OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Park, John James

​PARK, JOHN JAMES (1795–1833), jurist and antiquary, only son of the antiquary Thomas Park [q. v.], by his wife, a daughter of Admiral Hughes, was born in 1795. His health being delicate, he was educated at home, but, by desultory reading ​in his father's library, acquired much miscellaneous knowledge, and before he was twenty gave proof of no small aptitude for antiquarian research in his ‘Topography and Natural History of Hampstead,’ Loncon, 1814; 2nd edit. 1818, 8vo.
On 14 Nov. 1815 Park was admitted a student at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the bar on 6 Feb. 1822, having practised for some years below it. He was initiated into the mysteries of conveyancing by Richard Preston [q. v.], and while still a student, published a learned ‘Treatise on the Law of Dower,’ London, 1819, 8vo, which was long a standard work.
As a jurist, Park belonged to the historical school; as a politician, he belonged to no party. In regard to law reform, codification was his especial aversion (cf. his Contre-Projet to the Humphreysian Code, and to the Project of Redaction of Messrs. Hammond, Uniacke, and Twiss, London, 1828, 8vo, and Three Juridical Letters [under the pseudonym of Eunomus]: addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel in reference to the Present Crisis of Law Reform, London, 8vo). Park was a doctor of laws of the university of Göttingen, and in January 1831 was appointed to the chair of English law and jurisprudence in King's College, London. His health, however, was now thoroughly undermined, and he succumbed to a complication of maladies at Brighton on 23 June 1833.
Besides the works mentioned above, Park was author of: 1. ‘Suggestions on the Composition and Commutation of Tithes,’ 1823. 2. ‘An Introductory Lecture delivered at King's College, London,’ London, 1831, 8vo. 3. ‘Conservative Reform: a Letter addressed to Sir William Betham,’ London, 1832, 8vo. 4. ‘What are Courts of Equity?’ London, 1832, 8vo. 5. ‘The Dogmas of the Constitution: Four Lectures delivered at King's College, London,’ London, 1832, 8vo. 6. ‘Systems of Registration and Conveyancing,’ London, 1833, 8vo.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Park, John Ranicar

​PARK, JOHN RANICAR (1778–1847), surgeon and theologian, only son of Henry Park [q. v.], was born at Liverpool in 1778, and educated, first at Warrington, then under a private tutor, and subsequently on the continent. He entered at Jesus College, Cambridge, graduated M.B. in 1813, and M.D. in 1818. He was licensed to practise by his university on 18 Nov. 1815, and a month later was admitted an inceptor candidate of the Royal College of Surgeons. On 30 Sept. 1819 he was made a fellow of that college, and in 1821 appointed Gulstonian lecturer. He was also a fellow of the Linnean Society. He died at Cheltenham on 14 Dec. 1847.
His professional works consist of: 1. ‘Inquiry into the Laws of Animal Life,’ 1812. 2. ‘Outlines of the Organs of the Human Body.’ 3. ‘The Pathology of Fever [Gulstonian Lectures],’ 1822. His subsequent writings were theological: 1. ‘Views of Prophecy and the Millennium.’ 2. ‘Concise Exposition of the Apocalypse,’ 1823. 4. ‘The Apocalypse Explained,’ 1832. 5. ‘An Amicable Controversy with a Jewish Rabbi on the Messiah's Coming,’ 1832. 6. ‘An Answer to Anti-Supernaturalism,’ 1844.
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parke, Henry

​PARKE, HENRY (1792?–1835), architect, born about 1792, was a son of John Parke [q. v.], the oboist. Henry was intended for the bar, and studied under a special pleader; but, owing to his indistinct utterance, he abandoned law, and, after vaguely considering many other pursuits, studied architecture. His father placed him with Sir John Soane, R.A. [q. v.]; and some of the finest drawings exhibited during Soane's lectures on architecture at the Royal Academy were made by Parke. These are still in the Soane Museum, along with many others of his drawings while a pupil. He became well versed in mathematics, geometry, mechanics, and drawing, both architectural and landscape.
Between 1820 and 1824 he visited Italy, Sicily, Genoa, Greece, and Egypt, ascending the Nile in 1824 with a fellow-student, John Joseph Scoles. In 1829 he published a ‘Map of Nubia, comprising the Country between the First and Second Cataracts of the Nile,’ and gave a plan of the island of Philæ, with its several measurements. This map is now rare, and is very valuable, as it indicates the positions of all the temples, rock-cut tombs, and other buildings on the banks of the river.
At Rome and elsewhere he worked with Catherwood, T. L. Donaldson, and others, laboriously measuring antique remains, as well as more modern works by the best architects. On returning to England, at the end of 1824, he worked out his sketches. He continued making drawings and views of buildings and ruins, and a valuable collection of between five and six hundred, including a few near Dover, was presented to the Royal Institute of British Architects by his widow (Report, 1836, p. xxviii). The institute also possesses a sketch by him of a sextant capable of taking an angle of 18° (dated 1826); and another of an instrument to measure angles, internal and external, for purposes of taking architectural plans, dated 1833. Some drawings of Pompeii are in the library at South Kensington. He exhibited at the Royal Academy drawings of an ‘Interior of a Sepulchral ​Chamber,’ 1830, and ‘Temples in the Island of Philæ,’ 1831; designed a house in Queen Square, Westminster, facing on St. James's Park, and is said to have largely designed the medal presented by some architects of Great Britain to Sir John Soane; from the die of this medal the Soane medallion prize of the Royal Institute of British Architects is annually reproduced (Gent. Mag. 1835, ii. 325, 670). Parke died 5 May 1835, aged about 43.
Many of his oil and water-colour drawings and marine works were sold at Sotheby's by auction in May 1836.
W. P.-h.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parke, Robert (1600-1668)

​PARKE, ROBERT (1600–1668), vicar and lecturer in Bolton, Lancashire, was born in 1600 in Bolton and educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was appointed vicar of Bolton on 16 Dec. 1625. Owing to the troubles of the period he resigned the vicarage and fled in 1630 to Holland, where he acted as assistant to Mr. Symmonds in the English congregation at Rotterdam. In 1644, on the death of William Gregg, who had become vicar of Bolton on Parke's resignation, Richard Heywood of Little Lever, father of the two eminent nonconformist divines, Oliver and Nathaniel Heywood [q. v.], was sent to Holland to solicit Parke's return. He complied, but found on his arrival in Bolton that Richard Goodwin had been appointed vicar. Parke, however, became lecturer, and continued in this position till 1662, when he was ejected for his refusal to conform. He and Goodwin, the vicar, who also was ejected, held meetings in Bolton until 1665, when the passing of the Five Mile Act necessitated their removal. Parke retired to Broughton, but on the declaration of indulgence he returned to Bolton, where he conducted religious services till his death. He was buried inside the parish church at Bolton on 25 Dec. 1668. Oliver Heywood preached his funeral sermon at Bradshaw. He was a man of piety and learning and of considerable humour, and was greatly beloved by his people. He had a large library, which at his death was sold for the support of his wife and children.
[Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial, ii. 355; Bolton Historical Gleanings, 1883; Heywood's Diary; Scholes's History of Bolton.]
T. B. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Percival, Thomas (1719-1762)

​PERCIVAL, THOMAS (1719–1762), antiquary, son of Richard Percival of Royton Hall, near Oldham, Lancashire, was born there on 1 Sept. 1719. He was brought up a presbyterian, but joined the church of England; was a whig in politics, and a warm advocate of the Hanoverian succession. In 1748 he wrote two able pamphlets in opposition to the high-church clergy and the nonjurors of Manchester. Their titles are: ‘A Letter to the Reverend the Clergy of the Collegiate Church of Manchester,’ &c., and ‘Manchester Politics: a Dialogue between Mr. Trueblew and Mr. Whiglove,’ &c. In 1758 he generously took part with some operative weavers in a dispute with their masters about wages, and in connection with this matter published ‘A Letter to a Friend occasioned by the late Dispute betwixt the Check-Makers of Manchester and their Weavers; and the Check-Makers' Ill-usage of the Author,’ Halifax, 1759, 8vo. His ‘Observations on the Roman Colonies and Stations in Cheshire and Lancashire’ were read to the Royal Society on 13 June 1751 (Phil. Trans. xlvii. 216), on which occasion Stukeley mentions Percival as ‘a learned person who lives in the north, and has taken a good deal of pains by travelling to search out the Roman roads and stations mentioned thereabouts.’ Nine years later he sent a shorter paper on the same subject to the Society of Antiquaries (Archæologia, i. 62). He discovered that Kinderton was the site of Condate (Watkin, Roman Cheshire). In the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ for 1752 (xlvii. 360) he has a curious ‘Account of a Double Child,’ a monstrosity born at Hebus (i.e. Hebers), near Middleton in Lancashire. Some of the plans of ancient remains given in Aikin's ‘Country round Manchester’ were drawn by him. He was elected F.R.S. on 25 Nov. 1756, and F.S.A. on 12 June 1760.
Percival died in December 1762, and was buried in St. Paul's Church, Royton. He married Martha, daughter of Major Benjamin Gregge of Chamber Hall, Oldham. She died in 1760, aged 45. Their only child and heir, Katherine, married Joseph Pickford of Alt Hill, Lancashire, afterwards known as Sir Joseph Radcliffe of Milnesbridge, Yorkshire, into whose possession Percival's collection of manuscript pedigrees and other papers passed.
The antiquary must be carefully distinguished from his namesake, Thomas Percival (1740–1804) [q. v.], the physician, with whom he is often confused.
[Byrom's Remains (Chetham Soc.), ii. 441, 461; Raines's Fellows and Chaplains of Manchester (Chetham Soc.), ii. 255; Gent. Mag. June 1823, p. 505; Butterworth's Oldham, 1817, p. xi; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. xii. 373, 440; Stukeley's Memoirs (Surtees Soc.), ii. 244; Hunter's Fam. Gen. Min. (Harleian Soc.) i. 119; Whitaker's Manchester, 4to, i. 94, 137; Collier's (Tim Bobbin) Works, ed. Fishwick, p. 117; Gough's British Topogr. i. 503; Baines's Lancashire; Sutton's Lancashire Authors; Raines's manuscripts in Chetham Library.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Percival, Robert

​PERCIVAL, ROBERT (1765–1826), traveller and writer, was born in 1765, became a captain in the 18th Irish infantry regiment, and held this position until he embarked in 1795, in the fleet, commanded by Elphinstone, that was despatched for the conquest of the Cape of Good Hope, then held by the Dutch. Percival disembarked at the Cape, in Simon's Bay, and was entrusted by General Sir James Henry Craig [q. v.] with the duty of attacking the Dutch in the defile of Muisenberg, and in the strong post of Wyneberg. He succeeded in both undertakings, and the Dutch fleet sent, under Admiral Lucas (August 1796), to the help of the colony was captured. Following up this victory, Percival was the first to enter Cape Town (16 Sept. 1796), and there he remained till 1797. On his return he published a narrative of his journey and a description of the country, under the title: ‘An Account of the Cape of Good Hope, containing an Historical View of its original Settlement by the Dutch, and a Sketch of its Geography, Productions, the Manners and Customs of its Inhabitants,’ &c., London, 1804. This was translated into French by J. F. Henry, Paris, 1806. Percival's work, though rather thin, is not uninteresting, and was warmly praised at the time. His criticisms of the Dutch settlers and especially of their cruelty to the natives, their laziness, inhospitality, and low civilisation, are severe. But he commends the Cape climate as the finest in the world, and advises the home government, who had just restored the province by the treaty of Amiens, to reoccupy it.
In 1797 he also visited Ceylon, where he speaks of residing three years, and of which he wrote and published a description: ‘An Account of Ceylon, with the Journal of an Embassy to the Court of Candy,’ London, 1803. In this he notices the effects of the Portuguese and Dutch rule, which looked (especially the former) as if it ‘tried to counteract as much as possible the natural advantages of the island.’ He gives various instances of Dutch cruelty and treachery, ​and attempts to characterise three classes of ‘natives’—the Cingalese of the coast, the Candians of the interior, and the Malays. The pearl fishery, the town and forts of Colombo, the salt works of the island, the staple commodity of cinnamon, above all, the inland capital of Candy, are noticed in other chapters. Sydney Smith declared the work to ‘abound with curious and important information.’ Percival died in 1826.
[Percival's Account of Ceylon and of Cape of Good Hope; Notices of his works in the Edinburgh Review and London Annual; Walkenaer's Collection des Voyages, xvii. 56–71.]
C. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Percival, John

Jean Perceval in the ODNB.
​PERCIVAL, JOHN (fl. 1550), Carthusian author, studied philosophy at both Oxford and Cambridge, and afterwards entered the Carthusian order. According to Theodore Petreius's ‘Bibliotheca Cartusiana’ (Cologne, 1609, p. 212), he became prior of the house of his order at Paris in 1550, and was held in much esteem for piety and erudition. He was author of ‘Compendium Divini Amoris,’ Paris, 1530, 8vo, and wrote a number of letters, which do not appear to have been printed.
Another John Percival (d. 1515?) took the degree of divinity at Oxford about 1501 (Wood, Fasti, i. 6), and became shortly afterwards forty-seventh provincial of the Franciscans in England. He is said to have been buried in Christ Church, Newgate, before 1515, and was succeeded as provincial by Henry Standish [q. v.]
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 6; Bale, De Scriptoribus, viii. 629; Pits, p. 685; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.; Berkenhout's Biogr. Lit. p. 132; Cooper's Athenæ Oxon. i.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Percy, Alan

​PERCY, ALAN (d. 1560), master of St. John's College, Cambridge, was third son of Henry Percy, fourth earl of Northumberland [q. v.], by Maud, daughter of William Herbert, first earl of Pembroke of the second creation [q. v.] He apparently was not educated at a university, but on 1 May 1513 he was in holy orders, as he then received the prebend of Dunnington in York Minster, a preferment which he resigned before 1 Nov. 1517. On 6 May 1515 he received the rectory of St. Anne, Aldersgate, London, which he held till 1518. The new and struggling foundation of St. John the Evangelist at Cambridge, influenced doubtless by his Lancastrian connections and wide family influence, chose him as their second master on 29 July 1516. But he seems to have been unsuited to his new position, and resigned the mastership on 1 Nov. 1518; the college granted him a pension of 10l. a year for life, with the use of the low parlour, belonging to the master, and two inner chambers there whenever he should come to reside. On 2 April 1520 the king gave him a house and garden at Stepney, Middlesex, and he consequently, on 4 Feb. following, resigned all his interest under the grant of the college. Percy soon received other preferments. On 25 Oct. 1521 he became rector of St. Mary-at-Hill, London. In 1526 the Earl of ​Rochford presented him to the rectory of Mulbarton-cum-Keningham, Norfolk; about the same time he became master of the college of the Holy Trinity at Arundel, which he joined with the two fellows in surrendering to the king on 12 Dec. 1545. It has been suggested that he was the Percy who proceeded M.A. at Cambridge as a grand compounder in 1528, but it is difficult to know why he should have waited so long to take a degree he might have had in 1516. He is mentioned in June 1527 as one of the trustees of his brother, the Earl of Northumberland, who died in that year. In 1530 it appears that he owed Wolsey's estate 9l. for expediting a suit for the union of certain parishes. The Duke of Norfolk gave him the rectory of Earsham, Norfolk, in 1558. Percy died in May 1560, and was buried in the old chapel of St. John's College, where there were a brass and a marble tomb to his memory. One portrait, made in 1549, was at the Norwich Guildhall; he had given a house to the city of Norwich in 1534. Another (a copy), which is in the combination room at St. John's College, shows a refined and ascetic face.
[Cooper's Athenae Cantabr. i. 206; Baker's Hist. of St. John's Coll. (ed. Mayor), i. 8, &c., ii. 566, &c.; J. Bass Mullinger's Hist. of the University of Cambridge, i. 470; De Fonblanque's Annals of the House of Percy, i. 307; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, i. 779, ii. 4183, iv. ii. 3213, iv. iii. 6748.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ranson, Thomas Frazer

​RANSON, THOMAS FRAZER (1784–1828), line engraver, son of Thomas and Mary Ranson, was born at Sunderland, 19 June 1784. He learnt his art at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and in 1814 gained a Society of Arts medal for an engraving. His plates, which are admirably executed, include a portrait of George IV, after E. Scott; a whole-length portrait of Hugh, duke of Northumberland, after T. Phillips, 1820; and ‘Duncan Gray,’ after Sir D. Wilkie, 1822. Ranson was one of the engravers employed upon the official publication, ‘Ancient Marbles in the British Museum.’ In 1818 he was prosecuted by the bank of England for having in his possession a forged note, but was acquitted, it being proved to be genuine; to commemorate the incident, he engraved and published a plate representing himself seated in a cell in Cold Bath Fields prison. Ranson died in 1828.
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ranulf de Blundevill

​RANULF or RANDULPH de BLUNDEVILL, Earl of Chester (d. 1232). [See Blundevill.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ranulf de Glanville

​RANULF de Glanville (d. 1190), chief justiciar of England. [See Glanville.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ranulph Brito

​RANULPH BRITO or LE BRETON (d. 1246), canon of St. Paul's. [See Brito.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rankley, Alfred

​RANKLEY, ALFRED (1819–1872), painter, was born in 1819. He received his art training in the schools of the Royal Academy, and began to exhibit there in 1841, when he sent a scene from Shakespeare's ‘Macbeth.’ This was followed in 1842 by ‘Palamon and Lavinia,’ exhibited at the Society of British Artists. In 1843 he sent to the Royal Academy a portrait, in 1844 a scene from ‘Othello,’ and in 1845 a subject from Crabbe's poems. Another portrait and ‘Paul and Virginia’ were his contributions to the exhibition of 1846, in which year he sent to the Society of British Artists ‘Edith and the Monks finding the Body of Harold,’ and ‘The Fortune-Teller.’ In 1847 he had at the British Institution ‘Cordelia,’ and at the Royal Academy ‘The Village Church.’ From this time onwards until 1867 he was a regular exhibitor at the academy, always sending one picture, but never more than two. His exhibited works included ‘The Ruined Spendthrift,’ 1848; ‘Love in Humble Life’ and ‘Innocence and Guilt,’ 1849; ‘The Sunday School,’ 1850; ‘The Pharisee and Publican,’ 1851; ‘Dr. Watts visiting some of his Little Friends,’ 1853; ‘The Village School,’ 1856; ‘The Welcome Guest’ and ‘The Lonely Hearth,’ 1857, the latter ​engraved by Frederick Bacon; ‘The Return of the Prodigal,’ 1858; ‘The Farewell Sermon,’ 1859, engraved by W. H. Simmons; ‘The Day is done,’ 1860; ‘The Gipsy at the Gate,’ 1862; ‘A Sower went forth to sow,’ 1863; ‘The Doctor's coming,’ 1864, his best work, representing a scene in a gipsy encampment; ‘After Work,’ 1865; ‘'Tis Home where the Heart is,’ 1866; ‘Follow my Leader,’ 1867; ‘Following the Trail’ and ‘The Hearth of his Home,’ 1870; and ‘The Benediction,’ 1871. All his pictures were carefully finished, and were directed to awaken sympathy in favour of that which is kindly in feeling and of good report. Most of them were of a domestic character, and many became deservedly popular. ‘The Parish Beauty’ and ‘The Pastor's Pet’ were engraved by Robert Mitchell; ‘Reading the Litany,’ ‘Sunday Afternoon,’ and ‘The Sunday School,’ by James Scott; ‘Refreshment, Sir?’ by W. H. Egleton; and ‘The Scoffers,’ by H. T. Ryall.
Rankley died at his residence, Clifton Villa, Campden Hill, Kensington, on 7 Dec. 1872, aged 52, and was buried in the St. Marylebone cemetery, Finchley.
[Art Journal, 1873, p. 44; Athenæum, 1872, ii. 776; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists of the English School, 1878; Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues, 1841–71.]
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ransford, Edwin

​RANSFORD, EDWIN (1805–1876), vocalist and actor, was born at Bourton-on-the-Water, near Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Gloucestershire, on 13 March 1805. He first appeared on the stage as an ‘extra’ in the opening chorus at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, and was afterwards engaged in the chorus at Covent Garden. During Charles Kemble's management of Covent Garden he was heard as a baritone in Don Cæsar in the ‘Castle of Andalusia’ on 27 May 1829, and was engaged soon afterwards by Samuel James Arnold for the English Opera House (now the Lyceum). In the autumns of 1829 and 1830 he was at Covent Garden. In 1831 he played leading characters under R. W. Elliston at the Surrey Theatre, where he won great popularity. In 1832 he was with Joe Grimaldi at Sadler's Wells, playing Tom Tuck in Andrew V. Campbell's nautical drama ‘The Battle of Trafalgar,’ in which he made a great hit with S. C. Neukomm's song ‘The Sea.’ At this theatre in 1831 he sustained the part of Captain Cannonade in John Barnett's opera, ‘The Pet of the Petticoats.’ On 3 Nov. 1831 he played, at Drury Lane, Giacomo in Auber's ‘Fra Diavolo,’ then first produced in England. He afterwards fulfilled important engagements at Drury Lane, the Lyceum, and Covent Garden. At Covent Garden he played the Doge of Venice in ‘Othello’ on 25 March 1833, when Edmund Kean made his last appearance on the stage; and Sir Harry in the ‘School for Scandal’ on Charles Kemble's last appearance as Charles Surface. His final theatrical engagement was with Macready at Covent Garden in 1837–8.
After his retirement from the stage Ransford for a time sang at concerts, and then, from 1845 onwards, produced a series of popular musical entertainments, in which he was the chief performer. Among these ventures were ‘Illustrations of Gipsy Life and Character’ (with the words to the songs by Eliza Cook), ‘Tales of the Sea,’ and ‘Songs of Dibdin.’ Ransford was also well known as a composer of songs and glees, and between 1835 and 1876 upwards of fifty published pieces bear his name. For some years he was also in business as a music publisher at Charles Street, Soho Square, and at 2 Princes Street, Cavendish Square, London. He died at 59 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London, on 11 July 1876, and was buried at Bourton-on-the-Water on 15 July. In March 1825 he married Hannah, who died on 22 Nov. 1876, aged 71. Among his published songs, in which the words as well as the music were by himself, were: ‘Come, gang awa' wi' me,’ 1840, and ‘Summer is nigh,’ 1842. Under the name of ‘Aquila’ he composed thirteen ‘Sacred Ballads’ (1862–9), and wrote the words of the well-known song, ‘In the Days when we went gipsying.’ He was the author of ‘Jottings—Music in Verse,’ 1863.
[Grove's Dictionary of Music, 1883, iii. 75; Era, 16 July 1876, p. 10.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ranulf

​RANULF. [See Ralph and 'Randulf'.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rannulf Flambard

​RANNULF FLAMBARD (d. 1128), minister of William Rufus. [See Flambard.]