OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Street, Thomas

​STREET, Sir THOMAS (1626–1696), judge, son of George Street of Worcester, born in 1626, matriculated at Oxford, from Lincoln College, on 22 April 1642, but left the university without a degree in February 1644–5. He was admitted on 22 Nov. 1646 a student at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the bar on 24 Nov. 1653, and elected a bencher on 7 Nov. 1669. Returned to parliament for Worcester on 18 Jan. 1658–9, he kept the seat, notwithstanding an attempt to exclude him on the ground that he had borne arms for the king and used profane language; and he continued to represent the same constituency until the general election of February 1680–1. He was subsecretary to the dean and chapter of Worcester Cathedral from 1661 to 1687, was appointed one of their counsel in 1663, and elected prætor of the city in 1667. In 1677 he was appointed justice for South Wales (February), and called to the degree of serjeant-at-law (23 Oct.); on 23 Oct. of the following year he was advanced to the rank of king's serjeant; on 23 April 1681 he was raised to the exchequer bench, and on 8 June following he was knighted at Whitehall. The same year, at the Derby assizes, he passed sentence of death as for high treason on George Busby, a catholic priest convicted of saying mass, but reprieved him by order of the king. In 1683 he sat with Sir Francis Pemberton [q. v.] at the Old Bailey on the trial of the Rye-house conspirators. On 29 Nov. 1684 he was removed to the common pleas. His patent was renewed on the accession of James II, who suffered him to retain his place notwithstanding his judgment against the dispensing power in the case of Godden v. Hales. Sir John Bramston (Autobiogr. Camden Soc. p. 224) insinuates—what became the general belief—that his judgment was inspired by the king with the view of giving an air of independence to that of the majority.
On the accession of William III Street was ignored, and retired to his house at Worcester, where he died on 8 March 1695–6. His remains were interred in the south cloister ​of Worcester Cathedral, in the north transept of which is a monument by Joseph Wilton [q. v.] By his wife Penelope, daughter of Sir Rowland Berkeley of Cotheridge, Worcestershire, he left an only daughter.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Streat, William

​STREAT, WILLIAM (1600?–1666), divine, born in Devonshire about 1600, ‘became either a batler or a sojourner of Exeter College’ in the beginning of 1617. He matriculated on 8 May 1621, graduated B.A. on 31 Jan. 1621–2, and proceeded M.A. on 10 June 1624. He took holy orders and became rector of St. Edmund-on-the-Bridge, Exeter, in 1630, and in 1632 rector of South Pool, Devonshire. After 1641 he inclined to presbyterianism and, according to Wood, preached bitterly against Charles and his followers, styling them ‘bloody papists.’ After the Restoration he appears to have modified his opinions, for he contrived to keep his rectory until his death at South Pool in 1666. He was buried in the church. The neighbouring ministers, says Wood, agreed ‘that he was as infinite a rogue and as great a sinner that could be, and that 'twas pity that he did escape punishment in this life.’
He was the author of ‘The Dividing of the Hooff: or Seeming-Contradictions throughout Sacred Scriptures, Distinguish'd, Resolv'd, and Apply'd. Helpfull to every Household of Faith. By William Streat, Master of Arts, Preacher of the Word, in the County of Devon,’ London, 1654, 4to. This work is prefaced by a dedication to God (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. ix. 266), and an epistle to God's people, signed ‘W. S.’
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 728; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stubbs, Henry (1606?-1678)

​STUBBS, STUBBES, or STUBBE, HENRY (1606?–1678), ejected minister, born about 1606, was son of Henry Stubbes ​of Bitton in Gloucestershire, and was born at Upton in that county. He matriculated in April 1624, from Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and graduated B.A. in 1628, and M.A. in 1630. He became rector of Partney, Lincolnshire, but on the outbreak of the civil war he took the covenant, becoming minister of St. Philip's, Bristol, and afterwards of Chew Magna, Somerset. In 1654 he was at Wells, acting as assistant to the commissioners for ejecting scandalous ministers. In 1662 he was ejected from Dursley, where he was assistant to Joseph Woodward. He then preached in London for some time. In April 1672 his house in Jewin Street was licensed as a presbyterian meeting-house (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1672, pp. 274, 326). The bishop of Gloucester subsequently connived at his officiating at Horseley, Gloucestershire. He died in possession of the vicarage of Horseley on 7 July 1678, and was buried in Bunhill Fields. His son Henry is separately noticed [see Stubbs, Henry, (1632–1676)].
Stubbes's chief works were: 1. ‘A Dissuasive from Conformity to the World,’ London, 1675, 8vo, to which were appended ‘God's Severity against Man's Iniquity’ and ‘God's Gracious Presence the Saints great Privilege.’ 2. ‘Great Treaty of Peace. … Exhortation of making Peace with God,’ London, 1676–7, 8vo. 3. ‘Conscience the best Friend upon Earth,’ London, 1677, 12mo; 1684, 24mo; 1840, 12mo; and in Welsh, 1715, 12mo.
W. A. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stuart, William

​STUART, WILLIAM (1755–1822), archbishop of Armagh, born in March 1755, fifth son of John Stuart, third earl of Bute [q. v.], by Mary, only daughter of Edward Wortley Montagu, was educated at Winchester school, and St. John's College, Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship, and in 1774 graduated M.A. Shortly after taking holy orders he was appointed vicar of Luton, Bedfordshire. On 10 April 1783 he was introduced to Johnson by his countryman Boswell, who describes him as ‘being with the advantages of high birth, learning, travel, and elegant manners, an exemplary parish priest in every respect,’ which certificate as to his highly respectable accomplishments and character indicates a common type of ecclesiastic and nothing more; and as to his individuality nothing further is known than the dates of his promotions. He was made D.D. in 1789, and was promoted in the same year to a canonry in Christ Church, Oxford; in 1793 to the see of St. Davids, and in December 1800 to the archbishopric of Armagh, and the primacy of all Ireland. He died on 6 May 1822 from accidental poisoning, by a draught of an embrocation taken instead of medicine. His full-length figure in marble is in the cathedral in Armagh.
[Gent. Mag. 1822, i. 469, 597; Stuart's Hist. of Armagh; Cotton's Fasti Eccles. Hiber. ii. 28.]
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stubbs, George Towneley

George Townly Stubbs in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​STUBBS, GEORGE TOWNELEY (1756–1815), engraver, born in 1756, the son of George Stubbs [q. v.], engraved many of his father's pictures, and a few plates after other painters, in mezzotint and in the dot manner. Between 1771 and 1782 he exhibited five times at the Incorporated Society of Artists (mezzotints and stained drawings), and once at the Royal Academy. He died in 1815.
[Bryan's Dict. ed. Armstrong; Redgrave's Dict.; Graves's (Algernon) Dict.; Gilbey's Life of George Stubbs, R.A. (privately printed).]
C. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wihtgar

Regarded as "presumably mythic" in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
​WIHTGAR (d. 544), first king of the Isle of Wight, was the nephew of Cerdic [q. v.] He seems to have first come to Britain with his brother Stuf in 514 (A.-S. Chron., ap. Petrie, Mon. Hist. Brit. p. 301), and to have conquered the Britons in a battle picturesquely described by Henry of Huntingdon (Hist. Angl., ap. Petrie, l. c. p. 711). Nothing more is known of Wihtgar until 534, when Cerdic and Cynric [q. v.] handed over to him and to his brother the Isle of Wight (A.-S. Chron. l. c. p. 301), which they had conquered four years before (Ethelwerd, Chron., ap. Petrie, l. c. p. 503). Wihtgar himself was probably a Jute (Flor. Wig.; also Sym. Dunelm. and Asser, ap. Petrie, l. c. pp. 550, 674, 469). Green, who with Freeman (Norman Conquest, i. 10 n.) doubts the story of Wihtgar, thinks that Cerdic's conquest of the Isle of Wight was not in his own interest, but in that of his allies, for the new settlers of the island were undoubtedly Jutes (Making of England, p. 90). Wihtgar ruled honourably (Will. Malm. Gesta Reg. Angl. p. 27, Engl. Hist. Soc.) for ten years, and, dying in 544, was buried in Wihtgarabyrig, the modern Carisbrook (A.-S. Chron., ap. Petrie, l. c. p. 302).
The ascription by the ‘Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’ (ib. p. 339) to Wihtgar of certain laws concerning the church, which were confirmed in 796, is an obvious slip, which Wilkins repeats (Concilia, i. 158), but the whole story of Wihtgar is open to doubt.
[Authorities quoted in the text.]
A. M. C.-e.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wihtred

​WIHTRED (d. 725), king of Kent, was the great-great-grandson of King Ethelbert (552?–616) [q. v.] He began his reign, after a period of disputed rule, probably about the end of 690 (Bede, Hist. Eccles. ap. Petrie, Mon. Brit. i. 242, 282). He seems to have shared his throne for some time with a certain Suæbhard or Waebberd (Bede, loc. cit. p. 255), whom Matthew of Westminster calls his brother (Flores Hist. i. 346). In 694 (Hen. Hunt. Hist. Angl. ib. p. 723) Ine [q. v.] led an expedition against Kent to avenge the death of his kinsman Mul, but King Wihtred succeeded in appeasing his wrath with a large money fine or wergild. It has been conjectured that the submissive attitude of Kent was due to the defeat of its allies, East-Anglia and Essex. Wihtred's reign was long, peaceful, and prosperous, extending over thirty-four years. He died on 23 April 725 (Bede, loc. cit. p. 282). Wihtred married Werburga and left three sons (ib.), who inherited his kingdom in succession.
Several extant charters attest Wihtred's loyalty and munificence to the church in Kent (Wilkins, Concilia, i. 56 seq.). The most famous of these is the so-called ‘Privilege of Wihtred’ securing freedom and independence to the churches and monasteries of Kent. This was confirmed by the king between 696 and 716 at a Kentish witan ​held at Baccanceld, probably Bapchild, near Sittingbourne in Kent (Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, iii. 238 seq.).
To Wihtred also we owe one of our earliest extant codes of law. It was drawn up at a ‘convention of great men’ held at Berghamstede or Bersted, near Maidstone, in the fifth year of the king's reign, and was chiefly ecclesiastical in character. It was still found necessary at the close of the seventh century to prohibit ‘offering to devils.’ The code also regulates the relations of the lords with the different classes of the unfree, and even condescends to enjoin the use of the horn by strangers when off the highways (ib. pp. 233 seq.).
[See, in addition to the chief authorities cited in the text, the Anglo-Saxon Chron. in Petrie's Mon. Brit. i. 327; Gaimar's L'Estorie des Engles, ib. p. 785; Henry of Huntingdon's Hist. Angl. ib. pp. 723–4; William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum, pp. 23–4 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Thorpe's Ancient Laws and Instit. of England, i. 37–43; Green's Conquest of England, pp. 9, 21.]
A. M. C.-e.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wikeford, Robert de

​WIKEFORD, ROBERT de (d. 1390), archbishop of Dublin, is said to have belonged to the family of Wickford or Wykeford of Wickford Hall, Essex (D'Alton, p. 142; cf. Morant, Essex, i. 253–4). He was a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and a doctor of laws in 1344. He became a king's clerk, and in or before 1368 was appointed archdeacon of Winchester (Rymer, Fœdera, Record edit. iii. ii. 850, 892; Le Neve, iii. 25). He also held other preferments in the north and west of England, and was admitted by Urban IV to a prebend of York in 1370. On 18 May following he was commissioned to arrange with Wenceslaus, duke of Brabant, the pay for his army while serving under Edward III in France, and in 1371 he was again sent on an embassy to Flanders (Rymer, Fœdera, Record edit. III. ii. 892, 920, 921). On 7 March 1372–3 he was appointed constable of Bordeaux (ib. p. 972). He had resigned this post before 26 June 1375 (ib. pp. 1030, 1039). On 12 Oct. 1375 he was promoted by papal provision to the archbishopric of Dublin. On 18 July 1376 he was appointed chancellor of Ireland, and he was reappointed on 26 Sept. 1377, after the accession of Richard II (Cal. Pat. Rolls, p. 27).
In 1384 he seems to have paid a visit to England to inform the king and council of certain matters to the advantage of the king and prosecute business of importance to himself and his see (ib. p. 383), but he cannot have still held the office of chancellor during all the period of 1377–84, as he was reappointed to the office on 10 Sept. 1384 (ib. p. 455). He was relieved of the office before 27 March of the following year (ib. p. 550). He died on 28 Aug. 1390. According to Wood and the catalogues, he left to Merton College altar-cloths for the high altar; according to Astry they were for the hall.
[Cotton's Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ, ii. 15; Brodrick's Memorials of Merton (Oxf. Hist. Soc.); Cal. Pat. Rolls of Richard II; O'Flanagan's Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland, i. 43–55; D'Alton's Archbishops of Dublin, pp. 142–6; Rot. Pat. in Canc. Hiberniæ (Record Publ.); Rymer's Fœdera (Record Publ.) III. ii, passim; Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl.; Lascelles's Liber Munerum Hibernicorum; Ware's Bishops of Ireland, ed. Harris.]
W. E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Redman, Richard (d.1505)

​REDMAN, RICHARD (d. 1505), bishop of Ely, probably great-grandson of Sir Richard Redman [q. v.], was born in the chapelry of Levens on the borders of Cumberland and Westmoreland. He is said to have been educated at Cambridge, and subsequently to have become one of the regular canons of the Premonstratensian order in the abbey of Shap, of which house he became abbot, and was visitor of the order in 1478. He seems to have held his abbey in commendam with his bishopric of St. Asaph for many years. The abbey was scarcely five miles from Levens, and was an important house with ample revenues. It is probable that family influence contributed to his promotion to this his first preferment. He seems to have been nominated to the see of St. Asaph in 1468, but was not actually consecrated till three years later, a question having arisen as to whether the see was vacant (Le Neve, Fasti, i. 73). In the parliament of 1483 he was appointed one of the triers of petitions from Gascony and the parts beyond sea. He found the cathedral of St. Asaph a heap of ruins, in which state it had lain since Owen Glendower had burnt the place down in 1408. Bishop Redman set himself to restore the church at a great cost, and it remains now substantially as he left it. On 21 Aug. 1474 he took part in the consecration of Thomas Billing, bishop of Hereford, at St. Mary's, Westminster. In 1487 he became somehow compromised in the ‘rebellion’ of Lambert Simmel. A complaint was made to the pope, who adjudicated upon the matter. The bishop recovered his place in the favour of Henry VII, for in 1492 we find him one of the commissioners for treating with the Scots for peace, and next year he was admitted to the privy council. In January 1496 the see of Exeter was vacated by the translation of Oliver King to the bishopric of Bath and Wells, and Redman succeeded him at Exeter. Finally, in September 1501, he was removed to the see of Ely, where his magnificent monument may still be seen. He died at Ely House, Holborn, on 24 Aug. 1505. The bishop must have been a man of very large means, and his profuse liberality was proverbial during his lifetime. In his will, which has been preserved, he made many and large bequests to the religious houses in his diocese, to the cathedral, and to his old abbey of Shap, as well as to the poor, among whom one hundred marks was to be distributed at his funeral.
A. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Redman, Richard (d.1426)

​REDMAN, Sir RICHARD (d. 1426), speaker of the House of Commons, was son of Sir Matthew Redman of Levens, Westmoreland, by his wife Joan. His father, probably a son of Sir Matthew Redman who sat for Westmoreland in the parliaments of 1357 and 1358 and died in 1360, served in France and Spain under John of Gaunt in 1373, 1375, and 1380. In 1381 he was warden of Roxburghe, and in 1389 a commissioner to treat with the Scottish envoys (Cal. Doc. relating to Scotland, 1357–1509; Cal. Patent Rolls, 1377–81, passim). He died about 1390, and in 1393 Richard was granted leave to hold a tournament at Carlisle. On 17 March 1399–1400 he received letters of protection for a journey to Ireland with John de Cobham, third lord Cobham [q. v.], and in May was treating for peace with the Scots. In 1405 he was commissioned to exact fines from those who had been concerned in the Percy rising, and in the same year represented Yorkshire in parliament; he was returned for the same constituency in 1414, 1415, 1420, and 1421. In 1408 he was appointed to receive submissions and levy fines on the rebels who had been defeated at Bramham Moor, and in 1409 and 1410 was engaged in negotiating with, and raising forces against, the Scots. In 1415, with John Strange, he took the principal part in mobilising the forces for the French war. In the parliament which met on 4 Nov. he was elected speaker; parliament was in a loyal mood after Agincourt, and, having rapidly voted supplies, was dissolved on 12 Nov. In 1421 Redman was commissioned to raise loans for the French war. He died in 1426, having married Elizabeth (d. 1434), widow of Sir Bryan Stapleton, and daughter of William de Aldburgh, lord of the manor of Harewood, Yorkshire; she brought him Harewood and other manors in Yorkshire (Cal. Inq. post mortem, iv. 108). His son, Matthew Redman, predeceased him in 1419 seised of a moiety of Harewood (ib. iv. 186). Richard Redman (d. 1505) [q. v.], bishop of Ely, was probably Matthew Redman's grandson.
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Redford, Henry

​REDFORD, Sir HENRY (d. 1404?), speaker of the House of Commons, came of a family long settled in Lindsey, Lincolnshire. In 1386 he accompanied John of Gaunt on his expedition to Spain, and in 1392–3 served as sheriff of Lincolnshire. He represented that county in parliament in 1400–1, and in the latter year was summoned to the privy council. During 1402 Henry IV requested him to contribute to a benevolence, and he again represented Lincolnshire in the parliament that met on 1 Oct. Two days later he was elected speaker, but his ​tenure of the chair was not marked by any incident of note, and parliament was dissolved on 25 Nov. In 1403 Redford was again attending meetings of the privy council, and in 1404 once more represented the same constituency in parliament. He probably died in that or the following year. Another Sir Henry Redford, possibly a son, took an active part in the wars in Normandy under Henry VI; in 1449 he was one of the three commissioners appointed to treat for terms on the surrender of Rouen to the French. He was himself one of the hostages and remained prisoner till 1451. In 1459 he fought against the Lancastrians at the battle of Ludford, but immediately afterwards made his peace with the king. He was pardoned, but his estates were forfeited, except those he held as executor or feoffee (Rolls of Parl. vol. v. passim; Letters and Papers of Henry VI, Rolls Ser. ii. 608, 611, 628; Narratives of the Expulsion of the English from Normandy, Rolls Ser. p. 353; Nicolas, Proc. Privy Council, vi. 109–10).
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Redington, Thomas Nicholas

​REDINGTON, Sir THOMAS NICHOLAS (1815–1862), Irish administrator, only son of Christopher Redington (1780–1825), a captain in the army, by Frances, only daughter of Henry Dowell of Cadiz, was born at Kil​Kilcornan, Oranmore, co. Galway, on 2 Oct. 1815. He was educated at Oscott College and at Christ's College, Cambridge, but did not graduate. Devoting himself to politics, he represented Dundalk in parliament in the liberal interest from 1837 to 1846. On 11 July 1846 he was appointed under-secretary of state for Ireland, in 1847 a commissioner of national education, and ex officio an Irish poor-law commissioner. As a member of Sir John Burgoyne's relief commission in 1847 he rendered much active service during the famine, and in consequence of his services he was on 28 Aug. 1849 nominated a knight-commander of the civil division of the Bath, soon after Queen Victoria's first visit to Ireland. He served as secretary to the board of control from December 1852 to 1856, when he accepted the post of commissioner of inquiry respecting lunatic asylums in Ireland. He resided at Kilcornan House, but he died in London on 11 Oct. 1862. On 30 Aug. 1842 he married Anne Eliza Mary, eldest daughter and coheiress of John Hyacinth Talbot, M.P., of Talbot Hall, co. Wexford.
[Gent. Mag. 1862, xiii. 636; Men of the Time, 1862, p. 648; Dod's Peerage, 1862, p. 480; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1850, ii. 1107.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Taché, Etienne Pascal

​TACHÉ, Sir ETIENNE PASCAL (1795–1865), premier of Canada, born at St. Thomas on 5 Sept, 1795, was third son of Charles Taché. His grandfather, Jean Taché, came to Canada from France in 1739 and settled in Quebec. Alexandre Antonin Taché [q. v.] was his nephew. Etienne was educated at a Roman catholic seminary. On the outbreak of the war with the United States in 1812 he became an ensign in the 5th battalion of incorporated militia (afterwards formed into the Canadian chasseurs, of which he became lieutenant). After the war he took to the study of medicine, was admitted to practice in 1819, and became a successful practitioner.
In 1841 Taché entered the Canadian assembly as member for L’Islet. In 1846 he resigned his seat on appointment as deputy adjutant-general of the Canadian militia; but in 1848 he was again elected, and on 11 March joined the Baldwin-Lafontaine ministry as commissioner of public works; on 27 Nov. 1849 he became receiver-general and held that office till 23 May 1856. Having been appointed a life member of the legislative council in 1856, he was elected speaker on 19 April, and soon afterwards became premier, having (Sir) John Alexander Macdonald [q. v.] as attorney-general to lead the lower house. His administration was chiefly marked by his efforts for economy. In June 1857, when the post of commissioner of crown lands became vacant, he did the work himself for some months. At the close of the year he sought to retire from public life, and in 1858 paid a visit to England, where he was received by the queen at Windsor and knighted. In July 1860 he was appointed a colonel in the army and aide-de-camp to the queen, and on the visit of the Prince of Wales to Canada in 1861 was specially attached to his staff.
On 30 March 1864, at a moment when party feeling ran very high, Taché was induced, in spite of failing health, to become premier again, with his friend Macdonald as attorney-general. In October 1864 he presided over the intercolonial conference held at Ottawa to discuss the question of federation. He died at Montmagny (formerly St. Thomas) on 30 July 1865, amid public mourning. The council adjourned as a mark of respect.
Taché has been described as a finished gentleman, ‘the Sir Roger de Coverley of Canada.’ He was of impulsive temperament, and had much warmth of manner, but he had good sense and energy. His speech was sympathetic and eloquent. He was a staunch Roman catholic, and a knight of the order of St. Gregory the Great.
He wrote ‘Quelques Réflexions sur l’Organisation de Volontaires,’ Quebec, 1863.
[Quebec Daily Mercury, 2 Nov. 1864, 31 July 1865, and 23 Aug. 1865 (report of speech in the legislative council); Morgan’s Sketches of Celebrated Canadians and Bibliotheca Canadensis; Pope’s Memoirs of Sir J. A. Macdonald.]
C. A. H.