OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fergusson, William (1773-1846)

​FERGUSSON, WILLIAM, M.D. (1773–1846), inspector-general of military hospitals, was born at Ayr 19 June 1773, of a family of note in the borough. From the Ayr academy he went to attend the medical classes at Edinburgh, where he graduated M.D., afterwards attending the London hospitals. In 1794 he became assistant-surgeon in the army, and served in Holland, the West Indies, the Baltic, the Peninsula, and in the expedition against Guadeloupe in 1815. Having retired from the service in 1817, he settled in practice at Edinburgh, but removed four years after to Windsor on the invitation of the Duke of Gloucester, on whose staff he had been for twenty years. He acquired a lucrative practice both in the town and country around, which he carried on till 1843, when he was disabled by paralysis. He died in January 1846. His ‘Notes and Recollections of a Professional Life,’ a collection of his papers on various subjects, was brought out after his death by his son, James Fergusson (1808–1886) [q. v.] The papers are not all strictly medical, one considerable section of the book being on military tactics. There is a valuable essay on syphilis in Portugal, as affecting the British troops and the natives respectively (Med.-Chir. Trans., 1813); but the most important essay, for which Fergusson will be remembered, is that on the marsh poison, reprinted from the ‘Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,’ January 1820. He was probably the first to do justice, in a professional sense, to the now familiar fact that malarial fevers often occur on dry and barren soils, either sandy plains or rocky uplands, where rotting vegetation is out of the question, his own experience having been gained with the troops in Holland, Portugal, and the West Indies. This was an important step towards widening and rationalising the doctrine of malaria.
C. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Feria, Duchess of

​FERIA, Duchess of. [See Dormer, Jane, 1538–1612.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/King, Robert (1599?-1657)

​KING, Sir ROBERT (1599?–1657), Irish soldier and statesman, born in Ireland about 1599, was eldest son of Sir John King (d. 1637) [q. v.] He enjoyed the offices of mustermaster-general and clerk of the cheque in Ireland by virtue of his reversionary grant, dated 8 May 1618 (Cal. State Papers, Irish, 1615–25, p. 193), which was renewed to him on 11 Jan. 1637–8. On 13 Aug. 1621 he was knighted (Metcalfe, Book of Knights, p. 179). He entered parliament as member for Boyle, co. Roscommon, in 1634, was re-elected in 1639; and in 1640 was returned for Roscommon county. In November 1641 he was appointed governor of Boyle Castle, and soon became conspicuous for his military skill and activity. During the Irish rebellion he distinguished himself at the battle of Balintobber, co. Roscommon, in 1642. But he lost heavily during the rebellion, and left Ireland in 1642 for London, where Cecil or Wimbledon House, in the Strand, had come to him through his second marriage. He now entered the service of the parliament, and was sent in October 1645 to Ulster, with two others, to manage the parliament's affairs. In 1647 he was one of the five commissioners appointed to receive the sword from the Marquis of Ormonde, the viceroy of Charles. He contrived to increase his estate by easy purchases and the allotment of lands in satisfaction of his arrears for service in Ireland. By act of parliament dated 8 March 1649–50 he was nominated a trustee for the new university of Dublin (Cal. State Papers, Irish, 1603–6, p. xcvii). On 15 Dec. following he was desired, along with the attorney-general, to have a complete inventory taken of all books and records concerning the herald's office.
On 24 Sept. 1651 King was empowered, with Colonel Hewson, to sign warrants for 2,000l. for payment of the Leinster forces, which order was renewed on 8 Oct. ensuing, and on 17 Nov. he was authorised to issue warrants for 1,000l. towards payment of the forces in Dublin. On 13 Dec. he was ordered to receive 100l. for his services as commissioner of the public revenue for one year, commencing on 1 May previously. On 23 May 1653 he was appointed an overseer of the poor within Dublin and parts adjacent, and was also made overseer for stating the accounts of the army. He was sworn a member of the council of state on 4 Nov. of that year (ib. Dom. 1653–4, p. 230), and sat in Cromwell's parliament of 1654 as member for Sligo, Roscommon, and Leitrim counties (Official Return of Members of Parliament, pt. ii.)
King died at Cecil House about June 1657. ​He married, first, Frances (d. 1638), daughter of Sir Henry Folliott, the first lord Folliott of Ballyshannon, by whom he had John, first lord Kingston [q. v.], and three other sons and six daughters; and secondly, Sophia (d. 1691), daughter of Sir William Zouch of Woking, Surrey, and widow of Sir Edward Cecil, viscount Wimbledon, by whom he had two daughters.
[Lodge's Peerage of Ireland (Archdall). iii. 223–6; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1644–57.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/King, Robert (d.1693)

​KING, ROBERT, second Lord Kingston (d. 1693), was eldest son of John, first baron Kingston [q. v.], by Catherine (d. 1669), daughter of Sir William Fenton, knt., of Mitchelstown, co. Cork. He was brought up by his uncle, Sir Robert King who sent him to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he commenced M.A. on 25 June 1670. On 4 Jan. 1689 the protestant association for the county ​of Sligo chose King and Captain Chidley Coote their chief commanders. King arrived at Ballyshannon on 24 Jan. There he received a letter from the committee in Derry, with orders (as they said) from Colonel Lundy to keep the passes on the Erne Water. He obeyed these instructions with signal success, but on 15 April he received directions from Lundy to bring his men suddenly into the immediate neighbourhood of Derry. The scattered position of his troops rendered this impossible. He himself went at sunrise the next morning towards Derry to inquire into the situation of affairs, and learnt on coming within five miles of Raphoe that Lundy with his forces had fled to Derry, and that the Irish, who had reached Raphoe, would prevent him from approaching Derry. King thereupon hastened back to his troops, despatched orders for the horse to secure themselves in Enniskillen, and the foot at Donegal, Ballyshannon, and other places, and then with some of his officers went to Scotland in a French vessel, which they seized at Killybegs, co. Donegal, and hurried to give William an account of affairs (Harris, Life of William III, pp. 197–9). By Tyrconnel's proclamation of 7 March King was exempted from mercy or James's favour, he was attainted by the parliament on 7 May, and had his estate sequestered; but on 26 Aug. following he commanded a regiment of foot at the taking of Carrickfergus, and on the reduction of the kingdom took his seat in parliament on 5 Oct. 1692.
By deeds dated 19 and 20 Dec. 1693 King demised to Henry, lord Capel, Sir Robert King, and others the castle, manor, and lands of Newcastle, and part of the manor of Mitchelstown, in cos. Tipperary and Cork, for building, endowing, and establishing for ever a college in or near the borough of Boyle, co. Roscommon, to be called by the name of Kingston College, for one master and usher and a chaplain, with apartments for them and twenty poor widows, together with a free school and a chapel. He alienated his estate from his brother and successor, John, because he had become a Roman catholic and had married a servant girl; but John recovered it in 1708. King died without issue in December 1693.
[Lodge's Peerage of Ireland (Archdall), iii. 229 n., A Vindication of Sir Robert King's Designs and Actions, 1699.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/King, Thomas (d.1769)

​KING, THOMAS (d. 1769), portrait-painter, was a pupil of George Knapton [q. v.], and was an artist of ability, but eccentric and thriftless in his habits. Four of his portraits have been engraved in mezzotinto: Anthony Maddox the rope-dancer and Matthew Skeggs the actor, as Signor Bumbasto playing on a broomstick, both by R. Houston; John Keeling, J.P., by J. McArdell; and John Harrison the chronometer maker, by P. J. Tassaert. He died in John Street, Oxford Road, in 1769, and was buried in St. Marylebone churchyard.
[Edwards's Anecdotes of Painting; Chaloner Smith's British Mezzotinto Portraits.]
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/King, Robert (fl.1684-1711)

​KING, ROBERT (fl. 1684–1711), composer, was a member of the band of music to William and Mary under the mastership of Nicholas Staggins. He was the composer of several songs in ‘Choice Ayres, Songs, and Dialogues,’ 1684, and wrote the music for the songs in Crowne's most popular comedy, ‘Sir Courtly Nice.’ These were printed separately in the ‘Theater of Musick’ (vol. ii. ed. 1685). King was also a contributor to ‘Comes Amoris,’ 1687–93; ‘The Banquet of Musick,’ 1688–92; the ‘Gentleman's Journal,’ 1692–4; and ‘Thesaurus Musicus,’ 1695–6. In 1690 he set Shadwell's ode on St. Cecilia's day, ‘O Sacred Harmony;’ and in 1693 ‘an ode on the Rt. Hon. John Cecil, earl of Exeter, his birthday,’ commencing ‘Once more 'tis born the happy day,’ the words of which were written by Peter Anthony Motteux [q. v.] In 1696 he took the degree of Mus. Bac. from St. Catharine College, Cambridge, and subsequently served in the band of music to Queen Anne. There are two songs by King, ‘With thee for ever’ and ‘Only tell her,’ among the manuscript collections of the Sacred Harmonic Society (Catalogue, p. 233), and a collection of twenty-four songs by him, entitled ‘Songs for one, two, or three Voices, composed to a Thorough Basse for ye Organ or Harpsichord, engraved on copper, was published by John Walsh (the elder) in 1711. King appears to have been living at this date, but the time of his death is not known.
[Groves Dict. of Music, ii. 57;, Fétis's Biog. Universelle des Musiciens, v. 33; Brown's Biog. Dict. of Musicians, p. 359; Graduati Cantabrigienses, p. 275.]
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/King, Samuel William

​KING, SAMUEL WILLIAM (1821–1868), traveller and man of science, eldest son of W. H. King, vicar of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was born in 1821. He graduated B.A. 1845, and proceeded M.A. 1853 from St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. He became rector of Saxlingham Nethergate, Norfolk, in 1801. King was an enthusiastic entomologist and geologist, and helped Sir Charles Lyell, who was a personal friend, in his investigations both in England and abroad. In 1860 the two explored the deposits at Hoxne, Suffolk, together, and in 1865 King investigated the cave at Aurignac (cf. Professor Boyd Dawkins in Nature, 13 July 1871). King travelled frequently on the continent, and was an enthusiastic mountain climber. His wife usually accompanied him, and the records of a long expedition made about 1855 are contained in King's only book, ‘The Italian Valleys of the Pennine Alps,’ London, 1858. It is illustrated from drawings made by the author. King was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (1858), the Geological Society (1860), and of the Society of Antiquaries. He died at Pontresina in 1868, and was buried there. His collection of fossil mammalia from the Norfolk forest beds he bequeathed to the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London.
[Information from Colonel W. Ross King; Crockford's Clerical Directory; Lyell's Antiquity of Man, 4th ed. pp. 132, 219, 261, 268.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gruffydd ab Rhydderch

​GRUFFYDD ab RHYDDERCH (d. 1055), king of the South Welsh, was the son of Rhydderch, son of lestin, who in 1023 had assumed the government of the south after the death of Llewelyn ab Seisyll, and was killed by the Irish in 1033. The sons of Edwin, Hywel and Maredudd, then acquired the rule of South Wales, but Gruffydd and his brothers contested it with them, fighting in 1034 the battle of Hiraethwy. Caradog [q. v.], one of Gruffydd's brothers, was slain in 1035 in some contest with the English. In 1044 the death of Howel made Gruffydd and the other sons of Rhydderch the leaders of the South Welsh opposition to Gruffydd ab Llewelyn. In 1045 the Welsh chronicler complains of the deceit which the South Welsh Gruffydd and his brother Rhys perpetrated against Gruffydd ab Llewelyn. A great struggle now broke out between them, in the course of which nearly all Deheubarth was laid waste. Gruffydd ab Rhydderch was also much engaged in attacks on the English. In 1046 Earl Swegen seems to have joined the North Welsh Gruffydd in his attacks on him. In 1049 Gruffydd joined with thirty-six Irish pirate ships in an attack on the coasts of the lower Severn, and inflicted great loss on the English, at the head of whom was Bishop Ealdred (Flor. Wig. sub an. 1049; Anglo-Saxon Chron. sub an. 1050; cf. Freeman, Norm. Conq. ii. 110, and 571-3, note i.) In 1053 his brother Rhys became so troublesome that the witan decreed that he should be slain, 'and his head was brought to Gloucester on Twelfth-day eve.' At last in 1055 Gruffydd ab Rhydderch was slain by Gruffydd ab Llewelyn. He must have possessed unusual vigour of character to struggle so long both against the English and the North Welsh king. He left a son named Caradog, who in 1065 attacked the hunting-seat which Earl Harold was building at Portskewet in Gwent, slew the workmen, and ravaged the neighbourhood. He afterwards obtained for a short time some share in the
[Annales Cambriæ (Rolls Ser.); Brut y Tywysogion (Rolls Ser.); Brut y Tywysogion (Cambrian Archæological Association); Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; Florence of Worcester; Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. ii.]
T. F. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grundy, John Clowes

Contains subarticle on his brother Thomas Leeming Grundy
​GRUNDY, JOHN CLOWES (1806–1867), printseller and art patron, born at Bolton, Lancashire, on 3 Aug. 1806, was eldest son of John Grundy, cotton-spinner in that town, and Elizabeth Leeming, his wife. He was first apprenticed in a Manchester warehouse. Having a great taste for art he transferred himself to a printseller named Zanetti, after whose death he became partner in a similar business, at first with a Mr. Fox, and in 1835 with Charles Goadsby. In 1838 he carried on the business on his own account. Grundy was regarded as one of the best judges of engravings in the country. As a patron of art, he was the staunch friend of local artists, like Henry Liverseege and William Bradley, and one of the first to appreciate the genius of David Cox, Samuel Prout, and others. In conjunction with his brother, Robert Hindmarsh Grundy of Liverpool, he had a share in founding the Printsellers' Association in London. Through his co-operation with Sir F. Moon, the large volumes of David Roberts's 'Sketches in the Holy Land, Egypt, &c.,' were published. Grundy died on 19 May 1867, while on a visit in London, and his extensive collections were then dispersed. Two of his sons have since carried on the business.
Grundy, Thomas Leeming (1808-1841), engraver, younger brother of the above, born at Bolton on 6 Jan. 1808, was first apprenticed to a mercantile engraver at Manchester, but, having higher aspirations in his profession, came to London, where he found employment on the annuals then in vogue, engraving the pictures of Clarkson Stanfield, Liverseege, and others. He was employed for some time by G.T. Doo and E. Goodall, the engravers, and also engraved many portraits. The best of his own engravings was 'The Lancashire Witch,' after W. Bradley, executed in a curious but effective mixed style of engraving. He died prematurely in Brecknock Terrace, Camden Town, on 10 March 1841, leaving a wife and one child.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gruffydd ab Madog

Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor in the ODNB.
​GRUFFYDD ab MADOG (d. 1269) generally called Gruffydd of Bromfield, Lord of Lower Powys, Powys Vadog, or Bromfield, was the son of Madog (d. 1236), who was the son of Gruffydd Maelor (d. 1191), perhaps the last Welsh chieftain, who is called a king by the Welsh chroniclers (Brut y Tywysogion, s. a. 1191). Gruffydd Maelor was himself the son of Madog (d. 1159), from whom Lower Powys derived the title of Powys Vadog, and Madog was the son of Maredudd, son of Bleddyn, son of Cynvyn, and brother of Cadwgan (d. 1112) [q. v.] Gruffydd's lands were so hemmed in by those of English marchers, that he had to be generally faithful to Henry III. He was one of the three Welsh princes who in 1244 refused to follow Davydd ab Llewelyn when he went to waragainst the English (ib.s.a.; cf.Annales Cambriæ, s. a.) Yet in 1241 his brothers had formed a conspiracy with Davydd.
Gruffydd found a stronger foe in Llewelyn ab Gruffydd [q. v.] In 1256 he was driven out of his territories, and his lands were ravaged (Matt. Paris, Hist. Major, v. 597, ed. Luard). 'He was,' says Matthew Paris, 'a thorough Welshman in race and tongue, a powerful and generous man whose lands were of large extent and great richness' (ib. v. 613). At last in 1257 Gruffydd, who had got little help from his English allies, went over to Llewelyn, who rejoiced greatly at winning over so powerful a confederate (ib.v. 646). Next year he was one of the Welsh magnates who made a confederacy, with the Scottish nobles to make peace with the English by common consent (Fœdera, i. 370). In the peace concluded in 1267, through the mediation of Ottobon the legate, Gruffydd was appointed one of the referees to decide whether Llewelyn's provision for Davydd his brother was adequate (ib. i. 474). He died on 7 Dec. 1269, on which day his brother, Madog Vychan, also died. Both were buried in the abbey of Llanegwast, or Valle Crucis, in Yale, the favourite foundation of the house of Bromfield, whose rights Gruffydd had defended in 1247 against the sons of Jeuav, son of Maredudd. He married Emma, daughter of Henry of Audley, whom he endowed liberally from the revenues of his manors of Maelor Saesneg and Overton. After his death his sons confirmed these grants. Their names were Madog, Llewelyn, Owain, and Gruffydd. Of these Madog, the eldest, died in 1278, and in 1284 Edward II granted Gruffydd the lands of Yale. His son Madog was the great-grand-father of Owain of Glyndyvrdwy [see Glendower, Owen].
T. F. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grymeston, Elizabeth

​GRYMESTON, ELIZABETH (d. 1603). [See Grimston.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gryg, Gruffydd

​GRYG, GRUFFYDD (fl. 1330–1370), Welsh poet, was a contemporary of David ab Gwilym [see David]. According to Williams (Eminent Welshmen) he resided at Penmynydd in Anglesea. Angharad Llwyd, in his 'History of the Island of Mona,' says he resided at Aberffraw in Anglesea. Gweirydd ab Rhys, in his recently published prize essay on Welsh literature, thinks that the last opinion is confirmed by the words:
Y mae saith o gymdeithion
Ym yn Aberffraw ym Mon.
Gruffydd Gryg is chiefly noted for his poetical contention with David ab Gwilym. His skill in the construction of his verse, his nervous power of expression, and his fertility of thought made him a worthy rival. There are four contributions on each side given in the published works of David ab Gwilym. Gruffydd began the quarrel by an ironical poem upon David's 'Morfudd.' David retorted, accusing Gruffydd of plagiarism. Finally David challenged Gruffydd to a duel with the sword, and Gruffydd accepted the challenge. Whereupon the monks of Gwynlliw Priory, near Monmouth, sent a messenger to Anglesea to tell Gruffydd that David was dead, and another messenger to tell David that Gruffydd was dead. Both funerals were announced to take place at ​Ystrad Fflur in Cardiganshire on the same day. Each came there with an elegy on his rival. They were equally rejoiced to discover the hoax practised on them, and formed a lasting friendship. It is probable that Gruffydd's elegy on this occasion gave rise to the erroneous impression that David was buried at Ystrad Fflur. Wilkins's statement that 'twenty-seven poems were written between them' appears to be groundless. There is one ode bearing Gruffydd Gryg's name in the 'Myvyrian Archæology,' p. 346 (ed. 1870), and three more on p. 365, if he is, as some have thought, identical with the Mab Cryg. According to Dr. W.O. Pughe, there are fifteen odes of his among the Myfyr MSS.
R. J. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Goldsborough, Godfrey

​GOLDSBOROUGH, GODFREY, D.D. (1548–1604), bishop of Gloucester, was born in 1548 in the town of Cambridge. He was matriculated as a pensioner of Trinity College, Cambridge, of which, in December 1560, he became a scholar. In 1565–6 he proceeded B.A. Strype's statement that John Whitgift, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, was his tutor, is no doubt erroneous. On 8 Sept. 1567 he was admitted a minor fellow, and on 27 March 1569 a major fellow, of his college (Addit. MS. 5870, f. 85). In the latter year he commenced M.A. He was one of the subscribers against the new statutes of the university in May 1572 (Heywood and Wright, Cambridge University Transactions, i. 62). He proceeded to the degree of B.D. in 1577. On 14 July 1579 he was incorporated in that degree at Oxford, and on the following day he was collated to the archdeaconry of Worcester. On 23 Feb. 1579–80 he was collated to the prebend of Gorwall in the church of Hereford. On 1 Sept. 1581 he was installed a canon of Worcester, and on 13 Dec. following prebendary of Caddington Minor in the church of St. Paul, London. He was created D.D. at Cambridge in 1583. On 30 Dec. 1585 he was installed in the prebend called Episcopi sive Pœnitentiarii, or the golden prebend in the church of Hereford, for which he exchanged the prebend of Gorwall. In or before 1589 he became archdeacon of Salop in the diocese of Lichfield. He also held the rectory of Stockton—probably the benefice of that name in Shropshire.
On 28 Aug. 1598 he was elected bishop of Gloucester, and he was consecrated at Lambeth on 12 Nov. (Stubbs, Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum, p. 88). The queen licensed him to hold his canonry at Worcester in commendam. During his episcopate he rarely resided in his diocese, and it is said that his palace was much dilapidated. He died on 26 May 1604, and was buried in a small chapel within the lady chapel of the cathedral at Gloucester, where there is a handsome altar-tomb, with his recumbent effigy attired in a scarlet rochet, and a Latin inscription. Helen, his widow, who appears to have had two husbands before she married him, died in 1622, aged 79. He left behind him two sons, John and Godfrey, and perhaps other children. He had a brother named John.
T. C.