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

​KENNEDY, GRACE (1782–1825), author of ‘Father Clement’ and other religious tales, born at Pinmore, Ayrshire, in 1782, was fourth daughter of Robert Kennedy, esq., of that place, and Robina, daughter of John Vans Agnew, esq., of Barnbarrow, Galloway. At an early age she removed with her parents to the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. She was religiously brought up by an eminently pious mother, and being of a very retiring disposition, she took no share in the ordinary amusements of society. But her cheerful temper and her intellectual attainments made her a delightful companion among intimate friends. She showed an ​active interest for many years in the education of children, and after enjoying uninterrupted good health till 1824, died unmarried at Edinburgh on 28 Feb. 1825.
Her tales were all published anonymously. The first was a little work intended for the young, called ‘The Decision,’ Edinburgh, 1821. In 1822 appeared ‘Profession is not Principle’ (2nd edit. 1823, 8th edit. 1855), and ‘Jessy Allan, the Lame Girl’ (12th edit. 1853). In 1823 she published ‘Anna Ross, the Orphan of Waterloo’ (10th edit. 1852), and ‘Father Clement, a Roman Catholic Story.’ The latter is the book by which she is best known. It is a controversial tale, but it was written with an evident wish to state fairly the doctrines and practices of the Roman catholic church, even while the authoress strongly disapproved of them. It reached a twelfth edition in 1858, and was translated into several European languages. A tale called ‘Father Oswald’ was intended as a reply to it; and a somewhat flippant and offensive ‘Answer to Father Clement,’ by an unknown writer called ‘Timoleon,’ London, 1848, corrects some mistakes. In 1824 were issued ‘Andrew Campbell's Visit to his Irish Cousins,’ and ‘Dunallan,’ the writer's longest tale, written before any of the others (2nd edit. 1825). ‘Philip Colville, a Covenanter's Story,’ left unfinished at her death, was published posthumously. It attempts to give a somewhat more impartial idea of the Scottish covenanters than had been given by Sir Walter Scott in ‘Old Mortality.’ A collected edition of Miss Kennedy's works was issued at Edinburgh in 1827, in 6 vols. 12mo, and was reprinted at Brussels, 1836. A German translation of her ‘Sämmtliche Werke’ appeared at Bielefeld in 1844, 2 vols. 8vo.
W. A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kennedy, James (1793-1864)

​KENNEDY, afterwards KENNEDY-BAILIE, JAMES (1793–1864), classical scholar, son of Nicholas Kennedy, a schoolmaster in Ireland, entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a pensioner 6 July 1807, aged 14. He obtained a scholarship in 1810, graduated B.A. in 1812, was elected a junior fellow in 1817, and proceeded M.A. in 1819, B.D. 1823, and D.D. 1828. In 1824 Kennedy was Donnelan lecturer in his university, and delivered in the Trinity College Chapel ‘Ten Lectures on the Philosophy of the Mosaic Record of Creation,’ which he published in two volumes in 1827. He resigned his fellowship in 1830 on being presented to the college living of Ardtrea, co. Tyrone. He assumed in 1835 ​the additional surname of Bailie. In manner he was vain and pompous, and he is said to have claimed relationship with the Marquis of Ailsa, which the latter declined to admit, although Kennedy offered to make him his heir on condition that the relationship were acknowledged. He died unmarried at Ardtrea on 18 Jan. 1864, leaving his property to a nephew.
Kennedy was an excellent classical scholar. He published: 1. ‘Lachrymæ Academicæ: comprising stanzas in English and Greek, addressed to the Memory of the Princess Charlotte,’ Dublin, 1818, 12mo (Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. v. 241). 2. ‘Select Speeches of Demosthenes,’ translated, with notes, n.d. 3. An edition of Homer's ‘Iliad,’ with Latin notes, Dublin, 1822, 2 vols. 8vo. 4. Æschylus's ‘Agamemnon,’ from the text of Blomfield, with Voss's German version and an original rendering into English blank verse and full notes, Dublin, roy. 8vo, 1829. 5. ‘Prælections on the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece,’ delivered in the university of Dublin, Dublin, 8vo, 1834. 6. ‘Fasciculus Inscriptionum Græcarum,’ London, 1842–9, 3 vols. 4to, with Latin text, a work of great research.
S. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Popham, Alexander

​POPHAM, ALEXANDER (1729–1810), author of the bill for the prevention of the gaol distemper in 1774, the son of Alexander Popham, rector of West Monckton, Somerset, was born in 1729. His family was closely allied to the Pophams of Littlecote [see Popham, Sir John, 1531?–1607]. He matriculated at Oxford from Balliol College on 11 Nov. 1746, but migrated to All Souls', whence he graduated B.A. in 1751, and M.A. in 1755. He was called to the bar from the Middle Temple in 1755, becoming a bencher of his inn in 1785; he was a master of the court of chancery from 1786 to 1802, and was made an auditor of the duchy of Lancaster in 1802. Popham was elected M.P. for Taunton in 1768; in 1774 he was last upon the poll, but was returned upon a petition; he lost his seat in 1780, but was returned in 1784, and held the seat until 1796. As chairman of quarter sessions, Popham acquired an insight into the state of the county gaols, and during his first parliament an outbreak of gaol fever killed eight out of nineteen prisoners in Taunton gaol. In 1774 Popham brought forward a bill with a view to mitigating the evil. It was framed in accordance with the disclosures and recommendations of John Howard (1726?–1790) [q. v.], who, at Popham's instance, gave evidence before a committee of the House of Commons on 4 March 1774, and was afterwards called to the bar to receive the public thanks. Popham's bill was ultimately formed into two separate measures. The first of these abolished the fees demanded by gaolers from acquitted prisoners (14 Geo. III c. 20). The second provided for a more efficient control of the prisons by the magistrates; proper ventilation was to be provided; rooms were to be allotted for the immediate treatment and separation of the sick; arrangements were to be made for bathing; finally ‘an experienced surgeon or apothecary,’ at a stated salary, was to be appointed to each gaol, and to report to the justices at quarter sessions (14 Geo. III, c. 59).
The provisions of this last bill were very largely evaded, and little real progress was made until 1784, when the sale of alcoholic drinks in prisons by gaolers was prohibited, and gaolers were paid a fixed salary.
Popham died at his house in Lincoln's Inn Fields on 13 Oct. 1810, and was buried in the Temple church.
[Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1888; Gent. Mag. 1810, ii. 397; Toulmin's History of Taunton, 1822, pp. 330, 340; Official Returns of Members of Parliament; Journals of the House of Commons, xxxiv. 534 sq.; The Gaol Distemper, by A. D. Willcocks, esq., an address to the West Somerset branch of the Brit. Med. Assoc. in June 1894.]
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Popham, Francis

​POPHAM, Sir FRANCIS (1573–1644), soldier and politician, born in 1573, only son of Sir John Popham (1531?–1607) [q. v.] of Littlecote, matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, on 17 May 1588, being then fifteen (Foster, Alumni Oxonienses), but does not seem to have taken a degree (Clark, Oxford Registers). In 1589 he was entered as a student of the Middle Temple. He was knighted by the Earl of Essex at Cadiz in 1596. Between 1597 and his death in 1644 he successively represented in parliament Somerset, Wiltshire, Marlborough, Great Bedwin in Wiltshire, Chippenham, and Minehead, sitting in every parliament except the Short parliament. He would appear to have inherited his father's grasping disposition, without his legal ability or training, and to have been constantly involved in lawsuits, which he was charged with conducting in a vexatious manner. Like his father, he took an active interest in the settlement of Virginia and New England, and was a member of council of both countries. He was buried at Stoke Newington on 15 Aug. 1644, but in March 1647 was moved to Bristol. He married Ann (b. 1575), daughter of John Dudley of Stoke Newington, and by her had five sons and eight daughters.
His eldest son, John, married, in 1621, Mary, daughter of Sir St. Sebastian Harvey, was a member for Bath in the parliament of 1627–8, and died (without issue) in or about January 1638 at Littlecote, where he was buried with much pomp (cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 20 Jan. 1638).
Popham's second son, Alexander, born in 1605, matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, on 16 July 1621, being then sixteen (Foster, Alumni Oxon.) In 1627 an Alexander Popham was outlawed as a debtor and his property assigned to his creditors (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 23 March, 15 Aug.), but the identification seems doubtful. From 1640 he sat continuously in parliament as member for Bath. On the death of his father in 1644 he succeeded to the estates of Littlecote. He took an active part on the side of the parliament in the civil war; on the death of Charles I he was at once appointed a member of the council of state, and was one of Cromwell's lords in 1657, which did not interfere with his sitting in the Cavalier parliament of 1661, entertaining Charles II at Littlecote on his way to Bath in 1663, or, as a deputy-lieutenant of Wiltshire, taking energetic measures ‘to secure dangerous persons’ (ib. 2 Sept., 14 Oct. 1663). He died in November 1669. Popham's youngest son, Edward, is separately noticed.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Porden, William

​PORDEN, WILLIAM (1755–1822), architect, born in 1755 at Hull, was grandson of Roger Pourden, an architect of York. His early taste for the arts procured him the notice of the poet Mason, who introduced him to James Wyatt [q. v.] After studying architecture in Wyatt's office, he became the pupil of Samuel Pepys Cockerell [q. v.] On leaving the latter he was made secretary to Lord Sheffield, and by him appointed paymaster to the 22nd dragoons; but, on the reduction of this regiment soon afterwards, he resumed his former studies. In 1778 he ​exhibited designs for a Gothic church at the Royal Academy, where his work continued to be seen at intervals. In 1785–6 Porden was chosen to make the necessary fittings in Westminster Abbey for the Handel festival. He was also employed by the parish of St. George's, Hanover Square, and was surveyor of Lord Grosvenor's London estates. From 1790 onwards he designed a number of churches and mansions in various parts of England.
In 1804 Porden began his most important work, Eaton Hall in Cheshire for Lord Grosvenor—a palace of celebrated, if somewhat too florid, magnificence. This work occupied him till 1812. He was assisted, first by his son-in-law, Joseph Kay, and later, by B. Gummow, who built the wings in 1823–5. Besides the superintendence of the works at Eaton, he was busy with several other buildings, chiefly at Brighton, where he erected, in 1805, stables, riding-house, and tennis-court for the Prince of Wales's Pavilion; adding, during the two following years, the west front and entrance hall. In 1808 he designed Broom Hall, Fifeshire, and Eccleston church, near Chester, in 1809 and 1813. He died on 14 Sept. 1822, and was buried in St. John's Wood chapel. According to Redgrave, his end was hastened by annoyance at being superseded two years before in his employment as architect to Lord Grosvenor, to whom his work did not give entire satisfaction. Extensive alterations and additions have been made to Eaton Hall since his time.
Porden had a numerous family, all of whom died young, except two daughters; the elder of these married, in 1807, Joseph Kay (1775–1847), the architect of the new post office in Edinburgh and surveyor to Greenwich Hospital; the younger, Eleanor Anne (1797?–1825), the first wife of Sir John Franklin, is separately noticed.
[Dict. of Architecture; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Hicklin's Guide to Eaton Hall; private information.]
L. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rainsford, Marcus

​RAINSFORD, MARCUS (fl. 1805), author, younger son of Edward Rainsford of Sallins, co. Kildare, born about 1750, obtained a commission and saw service in the 105th regiment, commanded by Francis, lord Rawdon (afterwards second Earl of Moira), during the American war of independence. In 1794 he served under the Duke of York in the Netherlands, and was afterwards employed in raising black troops in the West Indies. In 1799 he visited St. Domingo, and had an interview with Toussaint L'Ouverture. He was subsequently arrested and condemned to death as a spy, but was reprieved and eventually set at liberty. Of this adventure he published an account, entitled ‘A Memoir of Transactions that took place in St. Domingo in the Spring of 1799’ (London, 1802, 8vo; 2nd edit. entitled ‘St. Domingo; or an Historical, Political, and Military Sketch of the Black Republic,’ 1802, 8vo). He retired from the army with the rank of captain about 1803. He also published ‘An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti,’ London, 4to, 1805; and a poem in the heroic couplet, entitled ‘The Revolution; or Britain Delivered,’ London, 1801 (2nd edit. 8vo). The date of Rainsford's death is uncertain. His sister Frances (d. 1809) married, first, in 1774, Major-general Wellbore Ellis Doyle (d. 1797); and, secondly, Count Joseph Grimaldi, brother of the Prince of Monaco.
[Memoir above mentioned; Foster's Baronetage, ‘Doyle;’ Gent. Mag. 1832, ii. 512; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rainy, Harry

​RAINY, HARRY (1792–1876), physician, born at Criech, Sutherlandshire, on 20 Oct. 1792, was youngest son of George Rainy (d. 1810), minister of Criech, and Anne (d. 1833), daughter of the Rev. Gilbert Robertson of Kincardine. He matriculated at Glasgow University in 1806, and formed a lifelong friendship with a fellow student, John Gibson Lockhart [q. v.] He studied medicine from 1808 to 1810, when he ​migrated to Edinburgh and continued the study till 1812. Returning to Glasgow, he acted as clerk in the Royal Infirmary from 1812 to 1814. In May 1814 he went to Paris to work in the hospitals, and was a spectator of the commotion caused by the news of Bonaparte's return from Elba. He became acquainted with Roux, Dupuytren, Orfila, and other distinguished members of the French medical and surgical schools, which had outrun the British in some points of practice. In 1815 he returned to Glasgow, travelling by way of Metz through Germany and Belgium, crossing the field of Waterloo some weeks before the battle. In Glasgow he soon acquired a large practice. As a lecturer he taught the institutes of medicine in Glasgow University from 1832 to 1839, and the practice of medicine from 1839 to 1841. He had graduated M.D. at Glasgow in April 1833, and in 1841 was appointed to the chair of forensic medicine and medical jurisprudence in the university. He thenceforth practised as a consulting physician with much success. In 1862 he resigned his chair, and on 19 Nov. 1873 the university conferred on him the degree of LL.D. on the installation of Mr. Disraeli as rector of the university. While possessing extensive knowledge and skill as a medical practitioner, Rainy was a keen theologian, and at the time of the Scottish disruption he took a leading part on the side of the free church. He died in Glasgow on 6 Aug. 1876. On 30 Nov. 1818 he married Barbara, daughter of Captain Robert Gordon of Invercarron. She died on 8 July 1854. His eldest son, Robert Rainy, D.D. (b. 1826), principal of the New College, Edinburgh, was in 1887 moderator of the Free Church General Assembly. His second son, George (1832–1869), M.D. of Glasgow, was surgeon to the eye infirmary there, and lecturer in the university in 1868.
[Scott's Fasti, v. 334; Times, 18 Aug. 1876; Scotsman, 8 Aug. 1876; Irving's Eminent Scotsmen; British Medical Journal, August 1876; information received from Principal Rainy and Miss Christina Rainy.]
G. S-h.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Raithby, John

​RAITHBY, JOHN (1766–1826), lawyer, born in 1766, was eldest son of Edmund Raithby of Edenham, Lincolnshire. On 26 Jan. 1795 he was admitted a member of Lincoln's Inn, and was subsequently called to the bar. He practised in the court of chancery. His legal writings obtained for him a commissionership of bankruptcy; he was also nominated a sub-commissioner on the public records. Raithby died at the Grove, Highgate, on 31 Aug. 1826, leaving a widow.
Raithby published anonymously, in 1798, ‘The Study and Practice of the Law considered,’ 8vo, an ably written treatise, for some time attributed to Sir James Mackintosh. An American edition appeared at Portland, Maine, in 1806, and the second English edition was issued at London in 1816, with the author's name. With Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, Raithby issued a new edition of the ‘Statutes at Large,’ from Magna Charta to the Union, 41 Geo. III, 10 vols. 4to, 1811 (also in 20 vols. 8vo, 1811). Tomlins co-operated in the edition down to 49 Geo. III, when he relinquished the task to Raithby and Nicholas Simons. Raithby compiled a useful ‘Index’ to the work, ‘from Magna Charta to 49 Geo. III,’ which appeared in 1814, in 1 vol. 4to and in 3 vols. 8vo. He likewise compiled alphabetical and chronological indexes to the ‘Statutes of the Realm,’ which were published by the record commissioners in 1824 and 1828, folio.
Raithby wrote also:
* ‘The Law and Principle of Money considered,’ 8vo, London, 1811.
* ‘Henry Bennet: a Novel,’ 3 vols. 12mo, London.
[Gent. Mag. 1826, pt. ii. p. 282; Allibone's Dict. of Authors, ii. 1726.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rendle, John

​RENDLE, JOHN (1758–1815), divine, was born at Tiverton in 1758, and was educated at Blundell's school there. At school he showed a marked proficiency in classics, and won a scholarship which enabled him to proceed to Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge. There he graduated B.A. in 1781, was appointed lecturer in mathematics, and ​shortly afterwards made fellow of his college. After several years' residence, he accepted a curacy at Ashbrittle, Somerset, and was afterwards presented with the living of Widdecombe, Devonshire. While there he married. He died near Tiverton, where he was visiting, on 22 May 1815.
After leaving Cambridge he devoted his time to the study of classical and early Christian history, and acquired considerable reputation among scholars. In 1814 he published ‘The History of Tiberius, that incomparable monarch’ (London, 1814, 8vo), a learned work vindicating the character of the Emperor Tiberius. ‘The main object of the work is to prove that Tiberius was a convert to Christianity, and a great patron of it; and, moreover, that the unfavourable character given of Tiberius by Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dion was occasioned entirely by the partiality which the emperor displayed towards the Christians’ (Gent. Mag. 1815, ii. 87). He further attempts to prove that Strabo was the father of Sejanus. Rendle was the author of several papers on biblical criticism in the ‘Orthodox Churchman's Magazine.’
[Gent. Mag. 1815, ii. 86; Dict. of Living Authors, 1816, p. 291.]
J. R. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rempston, Thomas (d.1406)

​REMPSTON or RAMSTON, Sir THOMAS (d. 1406), constable of the Tower, son of John Rempston, was born at Rempston, Nottinghamshire, where the family had long been settled. In 1381 he was knight of the shire of Nottingham, which he also represented in the parliaments of 1382, 1393, and 1395. In 1398 he adopted the cause of Henry, earl of Derby, who had been exiled by Richard II, and in the following year made his way to France to join the earl. He was one of the fifteen lances who embarked with Henry at Boulogne and landed at Ravenspur in July 1399. In Shakespeare's ‘Richard II’ (act ii. scene i. 298) his name is given as Sir John Ramston, probably to suit the metre, as Shakespeare's authority, Holinshed, has ‘Sir Thomas.’ On 7 Oct. he was appointed constable of the Tower, and in this capacity had custody of Richard II; he was present at Richard's abdication, and was one of the witnesses to the form of resignation signed by the king (Capgrave, De Illustr. Henricis, p. 106). In February 1400 he was on a commission to inquire into treasons in London and the neighbourhood, and shortly after was appointed admiral of the fleet from the Thames eastwards; in August he was made a knight of the garter, and about the same time steward of the king's household. In 1401 he was made admiral of the fleet from the Thames westwards, and was placed on a commission to deal with infractions of the truce with France, and to settle the question of the still unpaid ransom of the late King John. He was summoned to the great council held in that year. In December 1402 he was negotiating with the Duke of Orleans, and, after prolonged negotiations, concluded a treaty with the French at Lüllingen on 17 June 1403. In 1404–5 he was made a member of the privy council, and was recommended by parliament to Henry IV as one of those whose services merited special recognition; in the same year he was employed on a mission to the Duke of Burgundy. Early in 1406 he was captured by French pirates while crossing the Thames from Queenborough to Essex, but was soon released; in the same year he was vice-chamberlain to the king. He was drowned in the Thames, close to the Tower, on 31 Oct. 1406.
Rempston was the founder of his family's fortunes; he acquired extensive property in Nottinghamshire, including the manor of Bingham, which he made his seat. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir Simon Leeke, and widow of Sir Godfrey Foljambe; by her he had several children, of whom Thomas [q. v.] is separately noticed.
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Remsdyke, John

​REMSDYKE, JOHN (fl. 1755), draughtsman. [See Van Rymsdyc.]