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

​SAUNDERS, WILLIAM WILSON (1809–1879), entomologist and botanist, second son of James Saunders, D.C.L. (1770–1838), vicar of Kirtlington, Oxfordshire, was born at Little London, near Wendover, Buckinghamshire, 4 June 1809. He was educated privately till 1827, when he was sent to the East India Company's military academy at Addiscombe. He passed second in examination, and obtained his commission in the engineers in August 1829. He at once joined his corps at Chatham, and went out to India in August 1830, but resigned the following year. Returning to England, he joined his future father-in-law, Joshua Saunders, in business as an underwriter at Lloyd's, where for many years he was a member of the committee and also of the shipping committee. He resided first at East Hill, Wandsworth, but in 1857 removed to Reigate, where he started in the same year the Holmesdale Natural History Club. In 1873 the firm of which he was then head became involved in the crisis that affected mercantile insurance, and Saunders, disposing of his large collections of insects, living and dried plants, and watercolour drawings, retired the following year to Worthing, where he devoted himself to horticulture. He died at Worthing, 13 Sept. 1879. He was thrice married: first, in 1832, to his cousin, Catharine Saunders; secondly, in 1841, to Mary Anne Mello; thirdly, in 1877, to Sarah Cholmley, who survived him.
Saunders was an enthusiastic naturalist throughout his life. Few contributed more to the advancement of entomology and botany. Owing to his liberality many collectors were able both to start and to continue their labours. He was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1833, and acted as its treasurer from 1861 to 1873. He was an original member of the Entomological Society, and its president in 1841–2 and 1856–7. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1853 and of the Zoological Society in 1861. He was for several years vice-president of the Royal Horticultural Society.
Saunders was author of upwards of ​thirty-five papers published between 1831 and 1877 in various scientific transactions. He also edited:
* ‘Insecta Saundersiana,’ containing descriptions of insects in his collection by F. Walker, H. Jeckel, and E. Saunders, 8vo, London, 1850–69.
* ‘Refugium Botanicum,’ descriptions of plants in his possession by Reichenbach, J. G. Baker, and others, illustrated by H. H. Fitch, 8vo, London, 1869–73.
* ‘Mycological Illustrations,’ in association with Worthington G. Smith, 8vo, London, 1871–2.
[Entom. Monthly Mag. xvi. 119–20; Nature, 2 Oct. 1879, p. 536; Gardeners' Chronicle, 1871, with portrait, p. 136; information kindly supplied by his son, G. S. Saunders; Roy. Soc. Cat.; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
B. B. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Savage, James (1767-1845)

​SAVAGE, JAMES (1767–1845), antiquary, born at Howden, Yorkshire, on 30 Aug. 1767, was the son of James Savage, a bell and clock maker. When about sixteen years old he became a contributor to the journals published in the neighbourhood of Howden, and in 1790 he commenced business in that town with his brother, William Savage [q. v.], as printer and bookseller. In 1797 William moved to London, and in 1803 James followed him, and from that time devoted himself unweariedly to antiquarian and bibliographical pursuits. He was at first employed in the publishing business of Sir Richard Phillips [q. v.], and afterwards by the firms of Mawman and Sherwood. When the London Institution was founded in 1806 in the Old Jewry Savage was appointed assistant librarian under Richard Porson [q. v.], and he rescued Porson from the workhouse in St. Martin's Lane on 20 Sept. 1808, after the seizure which preceded the scholar's death. About this period of his life he contributed largely to the ‘Monthly Magazine’ and the ‘Universal Magazine, but most of his abundant store of literary anecdote perished with him.
After 1820 Savage spent some time in Taunton, first as manager of an unsuccessful tory newspaper, then as a bookseller, and finally as librarian of the Somerset and Taunton Institution. His next move was to Dorchester, where he edited for fourteen years the ‘Dorset County Chronicle and Somersetshire Gazette.’ He returned to Taunton, and died there on 19 March 1845. His wife was Diana, eldest daughter of Thomas Swainston of Hatfield, near Doncaster. She died in 1806, and their son, Thomas James Savage, died on 15 May 1819, aged 21 (Gent. Mag. 1819, i. 493–4).
Savage wrote: 1. ‘History of Howden Church’ [anon.], 1799. 2. ‘History of the Castle and Parish of Wressle in the East Riding of Yorkshire,’ 1805. 3. ‘The Librarian,’ 1808–9; three volumes and one number (48 pp.) of the fourth volume. An ‘Account of the Last Illness of Richard Porson’ is in vol. i. pp. 274–81. It was also printed separately in an edition of seventy-five copies, and is embodied in Watson's ‘Life of Porson,’ pp. 318–32 (cf. Gent. Mag. 1808, ii. 1186). 4. ‘An Account of the London Daily Newspapers,’ 1811; useful as showing their circulation and opinions at that date. 5. ‘Observations on the Varieties of Architecture,’ 1812. 6. ‘Memorabilia, or Recollections Historical, Biographical, and Antiquarian,’ 1820. 7. ‘A History of the Hundred of Carhampton, Somerset,’ 1830. 8. ‘Dorchester and its Environs,’ 1832, reissued in 1833. He edited ‘Concise History of the Present State of Commerce of Great Britain,’ translated [by J. W. H.] from the German of Charles Reinhard, 1805, and ‘Toulmin's History of Taunton,’ 1822.
He circulated in 1827 a ‘Specimen of a Topographical Dictionary of Somerset,’ and a prospectus of ‘A Topographical and Genealogical History of the Western Division of Somerset.’ Neither of these works issued from the press, but the manuscripts which he collected for them were lots 1146–73 of the collections of Sir Thomas Phillipps, which were sold in June 1896.
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Savage, John (1828-1888)

​SAVAGE, JOHN (1828–1888), Irish poet and journalist, was born in Dublin on 13 Dec. 1828. His father was a United Irishman of Ulster. After attending a school at Harold's Cross in Dublin, he entered the art schools of the Royal Dublin Society at the age of sixteen. In 1845 he obtained three prizes for watercolour drawings, and in 1847 silver medals for studies in oils. But Irish politics soon diverted his attention. He joined revolutionary clubs in Dublin, and began in 1848 to contribute verse to the ‘United Irishman’ of John Mitchel [q. v.] When that paper was suppressed, Savage became a proprietor of its successor, ‘The Irish Tribune,’ in which he frequently wrote. After the suppression of that paper, Savage joined in the abortive rising in the south, and took part in attacks on police barracks at Portlaw and other places. He contrived to escape to New York late in 1848, and obtained the post of proof-reader on the ‘Tribune’ of that city. He afterwards became one of its contributors. When Mitchel started ‘The Irish Citizen’ in New York (1 Jan. 1854), Savage was appointed literary editor. In 1857 he removed to Washington, where he became editor, and ultimately proprietor, of ‘The States.’ He is said to have assisted in organising the Irish brigade in the civil war, and fought in the 69th New York regiment. He took an active part in the later period of the fenian movement in America, and in 1868 was appointed fenian agent in Paris. He was offered the post of United States consul in Leeds, but declined it. In 1875 he was given the degree of LL.D. of St. John's College, Fordham, New York. He died in New York on 9 Oct. 1888. He married in New York, in 1854, Louise Gouverneur, daughter of Captain Samuel Reid.
Savage's historical works are useful to students of modern Irish history, and his poem of ‘Shane's Head’ is one of the most powerful and popular of Irish ballads. His works are: 1. ‘Lays of the Fatherland,’ New York, 1850. 2. ‘'98 and '48, the Modern Revolutionary History and Literature of Ireland,’ 1856. 3. ‘Our Living Representative Men,’ Philadelphia, 1860. 4. ‘Faith and Fancy,’ poems, New York, 1864, 12mo. 5. ‘Campaign Life of Andrew Johnson,’ 1864. 6. ‘Sybil: a tragedy in prose and verse,’ 1865. 7. ‘Eva: a goblin romance,’ 1865. 8. ‘Fenian Heroes and Martyrs,’ Boston, 1868. 9. ‘Poems, Lyrical, Dramatic, and Romantic,’ 1870. 10. ‘Waiting for a Wife,’ n. d., a comedy.
D. J. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robinson, Peter Frederick

​ROBINSON, PETER FREDERICK (1776–1858), architect, born in 1776, became a pupil of Henry Holland (1746?–1806) [q. v.] From 1795 to 1798 he was articled to William Porden [q. v.], and he resided in 1801–2 at the Pavilion at Brighton, superintending the works in Porden's absence. In 1805 he designed Hans Town Assembly Rooms, Cadogan Place; in 1811–12 the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, which William Bullock of Liverpool intended for his London museum of natural history. The details of the elevation were taken from V. Denon's work on the Egyptian monuments, and especially from the temple at Denderah; but the composition of the design is quite at variance with the principles of Egyptian architecture. About this period he employed the young James Duffield Harding [q. v.] for perspective drawing. Harding also contributed illustrations to ‘Vitruvius Britannicus’ and other works of Robinson. In 1813 he designed the town-hall and market-place at Llanbedr, Cardiganshire. In 1816 he travelled on the continent, and visited Rome. In 1819 he made alterations at Bulstrode for the Duke of Somerset; in 1821 he restored Mickleham church, Surrey; in 1826–8 he made alterations at York Castle gaol; in 1829–32 he built the Swiss Cottage at the Colosseum, Regent's Park; in 1836 he sent in designs which were not successful in the competition for the new Houses of Parliament. He also designed or altered numerous country houses for private gentlemen.
He projected the continuation of ‘Vitruvius Britannicus,’ commenced by Colin Campbell (d. 1729) [q. v.], and continued by George Richardson (1736?–1817?) [q. v.], and published five parts, viz.: ‘Woburn Abbey,’ 1827; ‘Hatfield House,’ 1833; ‘Hardwicke Hall,’ 1835; ‘Castle Ashby,’ 1841; and ‘Warwick Castle,’ 1842. He also published ‘Rural Architecture: Designs for Ornamental Cottages,’ ​1823; ‘An Attempt to ascertain the Age of the Church of Mickleham in Surrey,’ 1824; ‘Ornamental Villas,’ 1825–7; ‘Village Architecture,’ 1830; ‘Farm Buildings,’ 1830; ‘Gate Cottages, Lodges, and Park Entrances,’ 1833; ‘Domestic Architecture in the Tudor Style,’ 1837; ‘New Series of Ornamental Cottages and Villas,’ 1838. Robinson became F.S.A. in 1826, and was (1835–9) one of the first vice-presidents of the Institute of British Architects. He read papers to the institute, 6 July 1835, on ‘The newly discovered Crypt at York Minster,’ and, 5 Dec. 1836, on ‘Oblique Arches.’ About 1840 pecuniary difficulties led him to reside at Boulogne, where he died on 24 June 1858.
C. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robinson, Nicholas (1697?-1775)

​ROBINSON, NICHOLAS, M.D. (1697?–1775), physician, a native of Wales, born about 1697, graduated M.D. at Rheims on 15 Dec. 1718, and, like Richard Mead [q. v.], who was his first patron, began practice without the necessary license of the College of Physicians, residing in Wood Street in the city of London. In 1721 he published ‘A Compleat Treatise of the Gravel and Stone,’ in which he condemns the guarded opinion which Charles Bernard [q. v.] had given on the subject of cutting into the kidney to remove renal calculus, and declares himself strongly in favour of the operation. He describes a tinctura lithontriptica, pulvis lithontripticus, and elixir lithontripticum devised by him as sovereign remedies for the stone and the gravel. In 1725 he published ‘A New Theory of Physick and Diseases founded on the Newtonian Philosophy.’ The theory is indefinite, and seems little more than that there is no infallible authority in medicine. In 1727 he published ‘A New Method of treating Consumptions,’ and on 27 March was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians. He moved to Warwick Court in Warwick Lane, and in 1729 published ‘A New System of the Spleen, Vapours, and Hypochondriack Melancholy,’ dedicated to Sir Hans Sloane [q. v.] He mentions in it, from the report of eye-witnesses, the last symptoms of Marlborough's illness, which are generally known from Johnson's poetical allusion to them, and relates as example of the occasional danger of the disease then known as vapours that a Mrs. Davis died of joy because her son returned safely from India; while a Mrs. Chiswell died of sorrow because her son went to Turkey. In 1729 he published a ‘Discourse on the Nature and Cause of Sudden Deaths,’ in which he maintains that some cases of apoplexy ought not to be treated by bleeding, and describes from his own observation the cerebral appearances in opium poisoning. His ‘Treatise of the Venereal Disease,’ which appeared in 1736, and ‘Essay on Gout,’ published in 1755, are without any original observations. He used to give lectures on medicine at his house, and published a syllabus. He also wrote ‘The Christian Philosopher’ in 1741, and ‘A Treatise on the Virtues of a Crust of Bread’ in 1756. All his writings are diffuse, and contain scarcely an observation of permanent value. He died on 13 May 1775.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robinson, Ralph (fl.1551)

​ROBINSON, RALPH (fl. 1551), translator of More's Utopia,' born of poor parents in Lincolnshire in 1521, was educated at Grantham and Stamford grammar schools, and had William Cecil (afterwards Lord Burghley) as companion at both schools. In 1536 he entered Corpus Christi College, Oxford, graduated B.A. in 1540, and was elected fellow of his college on 16 June 1542. In March 1544 he supplicated for the degree of M.A. Coming to London, he obtained the livery of the Goldsmiths' Company, and a small post as clerk in the service of his early friend, Cecil. He was long hampered by the poverty of his parents and brothers. Among the Lansdowne MSS. (ii. 57-9) are two appeals in Latin for increase of income addressed by him to Cecil, together with a copy of Latin verses, entitled ' His New Year's Gift.' The first appeal is endorsed May 1551; upon the second, which was written after July 1572, appears the comment, 'Rodolphus Robynsonus. For some place to relieve his poverty.'
In 1551 Robinson completed the first rendering into English of Sir Thomas More's 'Utopia.' In the dedication to his former schoolfellow, Cecil, he expressed regret for More's obstinate adherence to discredited religious opinions, modestly apologised for the shortcomings of his translation, and reminded his patron of their youthful intimacy. The book was published by Abraham Veal, at the sign of the Lamb in St. Paul's Churchyard, in 1551 (b. 1. 8vo, Brit. Mus.) A second edition appeared in 1556, without the dedicatory letter. The third edition is dated 1597, and the 'newly corrected' fourth (of 1624) is dedicated by the publisher, Bernard Alsop, to Cresacre More [see under More, Sir Thomas]. The latest editions are dated 1869, 1887, and 1893.
Although somewhat redundant in style, Robinson's version of the 'Utopia' has not been displaced in popular esteem by the subsequent efforts of Gilbert Burnet (1684) and of Arthur Cayley (1808).
S. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robinson, Martha Walker

​ROBINSON, Mrs. MARTHA WALKER (1822–1888), writer on French history under her maiden name of Freer, daughter of John Booth Freer, M.D., was born at Leicester in 1822. Her first book, ‘Life of Marguerite d'Angoulême, Queen of Navarre, Duchesse d'Alençon, and De Berry, Sister of Francis I,’ appeared in 1854, in two volumes. In 1861 she married the Rev. John Robinson, rector of Widmerpool, near Nottingham, but all her works bear her maiden name. She continued publishing books dealing with French history until 1866. She died on 14 July 1888. Her works are mere compilations, although she claimed to have had access to manuscripts and other unpublished material. Although inferior in style and arrangement to the books of Julia Pardoe [q. v.] on similar subjects, they enjoyed for a time wide popularity. Two of them, ‘Marguerite d'Angoulême’ and ‘Jeanne d'Albret’ (1855), reached second editions. Mrs. Robinson died on 14 July 1888.
Her other works are:
* ‘Elizabeth de Valois, Queen of Spain and the Court of Philip II,’ 2 vols. 1857.
* ‘Henry III, King of France and Poland: his Court and Times,’ 3 vols. 1858.
* ‘History of the Reign of Henry IV, King of France and Navarre,’ part i. 2 vols. 1860; part ii. 2 vols. 1861; part iii. 2 vols. 1863.
* ‘The Married Life of Anne of Austria and Don Sebastian,’ 2 vols. 1864.
* ‘The Regency of Anne of Austria,’ 2 vols. 1866.
[Allibone's Dictionary, ii. 1839; Athenæum, 1888.]
E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robinson, Ralph (1614-1655)

​ROBINSON, RALPH (1614–1655), puritan divine, born at Heswall, Cheshire, in June 1614, was educated at St. Catharine Hall, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. 1638, M.A. 1642. On the strength of his preaching he was invited to St. Mary's Woolnoth, Lombard Street, and there received presbyterian ordination about 1642. He was scribe to the first assembly of provincial ministers held in London in 1647, and united with them in the protest against the king's death in 1649. On 11 June 1651 he was arrested on a charge of being concerned in the conspiracy of Christopher Love [q. v.] He was next day committed to the Tower, and appears to have been detained there at any rate until October, when an order for his trial was issued. Perhaps he was never brought up, but if so it was to be pardoned. He died on 15 June 1655, and was buried on the 18th in the chancel of St. Mary Woolnoth. His funeral sermon was preached by Simeon Ashe [q. v.], and published, with memorial verses, as 'The Good Man's Death Lamented,' London, 1655. By his wife, Mary, Robinson had a daughter Rebecca (1647-1664). Besides sermons, Robinson was the author of: 1. 'Christ all in all,' London, 1656 ; 2nd edit. 1660; 3rd edit. Woolwich, 1828; 4th edit. London, 1868, 8vo. 2. 'Πανοπλία. Universa Arma' ('Hieron; or the Christian compleatly Armed'), London, 1656.
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Van Son, Jan Frans

​VAN SON, JAN FRANS (FRANCIS), sometimes erroneously written Van Zoon (1658–1718?), painter, born at Antwerp on ​16 Aug. 1658, was son of Joris Van Son (1623–1667), a well-known painter of flowers and still life in that city, whose paintings are frequently to be met with in collections. His mother's name was Cornelia Van Heulem. Van Son was a pupil of his father and a family friend, Jan Pauwel Gillemans. He practised in the same manner as his father, painting still life, flowers, fruit, and the like, but without attaining the same success. Van Son came therefore to London, and obtained a lucrative patronage through his marriage with a niece of the king's serjeant-painter, Robert Streater [q. v.] He was also patronised by Charles Robartes, earl of Radnor, who had a great number of Van Son's paintings in his house in St. James's Square. Some of Van Son's paintings were of considerable size. He lived for some time in Long Acre, but finally in St. Albans Street, St. James's, where he died about 1718. He sometimes introduced his own portrait into his paintings.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Van Huysum, Jacob

​VAN HUYSUM, JACOB (JAMES), (1687?–1746), flower-painter, born at Amsterdam about 1687, was brother of the celebrated flower-painter, Jan Van Huysum, and son of Justus Van Huysum (1659–1716), a painter, of Amsterdam. He painted in the same manner and in as close an imitation of his brother's work as possible. Though he never attained the same excellence, his work, especially in England, has often been mistaken for his brother's. Van Huysum came to England about 1721, in which year he was living in the house of a patron, Mr. Lockyear of the South Sea House. Subsequently he was patronised by Sir Robert Walpole, who received him as an inmate of his house at Chelsea, and employed him to paint flower-pieces and copies from old masters for the decoration of the great house at Houghton in Norfolk. Through his drunken and dissolute habits he lost this and other patronage, and died in obscurity in 1746.
[Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting; Vertue's Diaries (Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 23068); Descamps's Vies des Peintres Flamands, 1764, iv. 231; Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers, ed. Graves and Armstrong.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Van Laun, Henri

​VAN LAUN, HENRI (1820–1896), author and translator, born in Holland in 1820, was educated in France. He settled permanently in England in 1848, and at first sought fortune as a journalist, but after a brief experience he preferred the less precarious business of teaching. He was successively French master at King William's College, Isle of Man, at Cheltenham College, and the Edinburgh Academy. Settling afterwards in London, he acted for twenty consecutive years as examiner in French for the civil service commission and for the war office. His first publication, ‘A Grammar of the French Language’ (3 vols. 1863–1864), was followed by ‘Selections from Modern French Authors’ (3 vols. 1869–88). In 1871 appeared his translation of his friend Taine's ‘History of English Literature.’ This work was first issued in Edinburgh in two volumes. It ran through four or five editions, and was then issued in four volumes (London, 1886, 8vo). Van Laun's translation of the ‘Dramatic Works’ of Molière was published in 6 vols. at Edinburgh in 1875–6, 8vo, with illustrations by Lalauze. It embodies much curious information, derived from Langbaine and other sources, concerning seventeenth and eighteenth century translations of, and plagiarisms from, separate plays, acknowledged or unacknowledged. Van Laun's own ‘History of French Literature’ appeared in three volumes (London, 1876–7, 8vo), and was reprinted in 1883. He next published his ‘French Revolutionary Epoch,’ (2 vols. London, 1878, 8vo), being a history of France from the beginning of the first Revolution to the end of the Second Empire. He contributed a ‘Notice of the Life and Works of Motteux’ to Lockhart's revised edition of Pierre Antoine Motteux's English translation of Cervantes's ‘Don Quixote’ which appeared in four volumes (London, 1880–1, 8vo). Van Laun next published ‘The Characters of La Bruyère, newly rendered into English’ (London, 1885, 8vo). His last work was a translation of ‘The Adventures of Gil Blas’ from the French of Le Sage (3 vols. London, 1886, 8vo).
Van Laun was a competent translator, and was widely read in English dramatic literature, but his original essays in literary history were valueless compilations. He was for some years confidential adviser to Mr. John C. Nimmo, the publisher, of London. He died at his residence in Ladbroke Gardens, London, on 19 Jan. 1896.
T. C.