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

​MOIRA, Earl of. [See Hastings, Francis Rawdon-, second Earl, 1754–1826.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moises, Hugh

​MOISES, HUGH (1722–1806), school master, son of Edward Moises, M.A., vicar of Wymeswold, Leicestershire, was born at that place on 9 April 1722, and was educated first at Wrexham School, Denbighshire, and afterwards at the grammar-school of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, under the Rev. Dr. Burroughs. In 1741 he removed to Trinity College, Cambridge, of which society his elder brother, Edward Moises, afterwards vicar of Masham, Yorkshire, was a fellow. He graduated B.A. in 1745, with a good reputation as a classical scholar, and was soon afterwards elected a fellow of Peterhouse. In the same year he became an assistant in the school of his old master at Chesterfield, where he continued till 1749. In that year he proceeded M.A., and was, on the recommendation of Bishop Keene, appointed headmaster of the grammar-school at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in succession to Richard Dawes [q. v.] The school at the time had scarcely any scholars, but Moises soon raised it to a high state of efficiency, ‘not only,’ as Brand observes, ‘by his great learning and abilities, but by the sweetest manners and most uniform conduct’ (Hist. of Newcastle, i. 390). His dignified demeanour during school-hours is said to have inspired his pupils with ‘reverence and awe,’ but unlike Busby, with whom his biographer compares him, he ‘tempered necessary severity with affability and kindness.’ Early in the year after his appointment the corporation of Newcastle raised his salary from 50l. to 120l. a year, and on 21 April 1761 they appointed him to the morning-lectureship of All Saints' in consideration of the continued success of the school. He was, on 14 June 1779, appointed master of St. Mary's Hospital, Newcastle. He lived to see many of his scholars occupying positions of high dignity and importance. The most distinguished of them were John Scott, afterwards Earl of Eldon and lord-chancellor; his brother, William Scott, afterwards Lord Stowell; and Cuthbert Collingwood, afterwards Lord Collingwood, the admiral.
In 1787 Moises was presented to the rectory of Greystoke, Cumberland, and resigned the mastership of the school, after holding it for nearly forty years, being succeeded by his nephew, the Rev. Edward Moises, M.A., vicar of Hart and Hartlepool from 1811. After residing at Greystoke for some years he resigned the rectory at the patron's request, and he spent the latter years of his life in Newcastle. In 1801 he was appointed one of the chaplains to his old pupil, Lord Eldon, who had just been raised to the woolsack. He died at his house in Northumberland Street, Newcastle, on 5 July 1806. In 1810 a fine mural monument, executed by Flaxman, with an elegant Latin inscription composed by Sir William Scott, afterwards Lord Stowell, was erected to his memory in St. Mary's porch, St. Nicholas's Church. The expenses, amounting to about 400l., were defrayed by a subscription among his pupils, whose names are printed in Nichols's ‘Illustrations of Literature’ (v. 120).
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Molaissi

Mo Laisse mac Nad Froích in the ODNB.
​MOLAISSI (533–563), Irish saint, son of Nadfraech and Monua, was a descendant of Conall Cernach, and was born in 533. He founded a church on an island in Loch Erne known in Irish as Daimhinis, or Stag Island, and at the present day as Devinish. A round tower and a church, both of much later date than the saint, with some ancient tombs, are to be seen on the island. He lived there with a community of monks, subject to a rule instituted by him. It was not wanting in austerity, for throughout Lent it allowed only one handful of barley grain each twenty-four hours. He lived through the Buidhe Chonnail, or plague of the reign of Diarmait and Blathmac, in which both kings and St. Fechin of Fore [q. v.] perished. He is described as going about in a hood of badgers' skins, long afterwards preserved as a relic, and called the brocainech. Another was a little evangelistarium called the soiscela beg, which he used to carry about with him. He made a pilgrimage to Rome. The rest of his life presents a long series of miracles and of austerities. He died on 12 Sept. 563. Michael O'Clery mentions an ancient Irish life (Felire na Naomh Nerennach, p. 245), and quotes a poem on him by Cuimin of Coindeire, beginning 'Carais Molaisi an locha-Molaissi of the lake loves.' S. H. O'Grady has printed and translated another Irish life of him from a copy in a sixteenth-century Irish manuscript now in the British Museum (Addit. MS. 18205). He is sometimes called Laisren or Lasrianus, and his name is also spelt Molaise. A fragment of his ancient office has been preserved by Michael O'Clery. He is described as tall, and had three sisters : Muadhnat, Tallulla, abbess of Kildare, and Osnat.
He is to be distinguished from Molaissi of Leighlin, whose feast was 18 April; from Molaissi of Inis Muiredhaigh, who is venerated on Inishmurray to this day, and whose day is 12 Aug.; and from Molaissi of Cill-Molaissi, in South Munster.
[T. O'Donovan's Martyrology of Donegal, Dublin, 1864; S. H. O'Grady's Silva Gadelica, 1892; W. Stokes's Calendar of Oengus, 1871.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mohun, William de (fl.1141)

​MOHUN, MOION, or MOYNE, WILLIAM de, Earl of Somerset or Dorset (fl. 1141), eldest son of William de Mohun (fl. 1066) [q. v.], by his wife Adelisa, was possessed of forty-four knights' fees, and in 1131 was present at the council held by Henry I at Northampton, and one of the witnesses of the charter there granted by the king to the church of Salisbury. He rose against Stephen in 1138, and, relying on the strength of his castle of Dunster, committed many deeds of violence and ​cruelty in the west country. Stephen marched against him, but believing Dunster Castle to be impregnable, and being unwilling to remain long enough before it to compel its surrender by blockade, marched away, leaving Henry Tracy to carry on the war in those parts. This Tracy did with success, preventing William from continuing his expeditions from Dunster, and on one occasion taking 104 knights prisoners. William was humbled and compelled to remain quiet (Gesta Stephani, pp. 52, 53). He was with the empress at Westminster in June 1141, and marched with her to the siege of Winchester. There it is said (ib. p. 81) that the empress made him Earl of Dorset, but it appears that he was an earl when he was at Westminster in June (Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 93). He called himself Earl of Somerset (Monasticon, vi. 335), but the close connection then existing between the two shires renders this apparent discrepancy of no importance. In 1142 he founded a priory at Bruton for Augustinian canons. He also granted land to the monks of Dunster to pray for the soul of his son Ralph (Lyte, p. 28). By his wife Agnes he had six sons, of whom four were clerks, and another, Ralph, predeceased him. A son William succeeded him, but did not, as far as is known, bear the title of earl, and was in turn succeeded by his son Reginald de Mohun, father of Reginald de Mohun (d. 1257) [q. v.]
[Lyte's Dunster and its Lords, pp. 5, 6, 28; Gesta Stephani, pp. 52, 53, 81 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Ann. Wav. ap. Ann. Monastici, ii. 226 (Rolls Ser.); Sarum Charters, p. 7 (Rolls Ser.); Liber Niger Scacc. i. 91, ed. Hearne; Dugdale's Monasticon, vi. 335; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 497; Round's Geoffrey de Mandeville, pp. 93, 95, 125, 271, 277; Stubbs's Const. Hist. i. 362, 451; Somerset Archseol. Soc.'s Proc. 1857 vn. ii. 73-75, 1873 xix. ii. 96.]
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Otterbourne, Nicholas

​OTTERBOURNE, NICHOLAS (fl. 1448–1459), clerk-register of Scotland, is mentioned on 9 Jan. 1449-50 as master of arts, canon of the church of Glasgow, and official of Lothian (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1424-1513, entry 301); on 20 March 1449-1450 as secretary to James II (ib. entry 329), and in 1454 as clerk of the rolls (Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 1437-54, entry 609). He was one of those sent in February 1448 to France on a confidential mission in connection with the king's marriage. On 3 Nov. 1450 he had a warrant of safe-conduct for three months to pass into France (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, 1357-1509, entry 1228); on 3 June 1455 a warrant from the king of England for a safe-conduct to England for four months (ib. entry 1271); and on 11 May 1456 a warrant for three months (ib. entry 1276). On 13 July 1459 he had a safe-conduct, with others, into England to confer with English commissioners at Newcastle (ib. entry 1301). He is stated to have been the author of 'Epithalamium Jacobi II, Lib. 1.'
[Authorities mentioned in the text; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.; Dempster's His toria Eccles.]
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oswald (fl.1010)

​OSWALD or OSWOLD (fl. 1010), scholar, was the son of a brother of St. Oswald [q. v.], archbishop of York, and was educated at his uncle's monastery in Ramsey, Huntingdonshire. The story is told that in an idle hour he and three other boys rang the abbey bells for fun, and one was broken. The boys confessed in the chapter-house, and Oswald condoned his nephew's offence, to the annoyance of the monks. Oswald sent his nephew to complete his education at Fleury on the Loire, and there he became a man of learning, and a friend of the abbot Constantine, one of the first scholars of the day. Before he returned to England a poem concerning his accomplishments in Latin elegiacs, written by Constantine and Archbishop Oswald, heralded his fame. After visiting the abbey of St. Bertin, St. Vedast, Corbey, St. Denis, near Paris, and Lagny, he returned to Ramsey, and, refusing to be made a bishop, led a quiet life of study as a monk there. After 1048 he had an interview with Edward the Confessor, and obtained from him a grant of a hundred and a half at Wimbotsham, Norfolk (Chron. Rames. p. 160). A poem by him was preserved at Ramsey, when the chronicler of Ramsey wrote. In Leland's time there were manuscripts by him at Glaston and Ramsey. Leland mentions 'Liber sacrarum precationum,' which Bale calls a book of necromancy; 'De componendis epistolis,' and 'De edendis carminibus.' Oswald was probably author of the anonymous Vita S. Oswaldi in the Cotton MS. Nero E. I. 1. printed in 'Historians of the Church of York,' ed. Raine, i. 399. Oudin (Comm. Script, ii. 523) ascribes it to him, quoting a statement of Usher to that effect; it was written between 995 and 1005, by one intimately associated with St. Oswald at Ramsey, well acquainted with the Christian poets and with the historians of Fleury, who writes like a foreigner, and shows considerable knowledge ​ of the world (ib. p. lxvi). All this points to Oswald as the author; the preface is not quite intact, and the injured passages of the manuscript may have contained a record of the author's relationship to the saint. It has been suggested by Lord Selborne that he compiled the MS. 265 at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, called the Worcester MS., to which a later hand has prefixed the title 'Liber penitentialis Egberti' (Nasmith, Catalogue Librorum, p. 310). The manuscript belonged to Worcester, and could only have been compiled by one who had access to foreign libraries, and in all probability the library of Fleury. Leland calls Oswald a monk of Worcester, but the 'Ramsey Chronicle' shows Oswald to have been connected with Ramsey rather than Worcester.
[Chronicon Abbatiæ Ramesiensis, ed. Macray, pp. 112, 159; Selborne's Facts and Fictions about Tithes, 1892, p. 234; Leland, De Scriptoribus, i. 172.]
M. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oswulf (d.758)

​OSWULF or OSULF (d. 758), king of Northumbria, son of Eadberht, king of Northumbria, of the house of Ida, succeeded his father, who resigned the kingdom to him, in 758. Before he had reigned a year he was wickedly slain by the men of his household on 25 July, at a place called Mechil Wongtune, which it has been suggested may be Market Weighton in the East Riding of Yorkshire, He was succeeded by Ethelwold or Moll.
[Symeon of Durham's Hist. Eccl. Dunelm. c. 4, and Hist. Regum an. 758 ap. Opp. i. 49. ii. 41 (Rolls Ser.); Anglo-Saxon Chron. an. 757 (Rolls Ser.); Flor. Wig. genealogies, i. 255.]
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oswin

​OSWIN or OSWINI (d. 651), king of Deira and saint, was son of Osric (d. 634) [q. v.], the son of Ælfric, a brother of Ælla (d. 588) [q. v.] When his father died Oswini was very young, and was taken for refuge to Wessex. On the death of his cousin Oswald (605?–642) [q. v.] in 642, the people of Deira recalled him to be their king, but he seems to have ruled only as an under-king of the Mercian Penda [q. v.] Unlike his father, Oswini was a sincere Christian, and a great friend of St. Aidan; his goodness made the saint prophesy that he would soon be taken from this life, for 'the nation is not worthy of such a ruler' [see more fully under Aidan]. Oswini governed Deira in great prosperity for seven years, while Bernicia was under Oswy or Oswiu [q. v.] At last Oswiu made war on his rival. Oswini, feeling unable to meet his enemy, disbanded the army which he had assembled at Wilfares-dun, ten miles north-west of Caterick, and took refuge with an ealdorman called Hunvald. Hunvald, however, betrayed him to Oswy, who had him murdered at Ingetlingum,now Gilling, near Richmond, on 20 Aug. 651. Baeda describes Oswini as a man of graceful bearing, tall of stature, affable in discourse, and courteous in behaviour; he was very pious and devout, and was beloved by all men. Oswini was the last king of Deira, which, after his death, was permanently united with Bernicia to form the kingdom of Northumbria. A little later, on the persuasion of Oswini's kinswoman Eanfled, the wife of Oswy, the latter founded a monastery at Gilling. Trumhere, a cousin of hers and of Oswini, was made abbot, and prayers were offered for the murdered king and his murderer. Some remains of this monastery survive in the present church of Gilling. In the twelfth century, during the reign of Stephen, an anonymous monk of St. Albans, who was resident in the cell of his monastery at Tynemouth, wrote a life of Oswini. According to this account the king was buried at Tyne​mouth, where he was reverenced as a saint until the Danish troubles, when his memory was forgotten. In 1065 his burial-place was miraculously revealed, and his worship restored. His relics were translated in 1110. At the dissolution of the monastery there was still a shrine there containing the body and vestments of St. Oswini. The 'Life of Oswini,' which was clearly written in glorification of Tynemouth, reproduces Bæda's narrative, together with an account of his discovery, translation, and miracles. It is contained in Cotton MS. Julius A., and is printed in the Surtees Society's 'Miscellanea Biographical There was an Osred [q. v.], king of Northumbria, who died and was buried at Tynemouth in 792; it is possible that his name caused a confusion with Oswini. Cotton MS. Galba A.V. is a psalter which is said to have belonged to Oswini.
[Bædæ Hist. Eccl. iv. 14, 24; Matt. Paris, i. 531–3, ii. 138; Miscellanea Biographica (Surtees Soc.) vol. viii.; Dugdale's Monasticon, iii. 112; Freeman's William Rufus, ii. 17–18, 603–6; Green's Making of England, pp. 295–7; Dict. Christian Biography, iv. 165.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oswulf (d.1067)

​OSWULF or OSULF (d. 1067), earl of Bernicia, was son of Eadwulf or Eadulf, earl of Bernicia, slain by Siward in 1041. Eadulf was brother and successor of Ealdred or Aldred, and a younger son of Uchtred (d. 1016), son of Waltheof [see under Oslac]. After the death of Eadulf, which must have taken place when his son Oswulf was a child, his murderer Siward was earl of the whole of Northumbria. When Morcar [q. v.] succeeded Tostig, the son of Godwin [q. v.], as earl of Northumbria in 1065, he put Oswulf, who is described as being then a young man, to rule over Bernicia, making him earl of the district north of the Tyne. In February 1067 the conqueror dispossessed Oswulf, and granted the earldom to Copsi or Copsige [q. v.], who drove Oswulf out. Oswulf took to the woods, where he suffered hunger, and gathered to himself a band of broken men. Five weeks later, on 12 March, he attacked Copsi as he was feasting at Newburn in Northumberland, set fire to the church in which Copsi had taken refuge, and slew him with his own hands as he attempted to come out. The following autumn a roober slew Oswulf with a spear. Oswulf's earldom was given to Gospatric [q. v.]
[Symeon of Durham's Hist. Regum, c. 159 ap. Opp. ii. 198 (Rolls Ser.); Freeman's Norman Conquest, i. 588, iv. 76, 107, 133.]
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnston, George (1814-1889)

​JOHNSTON, GEORGE (1814–1889), obstetrician, was born at Dublin on 12 Aug. 1814. His father, Andrew Johnston, a brother of Francis Johnston [q. v.], founder of the Royal Hibernian Academy, was an army surgeon of some note, who served in the 44th regiment in Egypt under Sir Ralph Abercromby, and was in 1817 president of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland. George was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, became member of the Royal ​College of Surgeons, England, in 1837, and subsequently studied at Paris and at Edinburgh University, where he obtained the degree of M.D. in 1845. Devoting his attention mainly to obstetric practice, he was appointed assistant-physician of the Lying-in Hospital at Dublin in 1848, and held that post for the following seven years. During this period he was a constant contributor to the Dublin ‘Quarterly Journal of Medical Science,’ and collected a large quantity of material for the valuable work on ‘Practical Midwifery, comprising an Account of 13,748 Deliveries which took place in the Rotunda Hospital’ during seven years' practice there (1847–54), which he produced in 1878, in conjunction with Edward (afterwards Sir Edward) B. Sinclair. Johnston was appointed seventeenth master of the Rotunda Hospital in 1868, and held that office until 1875, during the whole of which period he wrote the annual ‘Clinical Reports.’ He also prepared a special ‘Report of 752 Cases of Forceps Delivery in Hospital Practice.’ Elected fellow of the King and Queen's College of Physicians, Dublin, in 1863, he was president 1880–1, and was at one time ex-president of the Obstetrical Society of Dublin. He held for some years, between 1840 and 1850, the post of surgeon-superintendent to the Emigration Commissioners for the South Australian Colonies. Johnston died at his house, 15 St. Stephen's Green, North, Dublin, on 7 March 1889, aged 74. By his wife Henrietta he had six children, four sons and two daughters.
[Lancet, 16 March 1889; Times, 14 March 1889; Irish Times and Dublin Daily Express, 8 March 1889; Walford's Men of the Time, 1884; information kindly supplied by the Rev. Henry Francis Johnstone.]
T. S.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.169 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| | ii | 8 f.e. | Johnston, George (1814-1889): for nephew read brother |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnston, Francis

1904 Errata appended.
​JOHNSTON, FRANCIS (1761–1829), architect, founder of the Royal Hibernian Academy, born in 1761, was son of William Johnston, architect, of Armagh. His eldest brother, Richard Johnston (d. 1806), in 1785 designed the assembly-room in the gardens of the Lying-in Hospital at Dublin. Francis was resident in Armagh from 1786 to 1793, and superintended the erection of the cathedral tower. Subsequently he removed to Dublin, where he pursued his profession and was architect and inspector of civil buildings to the board of works in Ireland. He rebuilt the upper portion of St. Andrew's Church (1793–1807) and the House of Commons; designed St. George's Church (1794–1802), to which he presented a peal of eight bells, the cash-office of the Bank of Ireland (1804), the infirmary of the Foundling Hospital, James Street (1810), the Castle chapel (1807–16), the Richmond general penitentiary (1812–20), alterations in the Bermingham tower, Dublin Castle (1813), the post-office (1815–17), and additions to the Viceregal Lodge, Kilmainham Hospital, &c. The Royal Hibernian Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture was incorporated in 1813, mainly owing to the efforts of Johnston, who was president for many years. Johnston in 1824 laid the foundation-stone of the buildings intended for the home of the institution, and erected them at his own expense; they were completed in 1826 at a cost of 14,000l., and a lease in perpetuity was granted to the Academy by Johnston. He died on 14 March 1829, and was buried in St. George's burying-ground, Dublin. Martin Creggan painted a portrait of Johnston, which is in the council chamber of the Royal Hibernian Academy. There are other portraits by J. C. Thompson (engraved), Comerford, and in a family group by Creggan.
[Burke's Landed Gentry; Dict. of Architecture; Walsh's Hist. of Dublin.]
L. C.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.169 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 61 | i | 3 | Johnston, Francis: omit probably |
| | | 4 | for Richard Johnston, who read William Johnston, architect of Armagh. A brother, Richard Johnston, who died in 1806, |
| | | 6 | for He read Francis |
| | | 36 | for J. C. Thompson read Martin Creggan |
| | | 37-38 | for has been engraved. read is in the council chamber of the Hibernian Academy. |