OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lewis, William (1714-1781)

​LEWIS, WILLIAM (1714–1781), chemist, son of John Lewis of London, was born in 1714. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on 17 March 1730–1, graduated B.A. in 1734, and proceeded M.A. 1737, M.B. 1741, M.D. 1745. At the opening of the Radcliffe Library in 1749 Lewis delivered the oration. He practised as a physician, and in 1745 was living in Dover Street, London, but shortly afterwards removed to Kingston-upon-Thames. On 31 Oct. 1745 he was admitted F.R.S.; he died on 21 Jan. 1781. Lewis was eminent for his writings on the Pharmacopœia. His chief works were: 1. ‘A Course of Practical Chemistry,’ London, 1746, 8vo. 2. ‘Pharmacopœia Edinburgensis,’ London, 1748, 8vo. 3. ‘The New Dispensatory,’ London, 1753, 8vo, Edinburgh, 1781, 1791. 4. ‘Experimental History of the Materia Medica,’ London, 1761, 4to; 2nd edit. 1768; 3rd edit. by J. Aiken, 1784; German translation, 1771. 5. ‘Commercium Philosophico-Technicum,’ London, 1763–6, 4to. He also published translations of Caspar Neuman's chemical works in 1759, and (posthumously) of Hoffman's ‘System of the Practice of Medicine,’ 1783. Two papers by him upon platinum appeared in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ for 1754 and 1757 respectively. In 1767 the Society for the Improvement of Arts, Manufactures, &c., of which he was one of the founders, awarded him a gold medal for an essay upon ‘Potashes.’
[Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ix. 764; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Georgian Era, iii. 484; Thomson's Hist. Royal Soc.; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lewis, William Garrett

​LEWIS, WILLIAM GARRETT (1821–1885), baptist minister, eldest son of William Garrett Lewis, was born at Margate 5 Aug. 1821. His father, who was in business at Margate, moved to Chatham, where he was ordained and became minister of the Zion Chapel in 1824; he was the author of ‘Original Hymns and Poems on Spiritual Subjects,’ London, 1827. The son was educated at Gillingham, Margate, and Uxbridge, and from 1837 to 1840 was articled to Dr. Gray, a Brixton schoolmaster. In 1840 he obtained a clerkship in the post office, went to live at Hackney, and became an active baptist. Being chosen a minister, he worked from September 1847 at the chapel in Silver Street, Kensington Gravel Pits. On 6 April 1853 the new chapel built by his congregation in Leding Road, Westbourne Grove, was opened, and there he continued to preach with great success till the end of 1880. On 3 Jan. 1881 his congregation presented him with four hundred guineas, and he removed to the chapel in Dagnal Street, St. Albans. Lewis was one of the founders of the London Baptist Association, of which he was secretary from 1865 to 1869 and president in 1870. For nearly twenty years he was editor of the ‘Baptist Magazine.’ He died 16 Jan. 1885 at his house in Victoria Street, St. Albans, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery. He married, in December 1847, the youngest daughter of Daniel Katterns of the East India Company. His wife predeceased him, leaving a son and a daughter. Lewis was an excellent preacher and lecturer, and a man of great piety. His chief works were: 1. ‘The Religion of Rome examined,’ London, 1851, 16mo. 2. ‘Westbourne Grove Sermons,’ London, 1872. 3. ‘The Trades and Occupations of the Bible,’ London, 1875; a translation (with alterations) of this work appeared in Welsh, London, 1876.
[Times, 23 Jan. 1885; Baptist, 23 Jan. 1885; Baptist Mag., March 1885.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lexinton, Robert de

​LEXINTON or LESSINGTON, ROBERT de (d. 1250), judge, younger and probably second son of Richard de Lexinton, baron [see under Lexinton, John de], was an ecclesiastic and a prebendary of the collegiate church of Southwell, and succeeded to the barony of his father, who was alive in 1216 (Dugdale; Nicolas). In February 1221 he wrote to Hubert de Burgh [q. v.] informing him of the route taken by the rebel Earl of Aumale and of the measures that he had adopted to secure the safety of the border. He was then acting as a justice in seven counties, and was employed in a like capacity in later years, being in 1225 the head of six judicial commissions. He was warden of the honour and castle of Peak and governor of Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire, and also had charge of Orford Castle. He is described as a justice ‘de banco’ in 1226, and as one of the chief members of the king's court, or bench, in 1229, when he sat with other judges at Westminster to hear the case between the convent and the townsmen of Dunstable. There is reason to suppose that in 1234 he was the senior of the justices of the king's bench (Foss). In 1239 he is said to have been elected to the see of Lichfield, but, the right of election being then in dispute between the canons of Lichfield and the monks of Coventry, to have declined it (Annals of Dunstable, an. 1239; comp. Matt. Paris, Chron. Mag. iii. 542, where no mention is made of Robert, but only of William of Manchester, who was elected by the canons in opposition to the monks' choice, Nicolas of Farnham). When in 1240 Henry III sent justices itinerant through the whole kingdom in the hope of raising money by fines and the like, he appointed Robert chief of the justices for the northern division of England. When he and his brother-justices sat at Lincoln they were denounced by the dean of Christianity (or ‘rural dean’) for trying capital cases on Sunday. In return they abused the dean, and caused his goods and the lands of his nieces, his wards, to be seized on behalf of the crown. Bishop Robert Grosseteste [q. v.] wrote him a sharp rebuke for his presumption in dealing thus with a clerk. He again acted as a justice itinerant the following year. After having gained a high reputation and large possessions, he was seized with paralysis, and retired from office a few years before his death, spending the remainder of his life in prayer and almsgiving. He died on 29 May 1250, and was succeeded by his elder brother John. He founded three chantries in the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr in Southwell Minster.
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lewis, William (d.1855?)

Dates 1787 to 1870 in the ODNB. 1904 Errata appended.
​LEWIS, WILLIAM (d. 1855?), writer on chess and chess-player, played in 1821 a match at Paris with Des Chapelles, the leading player in France previous to De la Bourdonnais, receiving the odds of the pawn and one move. Lewis won the first game in twenty-seven moves, the second and third being drawn (W. G. Walker, Selection of Games at Chess, 1836, p. 273). Subsequently he settled in Nassau Street, Soho, London, and was well known as a teacher of chess. Among his pupils was Alexander McDonnell [q. v.] Some beautiful games, in which Lewis gave his pupil a pawn and move and generally won (though it is said that McDonnell could afterwards have given the same odds to him or any other English player), are given in Walker's ‘Thousand Games’ (pp. ix, 82–4). Lewis is believed to have died on 8 Feb. 1855 at New Cross (Gent. Mag. 1855, i. 442.) ​Lewis was the author of numerous works on chess, mostly elementary in character. The chief of these are: 1. ‘A Treatise on the Game of Chess,’ 1814, 8vo; reduced for Bohn's Series, 1858. 2. ‘Oriental Chess, or Specimens of Hindostanee Excellence in that celebrated Game,’ London, 2 vols. 12mo, 1817. Taken largely from ‘Les Stratagêmes des Echecs,’ Strasburg, 1802. 3. ‘Greco's celebrated Treatise on Chess, with numerous Remarks … by W. L.,’ 8vo, 1819. 4. ‘Carrera's Treatise on Chess, to which is added the Art of Playing without seeing the Board,’ 8vo, 1822. 5. ‘A Selection of Games at Chess played at the Westminster Chess Club between M. L. C. De la Bourdonnais, the best Player in France, and an English Amateur of first-rate Skill’ (McDonnell), London, 8vo, 1835. 6. ‘Fifty Games at Chess, played by the Author and some of the best Players in England, France, and Germany, to which is added an Account of the Village of Stroebeck, Germany, and of the Game practised there,’ London, 8vo, 1835.
[Lewis's books in Brit. Mus. Library; Chess Players' Chron. i. 9, &c.; A. van der Linde's Geschichte und Litteratur des Schachspiels, ii. 4–6; Lowndes's Bibl. Man., ed. Bohn, p. 1355.]
T. S.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.182 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 199 | ii | 20 f.e. | Lewis, William (d. 1855?): for (d. 1855?) read (1787-1870) |
| | | 19 f.e. | after chess-player, insert born 6 Oct. 1787, |
| | | 2-1 f.e. | for Lewis is believed . . . . 1855, i. 442). read Lewis died 22 Aug. 1870 (Illustrated London News, 26 Nov. 1870). |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lewis Morganwg

Llywelyn ap Rhisiart in the ODNB.
​LEWIS Morganwg, i.e. of Glamorganshire (fl. 1500–1540), Welsh bard, was the son of another bard named Rhys Llwyd ab Rhys ab Rhicert (fl. 1450–1490), otherwise known as the Old Grey Bard of Glamorgan, who lived at Blaen Cynllan in that county. The son Lewis presided at the Session or Gorsedd of Glamorgan Bards in 1520. A poem written by him on St. Iltutus [see Illtyd or Iltutus], entitled ‘Cowydd St. Illtyd,’ is printed with an English translation in the Iolo MSS., and several of his compositions are still preserved among the Addit. MSS. in the British Museum (Nos. 14866, &c.). He is also said to have written a history of the three provinces of Wales, but nothing is now known of this work.
[Jones's Welsh Bards, p. 87; Williams's Eminent Welshmen, p. 346; Iolo MSS.]
D. Ll. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dilke, Ashton Wentworth

​DILKE, ASHTON WENTWORTH (1850–1883), traveller and politician, younger son of Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke [q.v.], was educated privately, and went to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, of which he was a scholar, but left without taking his degree, being anxious to travel in Russia and acquire a knowledge of the condition of that empire. He visited a great part of Russia and Central Asia; and resided for some months in a Russian village, studying the language and also examining the condition of the peasantry. On his return he read a paper on Kuldja before the Geographical Society, and commenced a work on Russia, one or two chapters of which appeared in the ‘Fortnightly Review,’ but it was never published, as his energies were ​absorbed for a time in editing the ‘Weekly Dispatch,’ which he purchased within a year after his return home; and when he had leisure to return to his book he conceived that its place had been supplied by Mr. (now Sir) D. Mackenzie Wallace's volumes. A translation of Tourguenieff's ‘Virgin Soil’ was published by Dilke in 1878. In 1880 he was returned for Newcastle as an advanced liberal, and seemed likely to play a considerable part in politics; but his health, never robust, gradually gave way and he resigned his seat. He died at Algiers on 12 March 1883.
[Athenæum, 17 March 1883.]
N. McC.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dillenius, John James

Johann Jakob Dillenius in later editions.
​DILLENIUS, JOHN JAMES, M.D. (1687–1747), botanical professor at Oxford, was born in 1687 at Darmstadt. The name of his family had formerly been Dill and Dillen (Pulteney, Progress of Botany, ii. 154). He was educated at the university of Giessen, where he seems to have taken the degree of M.D. He became a member of the Academia Curiosorum Germaniæ, and contributed several papers, mostly botanical, to their ephemerides. In 1719 he published ‘Catalogus Plantarum sponte circa Gissam nascentium,’ enumerating 980 species of the higher plants, 200 of ‘mosses’ and 160 fungi from the immediate environs of Giessen. The work also contained many descriptions of new genera and sixteen plates drawn and engraved by the author. It attracted much attention, and Dillenius was persuaded by Consul William Sherard to come to England in August 1721. He stayed with William Sherard at Oxford and afterwards in London, and with James Sherard, the consul's brother, at Eltham, but had lodgings of his own in London, these in 1728 being in Barking Alley. His first work in England was the third edition of Ray's ‘Synopsis Stirpium Britannicarum’ (1724), to which he added many species and twenty-four plates of rare plants. In 1728 Consul Sherard died, bequeathing his herbarium and library and 3,000l. to Oxford University, to provide a salary for the professor of botany, on condition that Dillenius should be the first professor. In 1732 Dillenius, who was foreign secretary of the Royal Society 1728–47, published the ‘Hortus Elthamensis,’ fol. pp. 437, illustrated by 417 drawings of plants etched with his own hand, of which Linnæus wrote ‘est opus botanicum quo absolutius mundus non vidit.’ In 1735 Dillenius was admitted M.D. of Oxford, from St. John's College, and in the summer of the following year Linnæus spent a month with him at Oxford, after which the Swedish naturalist dedicated his ‘Critica Botanica’ to the Oxford professor. After assisting in the preparation of the catalogue of Dr. Shaw's oriental plants, Dillenius completed his greatest work, the ‘Historia Muscorum,’ 4to, 1741, pp. 552, illustrated by eighty-five plates; and he prepared at least two hundred and fifty coloured drawings of fungi, which, however, were never published. He was somewhat corpulent, and in March 1747 was seized with apoplexy, from which he died on 2 April. He was buried at St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford. A portrait of him is preserved at the Oxford Botanic Garden, which was engraved in Sims and König's ‘Annals of Botany,’ vol. ii., and Linnæus commemorated him in the genus Dillenia. His drawings, manuscripts, books, and mosses were purchased from his executor, Dr. Seidel, by his successor, Dr. Humphrey Sibthorp, and added to the Sherardian Museum, where they now are.
G. S. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dillingham, Theophilus

​DILLINGHAM, THEOPHILUS, D.D. (1613–1678), master of Clare Hall, Cambridge, son of Thomas Dillingham, was born at Over Dean, Bedfordshire, in 1613. He was admitted a pensioner of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 13 Sept. 1629, and graduated B.A. in 1633, M.A. in 1637. He was elected a fellow of Sidney College in 1638, and subsequently took the degree of D.D. In 1654 he was chosen master of Clare Hall, and he was thrice vice-chancellor of the university, in 1655, 1656, and part of 1661. At the Restoration he was ejected from the mastership, and Thomas Paske, one of his predecessors, was readmitted, but as Dillingham had married a daughter of Paske, the latter resigned in favour of his son-in-law, who was re-elected by the fellows in 1661. On 29 Jan. 1661-2 Dillingham became prebendary of Ulskelf in the church of York on Paske's resignation of that dignity, and on 3 Sept. 1667 he was installed archdeacon of Bedford. He also held the rectory of Offord Cluny, Huntingdonshire. He died at Cambridge on 22 Nov. 1678, and was buried in St. Edward's Church.
Extracts from his diaries and other papers are preserved in Baker's MSS. at Cambridge, vol. xx. no. 6, p. 72, and vol. xxxvi. no. 15.
[Addit. MSS. 5803, p. 40, 5821, p. 131, 5867, p. 7; Kennett's MSS. lii. 220 ; Kennett's Register and Chronicle, pp. 222, 615, 646; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy), ii. 75, iii 220, 607, 671; Le Neve's Mon. Angl. (1650-79), p. 190; Carter's Univ. of Camb. p. 413 n.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dighton, Denis

​DIGHTON, DENIS (1792–1827), battle painter, was born in London in 1792. When young he became a student in the Royal Academy of Arts. Having in his early career attracted the notice of the Prince of Wales, he received, at the age of nineteen, through the prince's favour, a commission in the 90th regiment, which, however, he resigned in order to marry and settle in London. He was appointed military draughtsman to the prince in 1815, and occasionally made professional excursions abroad by desire of his royal patron. He exhibited seventeen pictures at the Royal Academy between 1811 and 1825. His first work was entitled ‘The Lace Maker;’ he then resided at No. 4 Spring Gardens. Dighton died at St. Servan, Brittany, 8 Aug. 1827. His wife painted fruit and flower pieces, and exhibited sixteen pictures at the Academy between 1820 and 1835, and eight at the British Institution, and was appointed flower-painter to the queen. Dighton etched several plates, among which is a whole-length portrait of Denis Davidoff, ‘The Black Captain,’ 1814. There are in the department of prints and drawings, British Museum, four Indian-ink drawings, which have been engraved in Lady Callcott's works on Chili and Brazil, and also several lithographs, viz. ‘Chinois,’ ‘Turk,’ ‘Chinese,’ ‘Bedouin Arab,’ published in 1821, and ‘Drawing Book for Learners.’
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dighton, Robert

​DIGHTON, ROBERT (1752?–1814), portrait-painter, caricaturist, and etcher, was born about 1752, and styled himself ‘drawing-master.’ He first exhibited at the Free Society of Artists in 1769, and continued to do so till 1773, when he sent some portraits in chalk. In 1775 he had at the Royal Academy ‘a frame of stain'd drawings,’ and his address was ‘at Mr. Glanville's, opposite St. Clement's Church.’ Two years later he exhibited ‘A Conversation, small whole-lengths,’ and ‘A Drawing of a Gentleman from memory;’ he then resided at 266 High Holborn, and in 1785 at Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. In 1795 Dighton etched ‘A Book of Heads,’ published by Bowles & Carver of 69 St. Paul's Churchyard, London, and also his portrait; he is seen in left profile, in his right hand a crayon-holder, and under his left arm a portfolio inscribed ‘A Book of Heads by Robert Dighton, Portrait Painter and Drawing Master.’ His etchings, which are numerous and tinted by hand, are chiefly satirical portraits of the leading counsel then at the bar, military officers, actors and actresses, and he signed himself ‘R. Dighton’ and ‘Dighton,’ whereas his son Richard wrote his name in full. In 1794 he lived at No. 12 Charing Cross; he then moved to No. 6, and finally, in 1810, to No. 4 Spring Gardens, Charing Cross, where he died in 1814. In 1806 it was discovered that Dighton had abstracted from the British Museum a number of etchings and prints. The first meeting of the trustees of the British Museum for consideration of the matter was held 21 June 1806. The discovery of the theft was due to Samuel Woodburn, the art dealer, who, having been summoned to attend the board, stated that about May 1806 he bought of Dighton, Rembrandt's ‘Coach Landscape’ for twelve guineas, and, receiving information that there was reason to suppose it might be a copy, took the etching to the museum on 18 June to compare it with the Museum impression. This he found to be missing, and only a coloured copy remaining. Shortly afterwards the culprit made the following disclosures: that he ​first visited the British Museum in 1794, and finding one of the officials very obliging drew for him gratuitously his portrait and that of his daughter. The prints were at that time slightly pasted in guard-books, from which Dighton was able to remove them unnoticed, and to carry them away in a portfolio. These he sold, but they were nearly all recovered. There is in the department of prints and drawings, British Museum, a good set of Dighton's etchings, and a lithograph representing a boy at an easel and the following water-colour drawings: ‘Glee Singers executing a Catch,’ ‘The Reward of Virtue,’ ‘Comme ce Corse nous mène,’ ‘There is gallantry for you!’ ‘Men of War bound for the Port of Pleasure.’
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dilke, Charles Wentworth (1810-1869)

​DILKE, Sir CHARLES WENTWORTH (1810–1869), the son of Charles Wentworth Dilke [q. v.], was born in 1810. He was educated at Westminster School and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, taking his degree in 1834. He became connected with the Royal Horticultural Society, and, along with Professor Lindley, founded the ‘Gardener's Chronicle.’ He was also an active member of the Society of Arts, and was for several years chairman of its council. He was among the first to propose the International Exhibition of 1851, and, as one of the executive committee, he worked with more zeal and persistence than ​any one else to bring the project to a successful issue. In 1853 he went to New York as an English commissioner to the Industrial Exhibition, and in 1855 he visited Paris on a similar errand. He was one of the five royal commissioners for the exhibition of 1862, and was made a baronet in the same year. He sat as a liberal for Wallingford in the parliament of 1865, but lost his seat at the general election of 1868. At this time his health was failing, and having gone to Russia as English commissioner at a Horticultural Exhibition, he died on 10 May 1869 at St. Petersburg.
N. McC.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dillingham, Francis

Date of death 1625 in the ODNB.
​DILLINGHAM, FRANCIS (fl. 1611), divine, was a native of Dean, Bedfordshire. He matriculated as a pensioner of Christ's College, Cambridge, in June 1583, proceeded B.A. in 1586–7, was elected a fellow of his college, commenced M.A. in 1590, and took the degree of B.D. in 1599. Fuller says ‘he was an excellent linguist and subtle disputant. My father was present in the bachillors-scholes when a Greek act was kept between him and William Allabaster, of Trinity Colledge, to their mutuall commendation; a disputation so famous that it served for an æra or epoche for the scholars in that age, thence to date their seniority’ (Worthies of England, ed. Nichols, i. 118). He was richly beneficed at Wilden, in his native county, and died a bachelor, though in what year is not stated, leaving a fair estate to his brother Thomas, who was one of the Assembly of Divines.
He was one of the translators of the authorised version of the Bible (1611). His works are: 1. ‘A Disswasive from Poperie, containing twelve effectual reasons by which every Papist, not wilfully blinded, may be brought to the truth, and every Protestant confirmed in the same,’ Cambridge, 1599, 8vo. 2. ‘A Quartron of Reasons composed by Dr. Hill unquartered, and prooved a Quartron of Follies,’ Cambridge, 1603, 4to. 3. ‘Disputatio de Natura Pœnitentiæ adversus Bellarminum,’ Cambridge, 1606, 8vo. 4. ‘Progresse in Piety,’ Cambridge, 1606, 8vo. 5. ‘A Golden Key, opening the Locke to Eternal Happinesse,’ London, 1609, 8vo. 6. Funeral sermon on Lady Elizabeth Luke, London, 1609, 8vo; dedicated to Sir Oliver Luke, ​knight. 7. ‘Christian Œconomy, or Household Government, that is, the duties of husbands and wives, of parents and children, masters and servants,’ London, 1609, 8vo. 8. ‘A Probleme propounded, in which is plainely showed that the Holy Scriptures have met with Popish arguments and opinions,’ London [1615?], 16mo.
[Lewis's Hist. of Translations of the Bible (1818), 311; Cole's Athenæ Cantab. D 7; Musgrave's Obituary; Notes and Queries, 3rd series, iv. 380; Carter's Univ. of Camb. 231, 322; Peck's Desid. Cur. (1779), i. 333.]
T. C.