OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Houghton, William Hyacinth

​HOUGHTON or HOGHTON, WILLIAM HYACINTH (1736–1823), Roman catholic divine, born in 1736 in the hundred of West Derby, Lancashire, was descended from the Hoghtons of Hoghton Tower in the same county. He was educated at the Dominican College at Bornhem in the Low Countries, studied also for some time at Louvain, was ordained priest on 25 Feb. 1760, and from 1758 to 1762 held the office of prefect in the Bornhem College. Joining the English mission, he returned to this country, and held private chaplaincies until 1775, when he went back to Bornhem, and became successively prior, subprior, and procurator of the convent. He removed in 1779 to the English Dominican College, Louvain, where he acted as professor of philosophy. A controversy regarding his acceptance of the philosophical views of Newton and Descartes led him to return to England. He died at Fairhurst, the Lancashire seat of the Nelson family, on 3 Jan. 1823, and was buried at Windlesham, in the same county. Houghton edited and wrote articles in the 'Catholic Magazine and Reflector' (January to July 1801), the first catholic magazine that had appeared in England. He also published 'These ex Universa Philosophia, ...&c.,' Louvain, 1780.
[Gillow's Dict. of Cath. Bibl. iii. 416; Cath. Times, 8 June 1883.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Houston, William (1766-1842)

​HOUSTON, Sir WILLIAM (1766–1842), general, is described by Burke as representative of 'the Houstons, hereditary bailies and judiciaries of the barony of Busbie, Wigtonshire, and Coldenhall, Midlothian.' He was born on 10 Aug. 1766, and entered the army as ensign, 31st foot, 18 July 1781, and became lieutenant of an independent company in 1782, and captain 19th foot 1785. After service in the West Indies, at Gibraltar, and at home, he became major in 1794, and commanded the 19th in Flanders under the Duke of York. He was gazetted lieutenant-colonel 84th foot in 1795, and exchanging to the 58th foot, commanded that regiment at the capture of Minorca in 1798, in the Mediterranean in 1800, where the regiment was prominently engaged on the British left at the famous battle of 21 March before Alexandria. Houston subsequently commanded a brigade at the capture of Rosetta and Cairo and the siege of Alexandria, and received the second-class decoration of the Turkish order of the Crescent. He held brigade commands in Malta and at Brighton and in the Walcharen expedition, after which he again commanded at Brighton as a major-general. He commanded the 7th division in the Peninsula from 10 Jan. 1811 until invalided in the autumn that year, and was present with it at the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro and the attack on Fort Christoval, Badajoz (Gurwood, Well. Deep. iv. 512, 796, v. 89,183). He subsequently commanded the south-western district at home. He appears to have applied for re-employment under Wellington, who replied that he had no vacancy (ib. vi. 376). Houston was lieutenant-governor of Gibraltar from 8 April 1831 to 28 Feb. 1835. He became a full general in 1837.
Houston was G.C.B and G.C.H., and was created a baronet by William IV. in 1836. He was a colonel in succession of the 4th garrison battalion and the 30th. foot. He married in 1808 Lady Jane, daughter of James Maitland, seventh earl of Lauderdale and widow of Samuel Long. She died at Gibraltar in 1831, leaving issue by both husbands. Houston died at Bromley Hill, Kent, on 8 April 1842, and was burried at Carshalton, Surrey.
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Houston, John

​HOUSTON, JOHN, M.D. (1802–1845), anatomist, born in the north of Ireland in 1802, was eldest son of a presbyterian minister, and brought up by his uncle, Dr. Joseph Taylor, physician to the forces. In 1819 he was apprenticed in Dublin to Mr. Shekleton, a young anatomist and founder of the Dublin College of Surgeon's Museum. He succeeded his master on his premature death in 1824 as curator of the museum, and held the office until 1841. The collection was greatly improved by him. In 1834 he published a catalogue of the normal preparations, and in 1840 one of the pathological. His descriptions are said to be both accurate and graphic (Butcher). He was also demonstrator of anatomy to the students at the College of Surgeons for a time after 1824. In 1826 he graduated M.D. at Edinburgh. In 1832 he was elected surgeon to the new City of Dublin Hospital, and in 1837 lecturer on surgery at the Park Street School of Medicine, the rich museum of which he catalogued in 1843. He was medical officer to several institutions in Dublin, and carried on a private practice in York Street. He died in his forty-fourth year at Dalkey on 30 July 1845, from a brain ​ affection, which began while he was delivering a clinical lecture in April preceding.
Houston contributed largely to the medical journals of Dublin, Edinburgh, and London, and to the transactions of societies. Many of his papers were descriptions of anatomical and pathological specimens; others were surgical. In a paper on the mucus membrane of the rectum he described a condition which led to controversy, and became known as 'the fold of Houston.' His chief scientific memoir was 'On the Structure and Mechanism of the Tongue of the Chameleon,' in the 'Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy,' 1828, illustrated from his own drawings. He also published in London a treatise on 'Dropsy,' 1842, and a pamphlet on 'The mode of Treatment in Fever,'&c., 1844. He was a worthy member of the famous Dublin school of anatomists and collectors.
C. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Houlton, Robert

​HOULTON, ROBERT (d. 1801), dramatist and journalist, born about 1739, was the son of the Rev. Robert Houlton of Milton, Clevedon, Somerset (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, ii. 697). On 24 July 1755 he matriculated at Oxford from Corpus Christi College, but in 1757 he was chosen as a demy of Magdalen College. He graduated B.A. on 27 April 1759, M.A. on 21 April 1762. He resigned his demyship in 1765, and shortly afterwards married. In 1767 his father published a sermon on 'The Practice of Inoculation justified,' dedicated to Daniel Sutton, a surgeon who had improved the method of inoculation, and announced in the appendix 'A Volume of Miscellaneous Poetry,' to be issued by his son, but nothing further is known of the volume. Sutton the surgeon and his family seem to have confided to the younger Houlton the secrets of their method of inoculation, and the latter eventually went to Ireland to practice it. By way of ​advertising himself, he published 'Indisputable Facts relative to the Suttonian Art of Inoculation, with Observations on its Discovery, Progress, &c.,' 8vo, Dublin, 1768. In 1770 he was admitted to an ad eundem degree of M.A. in Trinity College, Dublin, and was subsequently admitted M.B.. To eke out an income Houlton attempted dramatic writing and journalism, and supplied for the Dublin operatic stage such librettos as 'The Contract,' 1783; 'Double Stratagem,' 1784 (an alteration of 'The Contract'); 'Gibraltar,' 1784; 'Orpheus and Eurydice,' 1784; and 'Calypso,' 1785. In the spring of 1792 he returned to London, and was soon afterwards appointed editor of the 'Morning Herald'. Ill-health compelled him to resign this post in about a twelvemonth, and after a long and expensive illness he was committed to the Fleet prison for debt in 1795. In January 1796 Dr. Routh, president of Magdalen College, sent him some assistance in answer to his appeal. With the aid of James Hook [q. v.], who composed the music, Houlton brought out at Drury Lane Theatre on 21 Oct. 1800 his comic opera called 'Wilmore Castle,', which after running for five nights, had, the author avers, to be withdrawn in consequence of an organised attack (Preface to printed copy). Conceiving himself ill-used, he published a pamphlet entitled 'A Review of the Musical Drama of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, for... 1797–1800, which will tend to... elucidate Mrs. Plowden's late... publication [i.e. 'Virginia,' an opera, with a preface],' &c., 8vo, London, 1801.
[Bloxam's Reg. of Magd. Coll. Oxford. vi. 304–8; Biogr. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816, Baker's Biographia Dramatica (1812), i. 367, ii. 77, 108, 125, 173, 265, iii. 411.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Houseman, Jacob

​HOUSEMAN, JACOB (1636–1696), painter. [See Huysman.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Housman, Robert

​HOUSMAN, ROBERT (1759–1838), divine, born at Skerton, near Lancaster, on 25 Feb. 1759, was educated at the Lancaster free grammar school. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a local surgeon, but afterwards turned his attention to the church, and in 1780 went to Cambridge as a vicar at St. John's College. He took deacon's orders in October 1781, and served a curacy at Gargrave, Yorkshire. Returning to Cambridge he was ordained priest on 26 Oct. 1783, and became intimate with Charles Simeon and Henry Venn, friendships which deeply influenced his religious views. He graduated B.A. in 1784, and did not proceed beyond that degree. In 1788 he was curate at Langton, Leicestershire, in 1787 curate to the Rev. Thomas Robinson of Leicester, and he subsequently held curacies at Markfield and Foston, both near Leicester, as well as a lectureship at St. Martin's, Leicester. In 1795 he finally settled at Lancaster, where he built a new church (St. Anne's), of which he remained incumbent until his resignation in 1836. At first he met with much opposition on account of his evangelical teachings, though he ultimately became one of the most influential clergymen of the district and was styled 'the evangelist of Lancaster.' Housman died at Woodside near Liverpool, on 22 April 1838, and was burried at Skerton. In 1785 he married a Miss Audley, who died in the following winter. He married, secondly, on 24 Sept. 1788, Jane Adams of Langton, author of a popular tract called 'The History of Susan Ward.' She died on 27 Jan. 1837.
He published: 1. 'A Sermon preached at Lancaster, 1786,' which aroused some local controversy. 2. A volume of sermons preached at St. Martin's, Leicester, 1793. 3. 'The Pastoral Visitor, or a Summary of Christian Doctrine and Practice,' sixteen numbers, 1816-42. 4. 'Sermons preached in St. Anne's Chapel, Lancaster,' 1836.
[Life and Remains of the Rev. R. Housman, by his son, Robert Fletcher Housman, 1841 (with portrait); Funeral Sermon by J. Statter. 1838; Brit. Mas. Cat.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Houling, John

​HOULING, JOHN (1539?–1599), Irish Jesuit, was born in Wexford about 1539, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1571, being professed of the four vows. He seems to have been at Alcalá de Henares in 1578, at Rome in 1580, and at Lisbon in 1583. At Lisbon he laboured successfully for many years in the conversion and edification of such of his countrymen as either commerce or persecution brought to that port. In 1593, with the aid of Father Peter Fonseca, he established in that city a college dedicated to St. Patrick and the education of young Irish Roman catholics. In 1599 Lisbon was visited by the plague, and, while administering to the physical and spiritual wants of its inhabitants, he fell a victim to its ravages, and died on 31 Dec. 1599. He was highly esteemed by Fitzsimon and Coppinger.
Houling wrote 'Perbreve compendiium in quocontinentur nonnulli eorum qui Hybernia regnante impia Regina Elizabeth, vincula, exilium et martyrium perpessi sunt,' printed from a manuscript at Salamanca by Cardinal Moran in 'Spicilegium Ossoriense,' i. 82–109. The work is valuable, from the personal acquaintance of the writer with many of those whose lives he records.
[Hogan's Ibernia Ignatiana; Foley's Records of the Society of Jesus, i, 253, vii. pt. i. p. 376, and Hogan's Irish Cat. Ib. vii, pt. ii p. 4, Fitzsimon's Justification of the Mass; Moran's Spicilegium Ossoriense.]
R. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, John (1747-1807)

​SMITH, JOHN (1747–1807), antiquary and Gaelic scholar, was born in 1747 at Croft Brackley in the parish of Glenorchy in Argyllshire. He studied for the ministry at the university of St. Andrews, and was licensed by the presbytery of Kintyre on 28 April 1773. On 18 Oct. 1775 he was ordained as a minister at Tarbert, and in 1777 he was presented by John, duke of Argyll, to the parish of Kilbrandon, as assistant and successor to James Stewart. In 1781 he was translated to the highland church at Campbeltown, and in 1787 received the honorary degree of D.D. from the university of Edinburgh. He died at Campbeltown on 26 June 1807. In 1783 he married Helen M'Dougall, who died on 6 May 1843. By her he had two sons, John and Donald, and three daughters.
Smith was an accomplished Gaelic scholar, and took part in translating the scriptures into Gaelic, besides publishing Gaelic translations of Alleine's ‘Alarm to the Unconverted,’ Joseph Watts's Catechism, and other small religious works. He also revised a metrical version of the Psalms in the same tongue, which was used in the southern highlands. His other works include: 1. ‘Gaelic Antiquities,’ Edinburgh, 1780, 4to; this work contained an English translation of Gaelic poems, some of which purport to be by Ossian [q. v.]; French and Italian versions of Smith's translation were made in 1810 and 1813 respectively. 2. ‘View of the Last Judgement,’ Edinburgh, 1783, 8vo; 4th edit. London, 1847. 3. ‘Sean Dana, or Ancient Poems of Ossian, Orran, Ulann, &c.’ Edinburgh, 1787, 8vo. 4. ‘Summary View and Explanation of the Writings of the Prophets,’ Edinburgh, 1787, 12mo; ed. by Peter Hall, London, 1835, 12mo. 5. ‘Life of St. Columba, from the Latin of Cummin and Adamnan,’ Edinburgh, 1798, 4to. 6. ‘General View of the Agriculture of the county of Argyll,’ 1798, 8vo. 8. ‘An Affectionate Address to the Middling and Lower Classes on the present Alarming Crisis,’ Edinburgh, 1798, 12mo. 9. ‘Lectures on the Nature and End of the Sacred Office,’ Glasgow, 1808, 8vo. He also edited Robert Lowth's ‘Isaiah,’ London, 1791, 12mo, and wrote the article on the parish of Campbeltown for Sinclair's ‘Statistical Account.’
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, John (1749-1831)

​SMITH, JOHN (1749–1831), watercolour-painter, known as ‘Warwick’ Smith, was born at Irthington, Cumberland, in 1749, and educated at St. Bees. Becoming known as a skilful topographical draughtsman, he was employed upon Middiman's ‘Select Views in Great Britain,’ and obtained the patronage of the Earl of Warwick, with whom he visited Italy about 1783; hence he came to be styled ‘Warwick’ and ‘Italian’ Smith. In his subsequent works, which were largely views in Italy, he gradually abandoned the simple tinting to which watercolour work had hitherto been limited for a more effective mode of colouring, the novelty and beauty of which created much admiration. Smith joined the Watercolour Society in 1805, and was a large contributor to its exhibitions from 1807 to 1823, when he resigned his membership; he was elected president in 1814, 1817, and 1818, secretary in 1816, and treasurer in 1819, 1821, and 1822. Of his engraved works, which are numerous, the most important are: ‘Select Views in Italy,’ 1792–6; ‘Views of the Lakes of Cumberland,’ twenty aquatints by Merigot, 1791–5; and illustrations to Byrne's ‘Britannia Depicta,’ W. Sotheby's ‘Tour through Wales,’ 1794, and ‘A Tour to Hafod,’ 1810. Smith died in Middlesex Place, London, on 22 March 1831, and was interred in the St. George's burial-ground in the Uxbridge Road. Good examples of his work are in the British and South Kensington Museums.
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, John (1662-1717)

​SMITH or SMYTH, JOHN (1662–1717), dramatist, born in 1662, was son of John Smyth of Barton in Gloucestershire, and probably great-grandson of John Smith or Smyth (1567–1640) [q. v.] In 1676 John became a chorister of Magdalen College, Oxford, and matriculated on 10 July 1679, graduating B.A. in 1683, and M.A. in 1686. In 1682 he became a clerk of the college, and in 1689 usher of the college school. He died at Oxford on 16 July 1717, and was buried in the college chapel.
He was the author of ‘Win her and take her, or Old Fools will be Medling: a Comedy, as it is acted at the Theatre Royal by their Majesties Servants,’ London, 1691, 4to. This play, which was issued anonymously, was dedicated ‘to the Right Honourable Peregrine, Earl of Danby,’ by Cave Underhill the player [q. v.], for whom the part of Dulhead seems to have been specially written. It contains an epilogue by Thomas D'Urfey [q. v.] The plot bears some resemblance to that of Shadwell's ‘Virtuoso,’ and the character of Waspish appears to be modelled on that of Snarl in that comedy (Genest, ii. 13).
According to Wood, he was also the author of: 1. ‘Odes Paraphras'd and imitated, in ​Miscellany Poems and Translations by Oxford Hands,’ London, 1685, 8vo. 2. ‘Scarronides, or Virgil Travesty: a Mock-Poem on the second Book of Virgil's Æneis, in English Burlesque,’ London, 1691, 8vo.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, John (1655-1723)

​SMITH, JOHN (1655–1723), politician, born in 1655, son of John Smith (d. 1690) of South Tedworth or Tidworth in Hampshire, matriculated from St. John's College, Oxford, on 18 May 1672, but did not take a degree, and was admitted student at the Middle Temple in 1674, although he was not called to the bar. As the son and heir of the owner of ‘a good estate,’ he entered upon political life, and represented in parliament: Ludgershall in Wiltshire, 1678–9, 1680–1, and in the Convention parliament of 1688–9; Beeralston in Devonshire, December 1691 to 1695; Andover in Hampshire for eight parliaments (1695–1713); and East Looe in Cornwall from 1715 to his death. Smith was throughout life a staunch whig and a firm adherent of the protestant cause; but from his excellent address and as ‘a very agreeable companion in conversation’ (Macky, Secret Services, Roxburghe Club, 1895, pp. 90–91) he remained on good terms with the tories. He was a bold speaker, with keen views which he expressed with clearness, and filled many important posts with reputation. In the Convention parliament he was the leading whip for the whigs; during the debates of the session 1693–4 he took an active part in the proceedings; he was a lord of the treasury from 3 May 1694 to 15 Nov. 1699, and chancellor of the exchequer from the last date to 29 March 1701. But he disapproved of the ‘partition’ treaty, and for some years was out of office; but on 24 Oct. 1705 he was elected speaker of the House of Commons, beating William Bromley [q. v.] by forty-three votes (Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. app. v. p. 183). In 1706 he was one of the commissioners for arranging the union with Scotland, and in October 1707, when the house assembled, with the addition of the Scottish members, he was re-elected speaker without a contest; but on 1 Nov. 1708 he resigned the post to Sir Richard Onslow. From November 1708 to August 1710 he again held the post of chancellor of the exchequer, and on his retirement he secured for himself a lucrative place as one of the four principal tellers of the exchequer, which he kept until death.
Sunderland was the object of his detestation, and Godolphin was his especial friend. He acted as a manager in the impeachment of Sacheverell, and is said to have been the messenger by whom Queen Anne sent the letter dismissing Godolphin from her service. Afterwards he joined the adherents of Sir Robert Walpole, in opposition to the ministry of Stanhope, and in 1719 resisted the proposal for limiting the numbers of the members of the House of Lords. He died on 30 Sept. 1723, and was buried near his father in the old church of South Tedworth on 4 Oct., a marble tablet being erected to his memory and to that of his father and eldest son by his fourth son, Henry Smith. He is described as of ‘middle stature, fair complexion’ (Macky, Secret Services, pp. 90–91). His estate afterwards passed to Thomas Assheton of Ashley Hall, near Bowden in Cheshire, who took the name of Smith. His daughter Mary married in 1705 the Hon. Robert Sawyer Herbert, second son of Thomas Herbert, eighth earl of Pembroke.
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, John (1790-1824)

​SMITH, JOHN (1790–1824), missionary, son of a soldier killed in battle in Egypt, was born on 27 June 1790 at Rothwell, near Kettering in Northamptonshire. All his education he derived from occasional attendance at a Sunday school. At the age of fourteen he entered the service of a biscuit-maker in London named Blunden. His master dying in 1806, Davies, his successor, took him as an apprentice, and assisted him to improve his education. Under the influence of the Rev. John Stevens he became earnest in matters of religion and zealous for study. He was accepted by the London Missionary Society, and in December 1816 was ordained as successor to John Wray at Le Resouvenir, near Demerara or Georgetown, in British Guiana. He arrived at Demerara on 23 Feb. 1817, and in his first interview with the governor, Major-general John Murray, the latter threatened that if he taught any negro-slave to read he should be banished. Notwithstanding the undisguised hostility of ​the white population, he laboured among the negroes with considerable success. In August 1823 his health broke down, and he was recommended by his doctor to leave the colony. On 18 Aug., however, a rising of the negroes took place, and three days later Smith was arrested for refusing to take up arms against the negroes. He was tried by court-martial on the charge of having promoted discontent among them. On the worthless evidence of terrorised slaves he was found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. His execution was postponed until the pleasure of the home government should be known. But he was confined in the meantime in an unhealthy dungeon, and died there on 24 Feb. 1824. His wife Jane, whom he married about the time of his ordination, died in 1828 at Rye in Sussex. They had no children.
When the news of Smith's imprisonment reached England, popular interest was aroused. The publication of the documents connected with the case by the London Missionary Society intensified the excitement, and upwards of two hundred petitions on his behalf were presented to parliament in eleven days. On 1 June 1825 his trial was debated in the House of Commons. Lord Brougham brought forward a motion condemning the action of the Demerara government, and asserted that ‘in Smith's trial there had been more violation of justice, in form as well as in substance, than in any other inquiry in modern times that could be called a judicial proceeding.’ After an adjournment, however, the motion, which was opposed by government, was negatived by 193 to 146.
E. I. C.