​his death, 16 Nov. 1859. By his wife Agnes, born Frier (married 22 March 1838), he left a daughter Mary.
In early life Spalding travelled in Italy (cf. Blackwood's Magazine, November 1835), of the history of which country he contributed to the ‘Edinburgh Cabinet Library’ an admirable compendium, entitled ‘Italy and the Italian Islands,’ 1841, 3 vols. 12mo; New York, 1843, 3 vols. No less meritorious was his ‘History of English Literature, with an Outline of the Origin and Growth of the English Language,’ Edinburgh, 1853, 8vo; 13th edit. 1875; new edit. continued to 1876, 1877; German translations, Halle and Breslau, 1854. To the ‘Penny Cyclopædia’ Supplements, 1846 and 1858, Spalding contributed biographical memoirs; to the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica’ (7th and 8th edits.) the articles on Addison, Bacon, Demosthenes, fable, fallacy, logic, rhetoric, Sir Walter Scott, slavery, and Tasso. A reprint of the article on logic, entitled ‘An Introduction to Logical Science,’ appeared in 1857, Edinburgh, 8vo, and that on rhetoric in a volume of contributions by George Moir [q. v.]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spark, Thomas

​SPARK, THOMAS, D.D. (1655–1692), classical scholar, born in 1655, was son of Archibald Spark, minister of Northop, Flintshire. He was admitted into Westminster school in 1668, and was elected in 1672 to a scholarship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1676 and M.A. in 1679. He became chaplain to Sir George (afterwards Lord) Jeffreys [q. v.], to whom he owed his advancement in the church. On 18 Nov. 1682 he delivered the oration on Sir Thomas Bodley, being the first person nominated to a benefaction left for that purpose by Dr. John Morris (1594–1648), canon of Christ Church (Walker, Letters written by Eminent Persons, ii. 112). He was admitted to the prebend of Offley in the church of Lichfield, 9 April 1686. He graduated B.D. 18 Feb. 1687–8, and was created D.D. 8 July 1691. He was instituted to the rectory of Ewhurst, Surrey, 1 March 1687–8, and he also obtained the rectory of Hog's Norton, Leicestershire. On 2 June 1688 he was admitted to a prebend in the church of Rochester. He died on 7 Sept. 1692 at Bath, whither he had gone to drink the waters, and was buried in the abbey church. Wood, while characterising him as a learned man, says he was ‘confident and forward without measure,’ and given to ‘excesses and too much agitation in obtaining spiritualities.’
His works are: 1. ‘Zosimi Comitis et Ex-advocati Fisci Historiæ novæ libri sex, notis illustrati,’ Greek and Latin, Oxford, 1679, 8vo; dedicated to his former master, Dr. Richard Busby [q. v.] An English translation appeared in London, 1684, 8vo. 2. ‘Lucii Cœlii Lactantii Firmiani Opera quæ extant, ad fidem MSS. recognita et Commentario illustrata,’ Oxford, 1684, 8vo.
He was also the author of two sets of Latin verses in the ‘Musæ Anglicanæ’—one on the recasting of the ‘Great Tom’ of Christ Church—and he contributed to the collection of poems, published at Oxford in 1685, on the death of Charles II.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spalding, John

​SPALDING, JOHN (fl. 1650), Scottish historian, was possibly a native of Aberdeen. The name was uncommon there in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but the registers for New Aberdeen record the marriage of ‘Alexander Spalding and Cristine Hervie’ (i.e. Herries) on 7 Feb. 1608. John Spalding became a lawyer, and resided in the ‘Old town,’ Aberdeen. For many years he acted as clerk to the consistorial court for the diocese; and his office, the records of which were burnt in 1721, was within the precincts of the old cathedral of St. Machar. The latest trace of him occurs in a notarial document in his own handwriting, dated 30 Jan. 1663, whereby David, bishop of Aberdeen, acknowledges to have received from Robert Forbes of Glastermuir 25l. 7s. 4d. as feu duty for these lands from Martinmas to Whitsun 1661 and 1662.
Spalding was the author of a valuable annalistic ‘History of the Troubles and Memorable Transactions in Scotland’ between 1624 and 1645. This is a simple narrative of current events, interspersed with copies of documents which no doubt came into Spalding's hands in his official capacity. The work was left incomplete. It begins and ends abruptly, commencing with a feud between the Earl of Moray and the clan Chattan, and ending with Sir John Hurry's junction with General Baillie. Spalding wrote as a shrewd, well-informed, conscientious, yet in the ecclesiastical sense no bigoted, royalist. Charles I he held in the highest veneration. The parliamentarian régime jarred harshly on his conservative instincts, and he deplored many outrages on the fabric of the cathedral of Aberdeen and the prohibition of merrymaking on Christmas day.
Spalding's ‘History’ was first published in Aberdeen' (2 vols. 8vo, 1792); it was re-edited for the Bannatyne Club by William Forbes Skene [q. v.] (4to, 1829), and again by Dr. John Stuart for the Spalding Club (4to, 1850).
In 1839 an antiquarian publishing society, founded at Aberdeen, was named after the historian the Spalding Club. The latest publication is dated 1871. The New Spalding Club, with like objects, was founded at Aberdeen in 1886.
[Pref. by Dr. Stuart to Spalding Club edit. of Spalding's History; Par. Reg. New Aberdeen.]
W. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Soyer, Elizabeth Emma

​SOYER, ELIZABETH EMMA (1813–1842), painter, daughter of a Mr. Jones who died in 1818, was born in London in 1813, and was carefully instructed in French, Italian, and music. At a very early age she became a pupil of F. Simoneau the painter, who in 1820 married her mother, Mrs. Jones. Finding that Emma had talents for drawing, Simoneau ultimately devoted the whole of his time to her instruction, and before the age of twelve she had drawn more than a hundred portraits from life with surprising fidelity.
On 12 April 1837 she married Alexis Benoît Soyer [q. v.] the cook. She now turned her attention to portraits in oil, and, with her master, travelled in the provinces and gained great popularity. Upon her return to London she produced ‘The Blind Boy,’ ‘The Crossing Sweeper,’ ‘The Bavarians,’ ‘Taglioni and the Kentish Ceres.’ In 1842 she completed her last work, ‘The Two Organ Boys.’ On 29–30 Aug. 1842 she was prematurely confined owing to fright produced by a terrible thunderstorm, and she died the same night at her residence near Charing Cross, London. She was buried at Kensal Green on 8 Sept., where her husband erected a sumptuous monument to her memory.
Between 1823 and 1843 fourteen of her pictures were exhibited at the Royal Academy, thirty-eight at the British Institution, and fourteen at the Suffolk Street Gallery (Graves, Dictionary of Artists, pp. 130, 221).
In June 1848 one hundred and forty of her works were exhibited at the Prince of Wales's bazaar, under the name of Soyer's Philanthropic Gallery, on behalf of the Spitalfields soup kitchen, and a catalogue was printed. Among these pictures was ‘The Young Savoyards Resting,’ a work which obtained for Madame Soyer the name of the ‘English Murillo.’ Two of her pieces, ‘The Jew Lemon Boys’ and ‘The English Ceres,’ were engraved by Gérard. In Paris, where many of her pictures were exhibited, her ​reputation stood higher than in her native country.
[Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists, 1878, p. 241; Volant and Warren's Memoirs of A. Soyer, 1858, pp. 10, 27, 36, 81, 128, 136, 166, 276; Grinsted's Last Homes of Departed Genius, 1867, p. 291; Dodd's Annual Biography, 1843, p. 447; Gent. Mag. 1842, ii. 441; Morning Post, 2 Sept. 1842, p. 4.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spalding, Samuel

​SPALDING, SAMUEL (1807–1843), writer on moral philosophy, born in London on 30 May 1807, was son of Thomas Spalding and his wife Ann. The father was the founder of the firm of Spalding & Hodge, wholesale stationers, in Drury Lane, and Samuel became a partner in it. Subsequently he studied for the congregational ministry at Coward College, and graduated B.A. in 1839 and M.A. in May 1840, with especial distinction in mental and moral science, at the London University. Invalided by excessive study, he sought to recruit his health, first in Italy, and then by a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, where he died on 14 Jan. 1843 (Gent. Mag. 1843, i. 557). His only work, ‘The Philosophy of Christian Morals,’ published posthumously in London, 1843, 8vo, is an essay more or less ingenious, but by no means original, being, indeed, merely a development of the eclectic theory of Sir James Mackintosh [q. v.]
[The Philosophy of Christian Morals (Introduction); Chambers's Book of Days, i. 701; Cal. Univ. London, 1844, p. 68; British Quarterly Review, i. 323; Eclectic Review, 4th ser. xvii. 59 et seq.; Congr. Mag. new ser. viii. 601; Scottish Congr. Mag. new ser. iv. 53; Blakey's Hist. of the Philosophy of Mind, iv. 97; Athenæum, 1843, p. 1090; English Cyclopædia.]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sparke, Edward

W. A. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sinclair, John (1791-1857)

​SINCLAIR, JOHN (1791–1857), vocalist, son of David Sinclair, cotton-spinner, was born in Edinburgh on 9 Dec. 1791. He became a clarionet player in Campbell of Shawfield's regiment, and, going to Aberdeen in that capacity, engaged in music teaching until able to purchase his discharge. Being fond of the stage and having a fine tenor voice, he went to London in search of an engagement, and on 7 Sept. 1810 appeared at the Haymarket Theatre as Cheerly in Shield's ‘Lock and Key.’ After this he became a pupil of Thomas Welsh [q. v.], and was engaged for seven years at Covent Garden, where he created the tenor rôles in Bishop's ‘Guy Mannering’ and the ‘Slave,’ Davy's ‘Rob Roy,’ and other works. He was the first to sing Bishop's ‘Pilgrim of Love,’ and he acquired great popularity in the part of Apollo in ‘Midas.’ With a view to further musical study he went in 1819 to Paris, where he had lessons from Pellegrini, and to Milan, where he was under Banderali at the Conservatoire. In May 1821 he sang to Rossini at Naples, received some instruction from him, and in 1822–3 appeared in opera at Pisa, Bologna, Genoa, Florence, and elsewhere. At Venice Rossini wrote for him the part of Idreno in ‘Semiramide.’ Returning to England with his voice much improved, he reappeared at Covent Garden on 19 Nov. 1823 as Prince Orlando in the ‘Cabinet.’ From 1828 to 1830 he was engaged at the Adelphi and Drury Lane, and after a short visit to America in the latter year, he retired to Margate, where for some years he was director of the Tivoli Gardens. He died at Margate on 23 Sept. 1857. He married, in 1816, a daughter of Captain Norton, and one of his daughters was married to Edwin Forrest, the American tragedian.
Sinclair's voice was a pure tenor, with an unusually fine falsetto, extending to F in alt. His style was, however, somewhat effeminate, and he was known as ‘the leddies' bonnie Sinclair.’ He was one of the earliest exponents of Scottish song after the manner subsequently made popular by David Kennedy [q. v.] As a composer he is remembered for his songs, ‘Come, sit ye doon,’ ‘The bonnie Breast Knots,’ ‘The Mountain Maid,’ ‘Johnny Sands,’ and others in the Scottish style, all of which were very popular and are still sung.
[Dict. of Musicians, 1824; Parke's Musical Memoirs; Life of David Kennedy; Baptie's Musical Scotland; Grove's Dict. of Musicians; Musical Times, November 1857; Parochial Registers of Edinburgh.]
J. C. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sinclair, John (1797-1875)

​SINCLAIR, JOHN (1797–1875), divine, son of Sir John Sinclair (1754–1835) [q. v.] by his second wife, was born in 1797, and educated first at Edinburgh University. In 1815 he was entered at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1819 and M.A. in 1822. At Edinburgh he helped to found the Rhetorical Society, and at Oxford he promoted a scheme afterwards realised by the formation of the Union Society. He was ordained deacon in 1819 and priest in 1820 by the bishop of Lincoln. After working at Sutterby, Lincolnshire, at Hackney, and at Edinburgh, he was appointed in 1839 secretary of the National Society. He threw ​himself with great energy into the organisation of the elementary education work done by the church, and was the moving spirit in the negotiations between the church and the government which ended in the educational concordat of 1850 respecting the allocation of government grants to elementary schools. Bishop Blomfield heartily supported Sinclair, whom he made in 1839 one of his examining chaplains, in 1843 vicar of Kensington, and in 1844 archdeacon of Middlesex. The two latter offices Sinclair filled until the end of his life. At Kensington he subdivided the huge parish, and built the new parish church of St. Mary Abbott's. In 1853 he went to the United States on a mission from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He acted also as secretary of the Diocesan Church Building Society, which became, under Bishop Tait, the Bishop of London's Fund. Sinclair died unmarried at Kensington, after a short illness, on 22 May 1875. He was the author of many sermons and charges, of several minor works, and of ‘Dissertations vindicating the Church of England,’ 1836; ‘The Life and Times of Sir John Sinclair,’ 1837; ‘Vindication of the Apostolical Succession,’ 1861; and ‘Letters and Reports on National Education,’ 1861.
A. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sinclair, Robert

​SINCLAIR, Sir Robert, Lord Stevenson (1640?–1713), Scottish judge, born about 1640, was second son of John Sinclair the younger of Stevenson, Haddingtonshire, and Isabel, daughter of Robert, sixth lord Boyd. His elder brother John succeeded his grandfather, Sir John Sinclair, as second baronet of Stevenson, and, as John died without issue, Robert became third baronet on 5 July 1652. Robert obtained a confirming charter of the barony of Stevenson on 4 June 1663, and a charter of the lands of Carfrae, Haddingtonshire, on 28 June 1670. He was one of the counsel for the defence at the trial of the Marquis of Argyll in 1661; and in 1670 he was dean of faculty, and expected to succeed Nisbet of Dirleton as lord-advocate, though in this hope he was disappointed. According to Lauder of Fountainhall, Sir Robert was charged before the privy council on 29 July 1680 with having resisted an order to levy 5,500 men for the militia, and was rebuked. He supported the Orange party at the Revolution of 1688, and in November of the following year he was appointed a lord of session, with the title of Lord Stevenson, and also sheriff of Haddington. He represented Haddington constabulary in the convention of 1689 and in the parliament of 1689–1702. In May 1690 he was made a privy councillor and nominated a baron of exchequer. Through his ‘uncommon modesty,’ he never took his seat on the bench of the court of session, and finally resigned the office on 29 Dec. 1693. He was nominated a privy councillor to Queen Anne in 1703. He died in July 1713. Sir Robert was married twice: first, to Helen, daughter of John Lindsay, fourteenth earl of Crawford, on 10 Sept. 1663; and, secondly, to Anne, daughter of Sir William Scott of Ardross, and widow of Sir Daniel Carmichael. By his first wife he had six sons and three daughters. By his second wife he had no issue. Sir Robert's daughter Margaret married Robert Dundas, second lord Arniston [q. v.], and was mother and grandmother to the two successive lord presidents of the court of session who bore that title [see Dundas, Robert, (d. 1783), and Dundas, Robert, (d. 1787)]. Sir Robert Charles Sinclair, now (1897) ninth baronet of Stevenson and Murkle, is Sir Robert's lineal descendant.
A. H. M.