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

​CALLCOTT, WILLIAM HUTCHINS (1807–1882), musical composer, a younger son of Dr. John Wall Callcott [q. v.], was born at Kensington in 1807. As a child he received some instruction from his father, and later continued his studies under his brother-in-law, William Horsley. On 4 July 1830 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Musicians. In 1836 he published an abridgment of his father's ‘Grammar,’ in 1840 a collection of psalm and hymn tunes for Bickersteth's ‘Christian Psalmody,’ and in 1843 ‘The Child's own Singing Book.’ In the latter work he was assisted by his wife Maria, who was the authoress of several unimportant religious stories, &c. In 1851 Callcott published ‘Remarks on the Royal Albert Piano’ (exhibited at the International Exhibition), ​and in 1859 ‘A few Facts on the Life of Handel.’ Callcott was for some years organist of Ely Place Chapel. In the latter part of his life he suffered much from ill-health. He died at 1 Campden House Road, Kensington, on 5 Aug. 1882, and was buried on the 9th at Kensal Green. Callcott composed several songs, glees, and anthems, but his name is principally known by his arrangements and transcriptions for the piano, which amount to many hundred pieces. A son of his, Robert Stuart Callcott, who showed great promise as an organist and musician, died in the spring of 1886 at an early age.
W. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Callender, George William

​CALLENDER, GEORGE WILLIAM (1830–1878), surgeon, was born at Clifton, and, after education at a Bristol school, became a student of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1849, in 1852 a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and F.R.C.S. in 1855. He was house-surgeon at St. Bartholomew's, was in 1861 elected assistant surgeon, and in 1871 surgeon to the hospital. At the same time he was a laborious teacher in the medical school, was registrar (1854), demonstrator of anatomy, lecturer on comparative anatomy and on anatomy (1865), and finally (1873) lecturer on surgery. For many years he was treasurer of the medical school, and exercised great influence in all its affairs. He published a paper on the ‘Development of the Bones of the Face in Man’ in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ for 1869, which led to his election as F.R.S. in 1871, and in the Proceedings of the Royal Society there are abstracts of papers by him on the anatomy of the thyroid body and on the formation of the sub-axial arches of man. He published many papers in the ‘Medico-Chirurgical Transactions,’ in the ‘Transactions’ of the Clinical Society and of the Pathological Society, in the ‘St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports,’ in Holmes's ‘System of Surgery,’ and in the medical journals, besides, in 1863, a small book on the anatomy of the parts concerned in femoral rupture, and in 1864 an address delivered to the students at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. A great master of surgery and of panegyric who knew him throughout his career thus sums up Callender's work: ‘In the future history of surgery Callender will have a large share of the honour which will be awarded to those who, in the last twenty years, by greatly diminishing the mortality of operations, have made by far the most important improvement in practical surgery’ (St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports, vol. xv.) Callender lived in Queen Anne Street, married, and had several children. A few years would probably have made his practice a great one, for he had reached the stage of being known to his profession, and was beginning to be known to the public. He died on 20 Oct. 1878 of Bright's disease, against which he had long struggled. His death took place at sea on his way back from America. He had gone thither for a holiday, and his illness had suddenly become aggravated while travelling. The extraordinary kindness with which, as a distinguished English surgeon, he was treated when taken ill in the United States deserves to be remembered to the honour of the medical profession in that country. He was buried at Kensal Green.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Calkin, James

​CALKIN, JAMES (1786–1862), organist and composer, was born in London in 1786. He studied under Thomas Lyon and Dr. Crotch, and was one of the earliest members and directors of the Philharmonic Society. On the consecration of the Regent Square Church, Gray's Inn Road, Calkin was appointed organist, a post he held for thirty years. In 1846 his madrigal, ‘When Chloris weeps,’ gained a prize from the Western Madrigal Society. His long, uneventful life was almost entirely devoted to teaching, in which he acquired considerable reputation as a successful master. His compositions include an overture and symphony for orchestra, string quartets, and a large quantity of pianoforte music. Calkin died at 12 Oakley Square, Camden Town, in 1862.
W. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacGeoghegan, James

​MACGEOGHEGAN, JAMES (1702–1763), historian, was born near Uisnech in co. Westmeath in 1702, and belonged to the family known in Irish as CinelFhiachach, so that he was related to Richard MacGeoghegan, the defender of Dunboy in 1602, and to Conall Mageoghegan [q. v.], translator of the 'Annals of Clonmacnoise,' as well as to Francis O'Molloy, author of the 'Lucerna Fidelium.' He was educated in France, and entered the church, becoming an abbe. In 1758 he published in Paris 'Histoire de Flrlande, ancienne et moderne,' of which the second volume appeared in 1762, and the third in 1763. Amsterdam appears on the title of vol. iii., but as the paper, type, and most of the ornaments are identical, and as the royal approbation for the first two volumes appears at the end of the third, the place is probably merely an indication that an official approval was not given to the recent politics of the last volume. The work is dedicated to the Irish troops in the service of France, and is a summary of the existing ​printed books on Irish history. The author shows some colloquial acquaintance with the Irish language, but had not examined any manuscript except the 'Book of Lecan,' which was then at the Irish College in Paris, and which, he says, was difficult to read. The history is not critical; it inclines, for example, to the view that the Giant's Causeway is a specimen of early Irish architecture, but it contains a good deal of interesting information arranged in order. It concludes with an account of the confiscations and grants which followed the treaty of Limerick. The abbe's name appears as Ma-Geoghegan on the title of vol. 1., and as MacGeoghegan on that of vol. ii.; both are phonetic expressions of the Irish form MacEochagain ('Cunnrudh Mheig Eochagain agus an t-Sionnaigh,' line 2). He became one of the clergy of the church of St. Merry in Paris, and died there 30 March 1763.
[Works; Biographie Générale, Paris, 1855; Miscellany of Irish Archæological Society, vol. i. 1846; Topographical Poems of John O'Dubhagain, ed. O'Donovan, Dublin, 1862; National MSS. of Ireland, vol. ii.; information from the Bey. Patrick Bogle of the College des Irlandais, Paris.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacGeoghegan, Roche

​MACGEOGHEGAN, ROCHE, also called ‘Rochus de Cruce’ (1580–1644), Irish Dominican and bishop of Kildare, son of Ross MacGeoghegan, chief of the sept of the MacGeoghegans of Moycashel or Kinelfiacha, co. Westmeath, was born in 1580. He studied at the Irish College in Lisbon, at Coimbra, where he entered the order of St. Dominic, and at Salamanca, where he spent eight years. The general of the Dominicans was anxious to revive in Ireland the Dominican order, which at the death of Queen Elizabeth had become almost extinct, and MacGeoghegan was selected to carry the revival into effect. He was present at a general chapter of the Dominicans held at Milan in 1622, and was there appointed provincial of Ireland. He worked with indomitable energy in Ireland, restored his order to vigour, and, it is stated, converted to the catholic faith several persons of prominence in the country (Moran, Persecutions of Irish Catholics). On three occasions the government ordered his arrest, and a reward of 200l. was offered for his capture; but each time he succeeded in escaping. He ultimately resigned the office of provincial and withdrew to Louvain, where he aided in the foundation of a convent for Irish Dominicans. On the death of Peter Lombard [q.v.], archbishop of Armagh, in 1625, it was urged on Pope Urban VIII without result that he should appoint MacGeoghegan to the vacant see. In 1629 he was appointed bishop of Kildare, being consecrated at Brussels by the Archbishop of Mechlin. Throughout his episcopate he was the constant object of persecution, and was frequently obliged to keep in hiding. He died at Kilbeggan in co. Westmeath in 1644, and was buried in the cathedral of Kildare.
MacGeoghegan had collected a large library, which, according to Moran, was burned by his persecutors; according to others, he pledged it in order to relieve the poor of his flock.
[De Burgo's Hibernia Dominicana, pp. 98, 106, 108, 431, 487, 561; Moran's Historical Sketch of the Persecutions suffered by the Catholics of Ireland (wherein the author quotes from a manuscript History of the Irish Bishops, by Dr. John Lynch), pp. 366–71; Comerford's Collections relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin, 1st ser. pp. 30–5; Meehan's Memoirs of the Irish Hierarchy in the Seventeenth Century, pp. 158–9, and Appendix, pp. 309–10, 341.]
P. L. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacFlynn, Florence

​MACFLYNN, FLORENCE or FLANN (d. 1256), archbishop of Tuam, also called Fiacha O'Flyn, was chancellor of Tuam and sub-deacon to the pope when he was elected archbishop about May 1250; the royal assent was given on 27 May, and seisin was granted on 25 July, but MacFlynn appears to have had to go to Rome, and he was not consecrated till 25 Dec. 1250. In the following year, like his predecessors, he endeavoured to obtain possession of the see of Ennachdune or Annaghdown in Galway; his opponent, Concord, was at first supported by the king, but MacFlynn eventually obtained confirmation (Sweetman, i. 3131, ii. 274). He held a synod at Tuam in 1251. His episcopate was marked by some quarrels with Thomas, the bishop-elect of Achonry in 1251, and Thomas, bishop of Cionmacnoise in 1255 (ib. i. 3156, ii. 456). In 1255 he made a journey to England to lay a statement of grievances before the king on behalf of the Irish church : ​namely, that the bishops and their tenants were dragged into the court contrary to the ancient liberties of the churches, and that they were oppressed by the sheriffs and the barons. Henry ordered such remedy as tended to the welfare of the church to be applied (ib. ii. 460). The 'Annals of the Four Masters 'says that MacFlynn then returned home. In 1 256 he seems to have made a fresh journey to England about May, to present a further petition on the same matter (ib. ii. 503), but died on the way at Bristol. Leave to elect a successor was issued on 29 June (ib. ii. 507). MacFlynn is described as a man of wisdom and learning, with a knowledge of law.
[Four Masters, iii. 341, 363, 355, ed. O'Donovan; Annals of Loch Cé, i. 395, 407, 409 (Rolls Ser.); Sweetman's Cal. Documents, Ireland, vols, i. and ii.; Ware's Works on Ireland, i. 665–6, ed. Harris; Cotton's Fasti Eccl. Hib. iv. 6, 19, 42; Burke's Catholic Archbishops of Tuam, pp. 24-62.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacGillivray, Charles R.

Charles Robert Macgillivray in the ODNB.
​MACGILLIVRAY, CHARLES R. (1804?–1867), physician and Gaelic scholar, the son of a small farmer, was born in Kilfinichen, Mull, about 1804. He received his elementary education at the school of his native parish, and when about twenty went to Glasgow, where he found employment in a druggist's shop. In 1849 he commenced business as a druggist, and in 1853 graduated M.D. In 1869 he was appointed lecturer in Gaelic at the Glasgow Institution. He died in Glasgow in 1867.
MacGillivray was an enthusiastic Gaelic scholar, and assisted Dr. Norman Macleod [q. v.] with his publications. In 1868 he pubished a Gaelic grammar, but his best-known work is a translation of Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress' (1869), in which he was helped by Archibald Macfadyen the hymn-writer. He also translated parts of Howie's 'Scotch Biography' into Gaelic, published in London in 1870-3.
[Gent. Mag. 1867, pt. ii. p. 253, where the date 7 June is uncertain; Glasgow Post Office Directory; information privately supplied.]
J. R. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacGregor, James

​MACGREGOR, JAMES (d. 1551), dean of Lismore, was the son of Dougall Johnson (the son of John) MacGregor by his wife, a daughter of Donald McClawe, alias Grant. This branch of the MacGregors lived at Tullichnullin, a house at Fortingall, Perthshire, and owned in perpetuity the vicarage of Fortingall with a lease of the church lands. The father was a notary public, and died after 1529. James was in all probability only in minor orders. He was a notary public in 1511, was dean of Lismore in 1514, and succeeded his father in the vicarage of Fortingall. He died in 1561, and was buried in the church at Inchordin. He was married, and had a son Gregor MacGregor. Two natural sons, Gregor and Dougall, were naturalised in 1557, Dougall being at that time chancellor of Lismore.
James MacGregor collected Gaelic poetry, and with the help of his brother Duncan transcribed what he gathered into a commonplace book, which forms a quarto of about 311 pages, written in a Roman hand. This volume, most of which was transcribed as early as 1512, came during the eighteenth century into the possession of the Highland Society of London, from which it passed to the Highland Society of Scotland, and is now in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh. A volume of selections from it was edited, with introduction, notes, and translation, by Thomas McClauchlan and William F. Skene (Edinburgh, 1862, 8vo). It is of great philological value, and illustrates the relations between Western Scotland and Ireland from an early date.
[Edition of the Dean of Lismore's book by McClauchlan and Skene; Proc. Soc. Antiq. of Scotland, 11. i. 35; Dublin Univ. Mag. lxiii. 95 sq.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dillon, Edouard

​DILLON, EDOUARD (1751–1839), a French general and diplomatist, was born in 1751 at Bordeaux, where his father, Robert Dillon, formerly a banker at Dublin, had settled. Known as ‘le beau Dillon,’ and one of the queen's chief favourites, he served in the West Indies and America, afterwards visited the Russian court, was colonel of the Provence regiment, and gentleman in waiting to the Comte d'Artois. On the revolution breaking out he quitted France, and in 1791, with his brothers, formed at Coblenz a new Dillon regiment. At the restoration he became lieutenant-general 1814, ambassador to Saxony 1816–18, and to Tuscany 1819. He married Fanny, daughter of Sir Robert Harland; she died in 1777. Three of his brothers, Theobald, Robert Guillaume, and Francis, were French officers; a fourth, Roger Henri (1762–1831), was a priest, a curator of the Mazarin Library, Paris, and author of some theological pamphlets; and a fifth, Arthur, likewise a priest, advocated in 1805 the introduction of foot pavements into Paris, but died about 1810, long before this improvement was adopted.
J. G. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dillon, Arthur Richard (1750-1794)

​DILLON, ARTHUR RICHARD (1750–1794), general in the French service, son of Henry, eleventh viscount, and nephew of Archbishop Dillon [q. v.], was born in 1750 at Braywick, Berkshire. Sub-lieutenant in Dillon's regiment, he was in 1767 appointed to the colonelcy, which Louis XV, reluctant to see it pass from the family, had kept vacant from 1747. He served in the West Indies during the American war, was governor of St. Kitt's during its brief occupancy by the French, visited London on the peace of 1783, and was complimented by the lord chancellor on his administration of that island. He became brigadier-general in 1784 with a pension of 1,000f., was three years governor of Tobago, was deputy for Martinique in the National Assembly, and was a frequent speaker on colonial questions. In June 1792 he received the command of the army of the north, offended the Jacobins by a general order reprobating the capture of the Tuileries, was supplanted by Dumouriez, under whom he distinguished himself in the Argonne passes, fell again under suspicion on account of a letter offering the landgrave of Hesse an unmolested retreat, was imprisoned for six weeks in 1792, and again for eight months in 1793–4. Condemned as a ringleader in the alleged Luxembourg prison plot, he was guillotined on 14 April with twenty others, including Lucile Desmoulins, with whom and her husband he had been on intimate terms. He was twice married, and left two daughters, one of whom, Fanny, married General Bertrand, and was with Napoleon at Elba and St. Helena.
J. G. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dillon, John Blake

​DILLON, JOHN BLAKE (1816–1866), Irish politician, was born in county Mayo in 1816. He went at the age of eighteen to Maynooth intending to take orders, but turning to the bar he entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated, became a good mathematician, and held the post of moderator. He was also a prominent member of the Historical Society. He was called to the Irish bar in 1841, wrote for the ‘Morning Register,’ was a member, with his college friend Davis, of the repeal, and afterwards of the Young Ireland party, and joined him and Gavan Duffy in founding the ‘Nation’ to supersede O'Connell's ‘Pilot’ in 1842. Though at first he deprecated an appeal to force in the frequent speeches which he made at the meetings of the Irish confederation in the Music Hall, Abbey Street, Dublin, he eventually followed O'Brien and led the rebel party at Mullinahone and Killenance. After their defeat he was concealed by peasants in the Aran Islands, and in spite of the 300l. reward offered by the government for his capture he escaped with the assistance of friends at Maynooth to France. Thence he went to the ​United States, where he was at once called to the bar with other Irish exiles, and practised in partnership with Richard O'Gorman. The amnesty in 1855 permitted him to return to Dublin, where he resumed his practice. For some time he played no political part, but was at length induced to enter the Dublin corporation as alderman for Wood Quay ward. He helped Martin and the O'Donoghue to found the National Association, became its secretary, and at its first meeting on 21 Feb. 1865 strongly advocated the disestablishment of the Irish church. He was returned in 1865 for Tipperary free of expense, and endeavoured to effect a union between the English radicals and the Irish national party. Though not a good speaker, he was well received in the House of Commons, and made a special study of the financial relations of England and Ireland. He also possessed the confidence of the Roman catholic bishops. He always remained a repealer, but he denounced fenianism. He died suddenly of cholera at Killarney on 15 Sept. 1866, and was buried at Glasnevin on the 17th. He was much respected by all parties. There is a portrait of him in the ‘Nation,’ 6 Oct. 1866.
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dillon, Arthur Richard (1721-1806)

​DILLON, ARTHUR RICHARD (1721–1806), a French prelate, youngest son of General Arthur Dillon [q. v.], was born in 1721 at St. Germain. He was a priest at Elan, near Mézières, when on his brother Edward's death at Laufeld Louis XV said he should have the first vacant benefice. He accordingly became in 1747 vicar-general of Pontoise, and gaining rapid promotion was appointed in 1753 bishop of Evreux, in 1758 archbishop of Toulouse, and in 1763 archbishop of Narbonne and primate of the Gauls. This last post made him virtual viceroy of Languedoc, the province enjoying the largest measure of self-government, and he actively promoted roads, bridges, canals, harbours, and other improvements. President of the assembly of the clergy in 1788, he publicly applauded the legal recognition of protestant marriages. The revolution reduced his income from 350,000f. (insufficient for his style of living) to 30,000f. He migrated to Coblenz at the end of 1790, thence went to London, and refused to recognise the concordat by which his diocese was abolished. He was buried in St. Pancras churchyard, London.
J. G. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dillon, Theobald

​DILLON, THEOBALD (1745–1792), general in the French service, erroneously described by French writers as brother of General Arthur Richard Dillon [q. v.], whereas he was only a distant relation, was born at Dublin in 1745, being probably the son of Thomas Dillon, naturalised by the parliament of Paris in 1759. He entered Dillon's regiment as a cadet in 1761, gradually rose to be lieutenant-colonel (1780), took part in the attack on Grenada and the siege of Savannah in 1779, was appointed a knight of St. Louis 1781, was authorised to wear the order of Cincinnatus 1785, and was awarded a pension of 1500f., 1786. He became brigadier-general in 1791, and in the following year had a command under Dumouriez in Flanders. He was ordered to make a feigned attack on Tournay to prevent its assisting Mons, to be attacked the same day by Biron. On his ordering a retreat, according to instructions, a panic seized the cavalry, the whole force fled in confusion, cries of ‘treachery’ were raised, and Dillon was murdered by his troops under circumstances of great barbarity. The convention voted a pension to Josephine Viefville, with whom he had cohabited nine years, but, as he stated in his will made the previous day, had not had time to marry, as also to their three children, whose descendants took the name of Dillon, and are still living in France with the title of counts.
J. G. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bruning, George

​BRUNING, GEORGE (1738–1802), Jesuit, was the youngest son of George Bruning of East Meon and Foxfield, Hampshire, by his second wife, Anne, daughter of Thomas May of Ramsdale in the same county. He was born in Hampshire on 19 Sept. 1738; entered the Society of Jesus in 1756; served the mission of Southend, Scberton, Hampshire, for some years: and afterwards lived at East Hendred, Berkshire, the seat of Thomas John Eyston, who had married his half-sister, Mary Bruning. Retiring to Isleworth, he died there on 3 June 1802. Bruning published: 1. ‘The Divine Œconomy of Christ,' London, 1791, 8vo. 2. ‘Remarks on the Rev. Joseph Berington‘s Examination of Events termed miraculous, as reported in Letters from Italy, addressed to the public,’ London, 1796, 12mo.
[Oliver’s Collections S, J. 62; Foley's Records S. J. v. sn, vii. 100; Backer's Bibi. des Ecrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus (1869), 913.]
T. C.