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

​WILLIAMS, SAMUEL (1788–1853), draughtsman and wood engraver, was born at Colchester, of humble parentage, on 23 Feb. 1788. He was apprenticed to a Colchester printer named Marsden, but devoted all his spare time to drawing and engraving on wood, and subsequently adopted this as his profession. He first established himself in his native town, but in 1819 settled in London. His earliest patron was Crosby the publisher, for whom he drew and cut a series of illustrations to a work on natural history (1810), and he eventually became one of the ablest and best employed of English wood engravers, specially excelling in landscape work. He was also a clever and facile designer, and a large proportion of his cuts were done from his own drawings; these include the illustrations to Whittingham's edition of ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ 1822; Mrs. Trimmer's ‘Natural History,’ 1823–4; ‘The British Stage,’ 1826 and following years; Scott's Bible, 1833–4; ‘The Olio,’ a weekly magazine, 1828–33; Hone's ‘Every-Day Book,’ 1825–7; Lady C. Guest's ‘Mabinogion,’ 1838; Thomson's ‘Seasons,’ 1841; Selby's ‘British Forest Trees,’ 1842; and Miller's ‘Pictures of Country Life,’ 1847. Among his best cuts from the designs of other artists are those in Wiffen's ​edition of Tasso's ‘Jerusalem Delivered,’ 1823; Lockhart's ‘Spanish Ballads,’ 1840; the Abbotsford edition of the Waverley Novels, 1842; Scrope's ‘Deer-stalking,’ 1846; Kugler's ‘Handbook of Painting’ and Milman's ‘Horace,’ 1849. In the early part of his life Williams painted some excellent miniatures and a few oil pictures. He died on 19 Sept. 1853, leaving four sons, who all practised wood engraving with success. A large collection of his works is in the printroom of the British Museum.
Thomas Williams (fl. 1830), younger brother of Samuel, was his pupil, and almost equalled him in skill as a wood engraver, but worked entirely from the designs of others. Specimens of his art are to be found in most of the illustrated publications of the day, including Northcote's ‘Fables,’ 1828; and Martin and Westall's ‘Bible Illustrations,’ 1833.
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Williams, Thomas (1513?-1566)

​WILLIAMS, THOMAS (1513?–1566), speaker of the House of Commons, born in 1513 or 1514, was the eldest son of Adam Williams of Stowford, Devonshire, by his wife Alice, daughter of Thomas Prideaux of Ashburton. It is unlikely that he was the Thomas Williams who supplicated for his B.A. at Oxford on 23 June 1528. On 14 Nov. 1539 he was admitted student at the Inner Temple, where he served as auditor, clerk of the kitchen, steward for the reader, serjeant for Christmas, and in other capacities (Inner Temple Records, passim). It is improbable that he was the Thomas Williams who was returned to parliament for Oxford city in 1553, that member being more likely a relative of John Williams, baron Williams of Thame [q. v.]; but in October 1555 he was elected for Bodmin, and in the parliament that met on 20 Jan. 1557–8 he sat for Saltash. In that year he was Lent reader at the Inner Temple, and it was probably his lectures in this capacity that were published in 1680 as ‘The Excellency and Præheminence of the Law of England above all other Lawes in the World, asserted in a Lent Reading upon the Statute of 35 H. 8, cap. 6, concerning Tryals by Jury of Twelve Men,’ London, 8vo, though they are there stated to have been delivered in Lent 1556–1557.
Williams may have sat in the first parliament of Elizabeth (January 1558–9), the returns for which are lost, and in 1560–1 he was again Lent reader at the Inner Temple. To the parliament that met on 11 Jan. 1562–3 he was returned for Exeter, and on the 12th, on the nomination of Sir Edward Rogers [q. v.], comptroller of the household, he was elected speaker. He was presented to the queen on the 15th, his speech on that occasion being printed at length by D'Ewes (Journals, pp. 64–6) and Manning (Speakers, pp. 224 sqq.) D'Ewes also prints Williams's speeches of 28 Jan., when he delivered to the queen the commons' petition for her marriage, and at the prorogation on 10 April. Williams died on 1 July 1566, aged 52, before parliament met again, his death during his term of office creating a precedent (see D'Ewes, pp. 95 sqq.) He was buried in Harford church, Devonshire, where there is a memorial inscription.
By his wife Emlin or Emmeline, daughter of William Crewes of ‘Chimley’ (?Chulmleigh), Devonshire, he left issue two sons—John (d. 1615) and Thomas—and three daughters. Some notes by him are extant in the Record Office (Cal. State Papers, Dom., Addenda, 1547–65, p. 534).
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Williams, Thomas Walter

​WILLIAMS, THOMAS WALTER (1763–1833), barrister, born in 1763, was the son of Walter Williams, a London attorney, residing in Lamb's Conduit Street. He entered St. Paul's school on 6 Nov. 1772, and afterwards studied law and was called to the bar, but was not much known as a pleader, his repute chiefly resting on his writings. He died in 1833.
Besides numerous abstracts of acts of parliament, Williams was the author of: 1. ‘A Compendious Digest of the Statute Law from Magna Charta to 27 George III,’ London, 1787, 8vo; 3rd edit. 1809, 2 vols. 8vo; supplements in 1809 and 1812. 2. ‘Original Precedents in Conveyances,’ London, 1788–1792, 4 vols. 8vo; new edit. 1808. 3. ‘The whole Law relative to the Duty and Office of a Justice of the Peace,’ London, 1793–5, 4 vols. 8vo; 3rd edit., by Harold Nuttall Tomlins, 1812, 4 vols. 8vo. 4. ‘An Abridgment of Cases argued and determined in the Courts of Law during the Reign of George III,’ London, 1798–1803, 5 vols. 8vo. 5. ‘The Practice of the Commissioners, Assessors, and other Officers under the Acts relating to the Assessed Taxes,’ London, 1804, 8vo. 6. ‘A General Dictionary of the Law,’ London, 1812, 8vo; new edit. 1816. 7. ‘The Jurisdiction and the Duties of Justices of the Peace, and Authority of Parish Officers in all matters relating to Parochial Law,’ London, 1812, 2 vols. 8vo; new edit. 1817. 8. ‘The Farmer's Lawyer,’ London, 1819, 8vo. He also edited the ‘Law Journal’ between 1804 and 1806 with J. Morgan, and in 1825 brought out a new edition of ‘The Precedent of Precedents’ by William Sheppard (d. 1675?) [q. v.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parkes, William

​PARKES, WILLIAM (fl. 1612), satirist, is author of a tract in verse and prose, entitled ‘The Curtaine-Drawer of the World; or, the Chamberlaine of that great Inne of Iniquity. Where Vice … rides a horsebacke like a Judge, and Vertue … goes a foote like a Drudge,’ &c., 4to, London, 1612. He gives no hint of his profession beyond describing himself on his title-page as a ‘gentleman and sometimes student of Barnard's Inne;’ but, while finding fault with all classes in turn, he is especially severe on lawyers, and appears to have suffered much from them, from usurers, and from scriveners. Douce (Illustr. of Shakespeare, ii. 75) overestimated Parkes when he said that he was a man of ‘great ability and poetical talents.’ Though he possesses some strength as a satirist, he lacks invention, and his work is put together without rule or system. The tract contains some interesting contemporary allusions, such as the reference to the dramatic entertainment called ‘England's Joy,’ which had been written by Richard Venner, and ​performed at the Swan Theatre in 1603. At pp. 50–1 Parkes introduced Sir John Davies's riddle ‘Upon a Coffin,’ and some lines by ‘S. R.’ (probably Samuel Rowlands), ‘In Vulponem,’ in which Ben Jonson's play is alluded to.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parkes, Richard

​PARKES, RICHARD (fl. 1604), divine, was a native of Lancashire, and was born in 1558. He was elected king's scholar of Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1574, and matriculated there on 20 Dec. 1577. He graduated B.A. in 1578–9, and M.A. in 1585. He took holy orders when B.A., and, according to Wood, ‘became a goodly divine’ and a noted preacher.
In 1604 he wrote against Dr. Andrew Willet [q. v.] His purpose was to support the Augustinian view of the article respecting Christ's descent into hell against the Calvinistic view of the puritans, who observed with apprehension the growing popularity of Arminius [see Bilson, Jacob; Hill, Adam; and Parker, Robert, (1564?–1614)]. At the suggestion of his friends, Parkes wrote anonymously his ‘Brief Answer to certain Objections against Christ's Descension into Hell, sent in writing by a Minister unto a Gentleman in the Country.’ This was answered by Willet in his ‘Limbomastix,’ also published anonymously, wherein his unknown opponent is styled a ‘Limbist,’ and is accused of sympathy with Bellarmine.
In 1607 Parkes published under his own name ‘An Apology of three Testimonies of Holy Scripture concerning the Article of our Creed, He descended into Hell.’ This tedious but learned work consists of two books, of which the first is the ‘Brief Answer’ revised and enlarged, while the second is ‘A Rejoinder to a Reply made against the former book, lately published in a printed pamphlet, entitled Limbo-mastix.’ In the same year Willet produced his ‘Loidoromastix,’ in which Parkes is very roughly handled.
E. C. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parkhouse, Hannah

​PARKHOUSE, HANNAH (1743–1809), dramatic author. [See Cowley.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1904 errata/Volume 23

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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Monro, Charles Henry

​MONRO, CHARLES HENRY (1835–1908), author, born in London on 17 March 1835, was second of three sons of Cecil Monro, chief registrar of the court of chancery, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel Henry Howe Knight-Erskine of Pittodrie. Alexander Monro [q. v.], principal of Edinburgh University in 1660, was an ancestor, six of whose descendants are already commemorated in this Dictionary. His older brother, Cecil James, a man of extraordinary powers, was incapacitated by phthisis soon after his election to a fellowship at Trinity in 1855. He younger brother, Kenneth, a brilliant artillery officer, died in early manhood of phthisis in Nova Scotia. Charles Henry entered Harrow in 1847, proceeded to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, as Sayer scholar in 1853, graduated B.A. in 1857 with a first class in classics, and in the same year was elected to a fellowship, of which he resigned the emoluments in 1897. Called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1863, he did not practise, but continued his study of law, though the work was hampered by ill-health, necessitating much residence abroad. From 1872 to 1896 he was law lecturer at his college. In 1900 he represented Cambridge University at the 500th anniversary of the second foundation of the University of Cracow.
In 1891 he published an annotated text and translation of the title 'Locati Conducti' in Justinian's 'Digest'; in 1893 'De Furtis'; in 1896 'Ad legem Aquiliam'; in 1900 'De Adquirendo Dominio'; and in 1902 'Pro Socio.' Meanwhile he had begun the heavy task of translating the whole 'Digest.' One volume of this work appeared in 1904 and another in 1909, alter his death, covering, altogether, about one-fourth of the book. His work was marked by great acuteness and independence of judgment and accuracy of scholarship. He had a peculiar gift for translation, and his rendering of the 'Digest,' so far as it proceeded, was much superior to any earlier attempt.
Monro, who was an accomplished linguist, and was specially interested in Celtic, died, unmarried, at Eastbourne on 23 Feb. 1906, and was buried there. By his will he left a large sum to his college, which has perpetuated his memory by a Monro fellowship, a Monro lectureship in Celtic, a Monro endowment to the Squire law library in Cambridge, and a Monro extension to the college library.
[Venn. Biogr. Hist. of Gonv. and Caius Coll., ii. 310; memorial notices in The Caius, xvii. 161; Burke's Landed Gentry, s.v. Knight-Erskine; Cass, Hist. of Monken Hadley, p. 181; notices of members of the family in this Dictionary; school college records; communications from friends; personal knowledge.]
W. W. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Moor, Ralph Denham Rayment

​MOOR, Sir RALPH DENHAM RAYMENT (1860–1909), first high commissioner of Southern Nigeria, born on 31 July 1860 at The Lodge, Furneux Pelham, Buntingford, Hertfordshire, was son of William Henry Moor, surgeon, by his wife Sarah Pears. Educated privately, and destined for business, he engaged in 1880-1 as a learner in the tea trade. On 26 Oct. 1882 he entered the royal Irish constabulary as a cadet, and becoming in due course a district inspector resigned on private grounds on 9 Feb. 1801.
In March 1801 Moor took service under Sir Claude Macdonald, the consul-general of the Oil Rivers Protectorate, as commandant of constabulary in the protectorate. Of a striking personality, he soon made his mark. In July 1802 he was appointed by the foreign office vice-consul for the Oil Rivers district, and from 6 Sept. 1802 to 15 Feb. 1803 acted as commissioner. During January 1806 he served the office of consul, and on 1 Feb. 1806, when the district was formed into the Niger Coast Protectorate, he was made commissioner and consul-general for the territory, and consul for the Cameroons and Fernando Po.
When in 1900 the protectorate passed from the foreign office to the colonial office. Moor became high commissioner of Sonthern Nigeria and laid the foundations of the new administration, which developed into the present flourishing colony; his health failing, he retired on a pension on 1 Oct. 1903. He then allied himself with Sir Alfred Jones [q. v. Suppl. II]; he gave valuable advice on West African affairs, and aided in the development of the British Cotton Growing Association. He also served on certain committees at the nomination of the secretary of state.
He was found dead in bed at his residence, the Homestead, Barnes, on 14 Sept. 1909; the inquest pointed to suicide during temporary insanity. He was buried at the new Barnes cemetery.
Moor became C.M.G. in 1895 and K.C.M.O. in 1807. He married in 1898 Adrienne, widow of J. Burns.
[The Times, 15, 16, 17 Sept. 1909; Foreign Office List, 1908; official information; personal knowledge.]
C. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Moore, Stuart Archibald

​MOORE, STUART ARCHIBALD (1842–1907), legal antiquary, born in Sept. 1842, was fourth son of Barlow Brass Moore of The Lawn, South Lambeth, Surrey, by his wife Harriet Adcock. Educated at the Philological School, Marylebone Road, he became secretary to Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy [q. v.], deputy keeper of the public records, and afterwards practised as a record agent. Elected F.S.A. on 2 May 1869, he contributed to 'Archæologia' in 1886 a paper on the 'Death and Burial of King Edward II.' Moore quickly obtained distinction as an antiquarian lawyer and an authority on questions relating to foreshore, fishery, and cognate matters. On 24 Jan. 1880, somewhat late in life, he became a student of the Inner Temple, and being called to the bar on 25 June 1884, at once obtained a lucrative practice. He fought with great pertinacity and success the claims of the crown to foreshore, arguing that the crown parted long ago with its foreshore rights to the lords of manors bounded by the sea. His 'History of the Foreshore and the Law relating thereto' (1888) is full of interesting extracts from ancient records, and constitutes the subject's brief against the crown.
Moore loved yachting, and was one of the finest amateur seamen of his time; he commanded his own 80-ton fishing ketch. ​in which he carried the vice-commodore's flag of the Royal Cruising Club all round Great Britain and the greater part of Ireland, with little regard for weather. He was a frequent correspondent of 'The Times,' chiefly on yachting and other seafaring matters. About two years before his death he was seized with paralysis of the lower limbs and retired to his vessel, in which he continued to live, bearing his affliction with courage and cheerfulness. Shortly before his death he wrote two letters to 'The Times' on secret commissions (8 Jan.) and on the Channel tunnel (8 Feb.). He died somewhat suddenly on 29 June 1907, on board his yacht at Southwick, and was buried there. He married Isabel Kate, daughter of John Knight Higgins of Southampton, and had issue two sons. Besides the work mentioned, he published: 1. 'The Thames Estuary : its Tides, Channels, &c., a Practical Guide for Yachts,' 1894. 2. 'History and Law of Fisheries ' (with his son 'Hubert Stuart Moore), 1903. He also edited 'Letters and Papers of J. Shillingford, 1447-50,' for the Camden Society (1871), and 'Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Johannis Baptiste in Colecestria,' for the Roxburghe Club (1897), as well as 'Domesday Book for Northamptonshire, extended and translated,' 1863.
[The Times, 6 July 1907; Foster, Men at the Bar; Law Times, 13 July 1907, p. 264; personal information.]
C. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pittman, Josiah

​PITTMAN, JOSIAH (1816–1886), musician and author, the son of a musician, was born on 3 Sept. 1816. He studied the organ under Goodman and S. S. Wesley. Subsequently he took lessons in the pianoforte from Moscheles and in composition from Schnyder von Wartensee at Frankfort. In 1831 he was appointed organist at the parish church of Sydenham, and in 1833 he obtained a like office at Tooting; from 1835 to 1847 he was organist at Spitalfields, and from 1852 to 1864 at Lincoln's Inn (Grove). He composed many services and much sacred music, some of which he published in 1859. A close study of the requirements of the established church with regard to congregational singing or chanting led him to the conclusion that the Book of Common Prayer was made ‘for song and naught else.’ He deplored the absence of music from the psalter as originally framed, and the consequent discouragement of the people from active participation in church services. In 1858 he set forth these views in ‘The People in Church.’ This was followed in 1859 by ‘The People in the Cathedral,’ mainly an historical treatise.
In 1865 he became accompanist at Her Majesty's Opera, and from 1868 until his death he filled the same office at Covent Garden. The value of his musical work at the opera was best understood by those behind the scenes, while his literary abilities fitted him to assist in the translation of libretti. The series of operas in pianoforte score published as ‘The Royal Edition’ by Messrs. Boosey, ranging from Auber through the alphabet to Weber, were edited by Pittman, who again, in co-operation with Sullivan, selected the operatic songs for the popular ‘Royal Edition’ albums issued by the same publishers. Pittman also edited a volume of Bach's Fugues, and the musical portions of theoretical works by Cherubini, Marx, Callcott, and others. ‘Songs of Scotland,’ compiled by Colin Brown and Pittman, was published in 1873.
Pittman died suddenly, in his seventieth year, at 228 Piccadilly, on Good Friday, 23 April 1886.
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pitts, William

​PITTS, WILLIAM (1790–1840), silver-chaser and sculptor, born in 1790, was son of a silver-chaser, to whom he was apprenticed as a boy. In 1812 he obtained the gold Isis medal from the Society of Arts for modelling. He chased a portion of the ‘Wellington Shield’ designed by Thomas Stothard [q. v.] for Messrs. Green & Ward, and the whole of the ‘Shield of Achilles’ designed by John Flaxman [q. v.] for Messrs. Rundell & Bridge. In later life he modelled, in imitation of these, a ‘Shield of Æneas,’ and a ‘Shield of Hercules’ from Hesiod, but only a portion of the former was carried out in silver. Pitts had a very prolific imagination, and gained a great reputation for models and reliefs in pure classical taste. In 1830 he executed the bas-reliefs in the bow-room and drawing-rooms at Buckingham Palace. He exhibited many of his models at the Royal Academy. He made two designs for the Nelson monument, though he was not successful in the competition. He made innumerable designs for plates; the greater part of the épergnes, candelabra, &c., for presentation at this time were designed, modelled, or chased by Pitts. He was ambidextrous, drawing and modelling equally well with either hand, and in the latter art sometimes using both at once. He was a good draughtsman, and also tried his hand at painting. He executed for publication a series of outline illustrations to ‘Virgil,’ of which only two numbers were published, and also a series of illustrations to ‘Ossian,’ of which two were engraved in mezzotint, but never published. He made similar drawings to illustrate Horace and the ‘Bacchæ’ and ‘Ion’ of Euripides.
Pitts suffered from depression caused by professional disappointments, and committed suicide on 16 April 1840 by taking laudanum at his residence, 5 Watkins Terrace, Pimlico. He married at the age of nineteen, and left five children, of whom one son, Joseph Pitts, attained some distinction as a sculptor, and in 1846 executed the bust of Robert Stephenson, now in the National Portrait Gallery.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pitt, William (1749-1823)

​PITT, WILLIAM (1749–1823), writer on agriculture, was born at Tettenhall, near Wolverhampton, in 1749. He was one of the most able of those employed by the board of agriculture in the preparation of the reports on the different counties. He lived first at Pendeford, near Wolverhampton, but removed afterwards to Edgbaston, Birmingham. He died on 18 Sept. 1823, and was buried at Tettenhall. He published: 1. ‘A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Stafford, with Observations on the Means of its Improvement,’ London, 1794, 4to; 1796, 4to; 1808, 8vo; 1815, 8vo. 2. Similar reports on the agriculture of Northamptonshire, 1809, 8vo; Worcestershire, 1813, 8vo; and Leicestershire, to which is annexed ‘A Survey of the County of Rutland. By Richard Parkinson’ (1748–1815) [q. v.], London, 1809, 8vo. 3. ‘On Agricultural Political Arithmetic’ (Essay xxi. in Hunter's ‘Georgical Essays,’ vol. iv., York, 1803, 8vo). 4. ‘The Bullion Debate,’ a serio-comic satiric poem, London, 1811, 8vo. 5. ‘A Comparative Statement of the Food produced from Arable and Grass Land, and the Returns arising from each; with Remarks on the late Enclosures,’ &c., London, 1812, 4to. 6. ‘A Topographical History of Staffordshire,’ &c., Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1817, 8vo.
W. A. S. H.