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

​POCOCK, WILLIAM INNES (1783–1836), lieutenant in the navy and author, second son of Nicholas Pocock [q. v.], marine painter, and younger brother of Isaac Pocock [q. v.], artist and dramatist, was born at Bristol in June 1783. He entered the navy in 1795, served more especially in the East and West Indies, and from 1807 to 1810, in the St. Albans, made three several voyages to the Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena, and China. In the last of these the convoy was much shattered in a storm off the Cape of Good Hope, and was detained at St. Helena to refit. During this time Pocock made several sketches of the island, which, with some account of its history, he published as ‘Five Views of the Island of St. Helena’ in 1815, when public interest was excited in the island as the residence allotted to Bonaparte. On 1 Aug. 1811 Pocock was promoted to be lieutenant of the Eagle, with Captain (afterwards Sir Charles) Rowley [q. v.], and in her saw much active boat-service in the Adriatic. She was paid off in 1814, and Pocock had no further employment afloat. He appears to have amused his leisure with reading, writing, and painting; he is described as a good linguist, and is said to have published in 1815 ‘Naval Records: consisting of a series of Engravings from Original Designs by Nicholas Pocock, illustrative of the principal Engagements at Sea since the Commencement of the War in 1793, with an Account of each Action’ (Watt, Bibl. Brit.) There is no copy in the British Museum. He is also said to have written some pamphlets on naval subjects, none of which seem now accessible. He has been confused with William Fuller Pocock [q. v.], architect and artist. He died at Reading on 13 March 1836. He was twice married, and left issue.
[Gent. Mag. 1835 ii. 657, 1836 ii. 324; Navy Lists.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Prisot, John

​PRISOT, Sir JOHN (d. 1460), judge, was probably born at Westberies, Ruckinge, Kent, of which manor his father was lord, towards the close of the fourteenth century, He was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law on 31 Aug. 1443, and on 16 Jan. 1448-9 was made chief justice of the common bench. He was afterwards knighted, was a trier of petitions from Gascony and other parts beyond sea in the parliaments of 1453 and 1455, and in the latter year was a member of the Hertfordshire commission for raising funds for the defence of Calais. In 1455 he became one of the feoffees to the use of the crown of various estates in the duchy of Lancaster. He died in 1460, before the accession of Edward IV.
Prisot was a strong and learned judge and was 'of furtherance' to Littleton in the compilation of his 'Tenures'. He was lord of the mannor of Wallington, Hertfordshire, where his widow Margaret was residing in 1480.
[Cussons's Hertfordshire, Odsey Hundred, p. 80; Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire, iii. 597; Hasted's Kent, iii. 474; Dugdale's Orig. p. 59; Chron. Ser. pp. 64, 66; Nicolas's Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, vi. 239; Rot. Parl. v. 227, 279, vi. 355; Paston Correspondence, ed. Gairdner, i. 123, 211, 290-2; Foss's Lives of the Judges]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Prior, Thomas (1682?-1751)

1904 Errata appended.
​PRIOR, THOMAS (1682?–1751), founder of the Dublin Society and philanthropist, born about 1682 was a native of Rathdowny, Queen's County, He entered the public school at Kilkenny in January 1696-7, and continued there till April 1699. Among his school-fellows was George Berkeley [q. v.], subsequently bishop of Cloyne, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. Prior entered Trinity College, Dublin, obtained a scholarship in 1701, and graduated B.A. in 1703. He subsequently devoted himself to the promotion of material and industrial works among the protestant population in Ireland.
​In 1729 appeared at Dublin his 'List of the Absentees of Ireland,' and in the following year he published 'Observations on Coin.' In conjunction with Samuel Madden [q. v.] and eleven other friends, Prior in 1731 succeeded in establishing the Dublin Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Manufactures, Arts, and Sciences. It was duly incorporated, and received a grant from parliament in 1749 of 500l. a year, and subsequently developed into the Royal Dublin Society.
To Lord Chesterfield, who during his vice-royalty had occasional intercourse with Prior and formed a high opinion of him, Prior in 1746 dedicated 'An Authentic Narrative of the Success of Tar-water in Curing a great number and variety of Distempers.' This publication included two letters from Berkeley. An essay by Prior, advocating the encouragement of the linen manufacture in Ireland, wan published at Dublin in 1749.
Prior died on 21 Oct. 1751, and was buried at Rathdowny, A monument was erected by subscription to his memory in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, with an inscriptionin Latin by Bishop Berkeley, who styled him 'Societatis Dubliniensis auctor, institutor, curator.' A marble bust of Prior is in the possession of the Royal Dublin Society. A portrait of him in mezzotint was published at Dublin in 1752.
[Gilbert's Hist. of Dublin; Chesterfield'a Letters, by Lord Mahon; Reoords of the Dublin Society; Berkeley's Literary Relics; Tracts relative to Ireland, 1861; Berkeley's Works, 1871.]
J. T. G.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.227 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 402 | i | 35 | Prior, Thomas: for 1871.] read 1871; Dialogue between Dean Swift and Thomas Prior, 1758.] |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Prior, Thomas Abiel

​PRIOR, THOMAS ABIEL (1809–1886), line-engraver, was born on 5 Nov. 1809. He first distinguished himself in 1846 by engraving a plate of 'Heidelberg Castle and Town,' from a drawing by J. M. W. Turner, R.A., and under Turner's supervision; it was published by subscription. He next essayed a plate in mezzotint, 'More frightened than hurt,' after James Bateman: but he afterwards returned to the line manner, in which he successfully executed several other plates after Turner. They included 'Zurich,' 1852; 'Dido building Carthage,' 1863; 'Apollo and the Sibyl' (Bay of Baiæ), 1873; 'The Sun rising in a Mist,' begun by William Chapman, 1874; and 'The Fighting Téméraire,' 1886, his latest and one of his best works. He engraved also after Turner, 'The Goddess of Discord choosing the Apple of Contention in the Garden of the Hesperides' and 'Heidelberg Castle' for the Turner Gallery, and 'The Golden Bough' and 'Venice: the Dogana' for the Vernon Gallery. Besides the last two, there are in the Vernon Gallery plates by him of 'Ruins in Italy,' after Richard Wilson, R.A.; 'De Tabley Park' and 'The Council of Horses,' after James Ward, R.A., and 'Woodcutting in Windsor Forest,' after John Linnell. He likewise engraved 'Crossing the Bridge,' after Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A., and for the 'Art Journal' the following pictures in the royal collection: 'The Windmill,' after Ruysdael; 'The Village Fête,' after David Teniers; 'Dover,' after George Chambers; 'The Opening of New London Bridge,' after Clarkson Stanfield, R.A.; and 'Constantinople: the Golden Horn,' after Jacobus Jacobs.
During the later years of his life Prior resided in Calais, whither he removed in order to be near his son, who had settled there. He taught drawing in one or two of the public schools, and devoted his leisure time to engraving. He exhibited twice only at the Royal Academy, and never elsewhere. He died at Calais on 8 Nov. 1886.
[Times, 11 Nov. 1886; Athenæum, 1886., ii. 677; Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, ed. Graves and Armstrong, 1886, ii. 323.]
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pringle, Walter (1664?-1736)

​PRINGLE, Sir WALTER, Lord Newhall (1664?–1736), Scottish judge, was second son of Sir Robert Pringle, first baronet of Stitchel, and Margaret, daughter of Sir John Hope, lord Craighall. Walter Pringle [q. v.] of Greenknowe was his granduncle. He was one of a family of nineteen children, thirteen of whom survived infancy, and two, besides himself, Thomas and Robert (d. 1736) [q. v.], were distinguished in law and politics. Walter, born about 1664, succeeded to the estate of Lochton. He was admitted advocate on 10 Dec. 1687, and became one of the leaders of the Scottish bar. His promotion to the bench was long delayed, and he was passed over in the interest of several advocates who were inferior to him in attainments [see Elliott, Sir Gilbert, Lord Minto]. It was not until Sir Gilbert Elliot's death in 1718 that Pringle was made a judge. On 6 June in that year he took his seat, with the title of Lord Newhall, and was knighted at the same time, and made a lord of justiciary. According to Tytler, his high personal qualities gave him a ‘permanent name in the annals of Scottish jurisprudence.’ Upon his death, on 14 Dec. 1736, a unique tribute was paid to his remains, his funeral being attended by his judicial colleagues in their robes of office. The faculty of advocates engrossed in their minutes a special eulogy on Pringle, written by Sir Robert Dundas of Arniston, then dean of faculty. Pringle married a daughter of Johnston of Hilton, and had issue. His direct line failed in the third generation, and his estate of Lochton fell to Sir John Pringle of Stitchel. His niece Katherine was married to William Hamilton (1704–1754) [q. v.] of Bangour, the poet, who wrote a poetical epitaph on Pringle. Pringle's ​portrait was painted by Allan and engraved by R. Cooper.
[Tyler's Life of Lord Kames. i. 31; Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice, p. 493; Grant's Old and New Edinburgh, i. 161.]
A. H. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Cooper, Daniel

​COOPER, Sir DANIEL, first baronet (1821–1902), Australian merchant, was second son of Thomas Cooper and Jane, daughter of Nathaniel Ramsden, being one of a family of five sons and four daughters. He was born at Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, on 1 July 1821, but went out quite young with his father to Sydney, New South Wales. In 1833 he returned to England for his education in schools near London and at University College; in 1841 he entered a mercantile house at Havre, partly for general training, and in 1843 returned to Sydney to take his place in the firm of Holt & Cooper, which several years later became Cooper & Co.
In 1849 Cooper decided to enter public life, and was elected to the old legislative council of New South Wales. His most prominent public action, however, in the ensuing period was his part in raising funds for the relief of the sufferers from the Crimean campaign; he himself subscribed 1000l. to start the fund in Australia, and promised 500l. a year for each year the war might continue. He also visited England more than once in these years, partly in connection with this charitable work.
In 1856, on the grant of responsible government to New South Wales, Cooper was elected member for Sydney Hamlets in the new council, and on 22 May 1856 was made the speaker. In the following year he was knighted by patent. On 31 Aug. 1859 he decided to resign office and settle anew in England, and, though pressed to form a ministry in succession to Mr. Forster, he adhered to his decision.
He returned to England shortly before the long period of distress in Lancashire caused by the American civil war, which cut off the cotton supplies. His active sympathy and competent organisation were readily placed at the disposal of the sufferers, and it was mainly for his services in this crisis that he was created a baronet (26 Jan. 1863) as of Woollahra, New South Wales.
Though he now resided permanently in London, Cooper was always ready to render assistance in the development of New South Wales, with the interests of which he was constantly identified. He did good work in regulating the trade in Australian wool. He acted as agent-general for the colony (1897-9) and looked after its interests at numerous exhibitions, both on the Continent and in London. He was president of the bank of New South Wales (1855-61) and a member of the council of Sydney University, where he founded in 1857 the Cooper scholarship.
Cooper was made a K.C.M.G. in 1880, and G.C.M.G. in 1888. He died on 5 June 1902 at 6 De Vere Gardens, Kensington. He married, on 3 Sept. 1846, Elizabeth, third daughter of William Hill of Sydney, and left two sons and five daughters. He was succeeded as second baronet by his eldest son, Daniel, a deputy-lieutenant of Cambridgeshire.
[Heaton's Austral. Dict. of Dates; Mennell's Dict. of Australas. Biog.; Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 1902; The Times, 6 June 1902.]
C. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Shirley, Horatio

​SHIRLEY, Sir HORATIO (1805–1879), general, born on 8 Dec. 1805, was fifth son of Evelyn Shirley of Eatington Park, Warwickshire, by his wife, Phyllis Byam, only daughter of Charlton Wollaston of Horton, Dorset. His father's eldest brother, Evelyn John Shirley, was father of Evelyn Philip Shirley [q. v.] Horatio entered Rugby in May 1820, and afterwards proceeded to Trinity College, Oxford, matriculating on 10 May 1823. In 1825 he entered the army, became lieutenant in 1826, was promoted captain in 1833, and major in 1841; was nominated ​lieutenant-colonel in 1848, and gazetted colonel of the 88th foot in 1854. He served with distinction during the Crimean war, taking part in the battles of Alma and Inkerman with his regiment. At the siege of Sebastopol he was general officer of the trenches in the attacks on the quarries on 7 and 18 June, and was commended by Lord Raglan for his ‘arduous services.’ In the storming of Sebastopol on 8 Sept. he was wounded and invalided home. He was appointed a C.B. in 1856 and a K.C.B. in 1869. In 1862 he obtained field-rank, in 1871 was promoted to a lieutenant-general, and in 1877 became a general. He died, unmarried, on 7 April 1879, at his house at Puddletown, Dorset.
[Ward's Men of the Reign, p. 810; Times, 15 April 1879; Dorset County Chronicle, 17 April 1879; Kinglake's Invasion of the Crimea, 6th edit. ix. 99, 114, 124; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Rugby School Register, ed. 1881, i. 140.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Shirley, John (1648-1679)

Contains subarticles John Shirley (fl. 1678) & John Shirley (fl. 1680–1702).
​SHIRLEY, JOHN (1648–1679), author, son of John Shirley, bookseller, of London, was born in the parish of St. Botolph, Aldersgate, on 7 Aug. 1648. He matriculated from Trinity College, Oxford, on 17 March 1665, became a scholar in 1667, graduated B.A. on 18 Feb. 1668 and M.A. on 28 Nov. 1671, and in 1673 acted as terræ filius. Soon after he was elected a probationary fellow, but was expelled for immoral conduct before his term of probation had expired. He returned to London, and, having married the daughter of an innkeeper of Islington, made a livelihood by correcting for the press. He died at Islington on 28 Dec. 1679. He was the author of ‘The Life of the Valiant and Learned Sir Walt. Raleigh, Kt., with his Trial at Winchester,’ London, 1677, 8vo.
He has been identified with one John Shirley, M.D. (fl. 1678), who wrote: 1. ‘A short Compendium of Chirurgery,’ London, 1678, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1683. 2. ‘The Art of Rowling and Bolstring,’ London, 1682, 8vo; though the two are more probably distinct (Wood, Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 1220).
A third John Shirley (fl. 1680–1702), miscellaneous writer, said, on very doubtful evidence, to be a son of James Shirley [q. v.], the dramatist (Hunter, Chorus Vatum, iii. 420), was the author of: 1. ‘An Abridgment of the History of Guy, Earl of Warwick,’ London, 1681, 4to, Brit. Mus. 2. ‘The History of Reynard the Fox; in heroic verse,’ London, 1681, 8vo. 3. ‘Ecclesiastical History Epitomised,’ London, 1682, 8vo. 4. ‘The Honour of Chivalry,’ London, 1683, 4to. 5. ‘The Illustrious History of Women,’ London, 1686, 12mo. 6. ‘A True Account of the Enterprise of the Confederate Princes against the Turks and Hungarian Rebels,’ London, 1686, 4to. 7. ‘The Accomplished Lady's Rich Closet of Rarities,’ London, 1687, 12mo. 8. ‘The Triumph of Wit,’ London, 1688, 8vo; 8th edit. 1724, 12mo. 9. ‘An Abridgment of the History of Amadis of Gaul,’ London, 1702, 12mo. 10. ‘Great Britain's Glory: an abridgment of the “History of King Arthur,”’ London, 4to.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Shirley, Henry

​SHIRLEY, HENRY (d. 1627), dramatist, was the second son of Sir Thomas Shirley the younger [q. v.] of Wiston in Sussex and his first wife, Frances Vavasour (Shirley, Stemmata Shirleiana, 1873). The conjectures of Tierney (Hist. of the Castle and Town of Arundel, i. 67), of Wood (Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 740), and of Mr. Fleay (English Drama, ii. 248), that he was either brother, father, or near kinsman of James Shirley [q. v.] the dramatist, are contradicted by the authenticated pedigree of the Shirleys of Wiston, where it is stated that Henry sine sobole occisus est. Nothing further is known of Henry Shirley's life except its tragic close. On the Friday before 31 Oct. 1627 he presented himself at the lodging in Chancery Lane of Sir Edward Bishop, then a member of parliament, ‘to demand of him an annuity of 40l., which the said Sir Edward Bishop was to give him.’ Shirley, who had no weapon about him, was run through by Sir Edward Bishop with his sword. Bishop escaped, remained for some time in hiding, and was sentenced to be burned in the hand, but was pardoned on 21 Oct. 1628 (cf. Birch, Transcripts, Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 4177). The notoriety attaching to the tragic incident is shown by the reference to it in Prynne's ‘Histriomastix’ (1633, p. 554, in the margin), where, as an example of ‘the sudden and untimely ends of all those ancient play-poets,’ is mentioned the case of ‘——Sherly, slaine suddenly by Sir Edward Bishop, whiles hee was drunke, as most report’ (Notes and Queries, 1st ser. xii. 26–7).
None of the plays attributed to Henry Shirley have been preserved, with the exception of ‘The Martyr'd Souldier,’ printed in 1638, ‘as it was sundry Times Acted with a generall applause at the Private house in Drury Lane, and at other publicke Theaters.’ It is designated an ‘old’ play in the ‘Lines to the Reader’ (conveyed from Thomas Heywood's ‘The Royall King and the Loyall Subject’) appended to it on publication (reprinted in vol. i. of Mr. A. H. Bullen's ‘Old English Plays,’ 1882). It is a far from attractive specimen of the miracle-play run to seed, but some of its passages are instinct with life, while the work as a whole conveys the impression that the author lacked the schooling of a professional playwright. Four other plays by Henry Shirley were entered on the ‘Stationers' Registers’ (9 Sept. 1653), but are not known to have been published—viz. ‘The Spanish Duke of Lerma,’ ‘The Duke of Guise,’ ‘The Dumb Bawd,’ and ‘Giraldo, the Constant Lover.’ Some verses of his, apparently Hudibrastic in theme as well as in metre, are preserved among the Ashmolean MSS. in the Bodleian (vol. xxxviii. No. 88). In John Davies of Hereford's ‘Scourge of Folly’ (1611) is an epigram (numbered 163; Davies's Works, ed. Grosart, ii. 27) on the author's ‘right worthy friend and truly generous gentleman, Henry Shirly, Esquire,’ of which the point is the uselessness of painting the lily.
A. W. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Shirley, Robert (1629-1656)

1904 Errata appended.
​SHIRLEY, Sir ROBERT (1629–1656), fourth baronet, royalist, born in 1629, was the second son of Sir Henry Shirley, second baronet, of Eatington in Warwickshire, and of Staunton Harrold in Leicestershire. His grandfather, Sir George Shirley, was created a baronet in 1611 on the institution of the order. His mother Dorothy was the second daughter of Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex [q. v.] Although the Shirley family had remained catholic, Robert was educated by his mother in the protestant faith. On 12 Aug. 1645 he was admitted a ​fellow commoner of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (Register of Admissions).
In the following year, on the death of his brother, Sir Charles Shirley, he succeeded to the baronetcy and estates under the wardship of his uncle, the Earl of Essex. Almost immediately, contrary to the advice of his guardian and family, he married Katherine, daughter of Humphrey Okeover of Okeover, Staffordshire.
On 14 Sept. 1646 his mother's brother, the Earl of Essex, died intestate, and Shirley succeeded to a moiety of his estates, including Chartley in Staffordshire, property at Newcastle-under-Lyne, the tenements in London adjoining Essex House, a rent-charge of 300l. from the Cardigan estates, and half the barony of Farnham in Monaghan. Thereupon he retired to the country and took up arms for the king. In the winter of 1647–8 he was in Oxford and resided in St. John's College. After the execution of Charles I he was involved in plots for a restoration of the monarchy. On 4 May 1650 a warrant was issued for his committal to the Tower, but he was released in October on finding two securities in 5,000l. (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1650, passim). He continued, notwithstanding, to engage in conspiracies against the Commonwealth (Nicholas Papers, Camden Soc. ii. 218). Arms were discovered at his dwelling in 1656 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1656–7, p. 140), and in consequence of his conduct he was several times confined in the Tower. There he died on 28 Nov. 1656, and was buried beneath the chancel of the church at Staunton Harrold, which he had rebuilt. By his will he left 1000l. for the relief of persons distressed for their loyalty to Charles I. By his wife Katherine, who died on 18 Oct. 1672, he had five children—three sons: Seymour, the fifth baronet; Sewallis, who died young; and Robert, seventh baronet and first baron Ferrers; and two daughters: Katherine, who married Peter Venables, called baron of Kinderton in Cheshire, and Dorothy, second wife of George Vernon of Sudbury in Derbyshire.
Portraits of Sir Robert and his wife are at Staunton. That of Sir Robert is attributed to Vandyck. Two other portraits of him were discovered in 1842 at the vicarage of Prees in Shropshire. There are also portraits of both husband and wife—half-length—at Lord Vernon's house at Sudbury in Derbyshire.
E. I. C.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.250 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 138 | i | 11 | Shirley, Sir Robert (1629-1666) : for father read brother |
| | | 37 | for Harold read Harrold |