OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spencer, George Trevor

​SPENCER, GEORGE TREVOR (1799–1866), second bishop of Madras, born 11 Dec. 1799 in Curzon Street, Mayfair, was third son of William Robert Spencer [q. v.] He gained prizes for Latin alcaics and an English essay at Charterhouse, whence he proceeded to University College, Oxford. He graduated B.A. in 1822, and was created D.D. on 16 June 1847. Ordained deacon in 1823 and priest in 1824, he held the perpetual curacy of Buxton from the latter year till 1829. From 1829 till 1837 he was rector of Leaden-Roding in Essex. In 1837 he was ​consecrated bishop of Madras, and remained in India for twelve years. In 1842 he published a ‘Journal of a Visitation to the Provinces of Travancore and Tinnevelly in 1840–41.’ In 1845 he also published ‘Journal of a Visitation Tour, in 1843–4, through Part of the Western Portion of the Diocese of Madras.’ Besides places in his own diocese, he visited during this tour Poona, Ahmednaggar, and Bombay. In the autumn of 1845 Spencer visited the missions of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Church Missionary Society, and published his ‘Journal’ in the following year, accompanied with charges delivered at St. George's Cathedral, Madras, and at Palamcotta, and appendices containing statistical tables. In 1846 he also published ‘A Brief Account of the C.M.S.'s Mission in the District of Kishnagur, in the Diocese of Calcutta.’ In the diocese of Madras he established three training colleges for native converts.
In 1849 he returned to England invalided. On 4 Oct. 1852 he was appointed commissary or assistant to Richard Bagot [q. v.], bishop of Bath and Wells. On 10 May 1853 he resigned on account of the views on the real presence held by Archdeacon Denison, examining chaplain to Bagot, and of Denison's refusal ‘to allow him in any way to examine the candidates for holy orders.’ An angry correspondence between Spencer and Denison followed, which ended in the latter's declining ‘any further communication by word or writing.’
In 1860 Spencer was appointed chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral, and next year became rector of Walton-in-the-Wolds. He died on 16 July 1866 at Edge Moor, near Buxton.
Spencer married, in 1823, Harriet Theodora, daughter of Sir Benjamin Hobhouse and sister of John Cam Hobhouse, baron Broughton [q. v.], by whom he had issue two sons and three daughters.
G. Le G. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spencer, Augustus Almeric

​SPENCER, Sir AUGUSTUS ALMERIC (1807–1893), general, was the third son of Francis Almeric Spencer, first baron Churchill, by Lady Frances Fitzroy, fifth daughter of Augustus, third duke of Grafton. George Spencer, fourth duke of Marlborough [q. v.], was his grandfather. He was born on 25 March 1807 at Blenheim, and served as one of the pages when Alexander I, emperor of Russia, visited Blenheim after the peace of 1815. He lived from 1817 at Cornbury, the seat of his father in Wychwood Forest, and was privately educated by the Rev. Walter Brown, rector of Stonesfield, Oxfordshire, formerly chaplain and librarian at Blenheim. In 1825 he entered the army as ensign of the 43rd light infantry, and was with the regiment at Gibraltar. In 1827 he was under Sir George de Lacy Evans [q. v.] in Portugal. A few years later he accompanied the regiment to Canada, and in 1836 married, at Fredericton, Helen, second daughter of Sir Archibald Campbell, governor of New Brunswick. In 1845 he was appointed to the command of the 44th, and served throughout the Crimean war (1854–5). He was present at the battles of Alma and Inkerman, the occupation of the cemetery and suburbs of Sebastopol (18 June 1855), where he was wounded, and as brigadier-general of the 4th division in the night attack at the fall of Sebastopol (8 Sept. 1855). In October 1855 he commanded the land forces in the expedition to Kinburn, in conjunction with General (afterwards marshal) Bazaine. He was thus with the army from the first landing at Varna until its return to England; was ten times mentioned in despatches, and received the medal with three clasps for the Crimean campaign, as well as the Sardinian and Turkish medals, and the third order of Medjidieh, and was made C.B. and officer of the Legion of Honour. After his return to England in 1856 he was placed in command of a brigade at Aldershot. In 1860 he was made major-general, and appointed to a division of the Madras army at Bangalore. In 1866 he was appointed to the command of the western district (Devonport), and in 1869 he was again in India as commander-in-chief of the Bombay army. In this year also he became colonel of his old regiment, the 43rd. Returning from India in 1874, he commanded the 2nd army corps in the manœuvres on Salisbury Plain in the following year, and was promoted to the rank of general. This was the close of his active service. He died on 28 Aug. 1893 in Ennismore Gardens, London.
H. L. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spencer, Aubrey George

​SPENCER, AUBREY GEORGE (1795–1872), first bishop of Newfoundland, born on 8 Feb. 1795, was son of William Robert Spencer [q. v.] His brother was George Trevor Spencer [q. v.], bishop of Madras. He matriculated from Magdalen Hall, Oxford, on 28 March 1817, but did not graduate. After being ordained Spencer went out to the Bermudas, of which in 1824 he was appointed archdeacon.
In 1839, when Newfoundland was constituted a separate diocese, with the Bermudas under its care, Spencer was appointed bishop of Newfoundland, returning to England for consecration; during his visit he was created D.D. of Oxford University. He began the organisation of his diocese and founded the Theological College, and laid the first stone of the cathedral of St. John's, besides helping to found twenty other churches. But his health could not long endure the severe winters of Newfoundland, and on 28 Nov. 1843 he was translated to Jamaica, which included British Honduras and the Bahamas. Here he found a more congenial home, though a good deal of travelling was necessary. In October 1848 he made a visitation of the Bahamas and went to Havannah some years later. He remained in Jamaica till 1856, when failing health compelled him to appoint a coadjutor. Returning to England, he settled at Torquay, where he died on 24 Feb. 1872.
Spencer married, on 14 July 1822, Eliza, daughter of John Musson, and left three daughters.
Spencer was the author of ‘Sermons on Various Subjects’ (1827), ‘The Mourner Comforted’ (1845), and a number of fugitive poems, some of which appeared in ‘Blackwood's Magazine’ (e.g. October 1837, p. 555).
[Times, 27 Feb. 1872; Burke's Peerage, s.v. ‘Marlborough;’ Memoir of Edward Feild. 1877, pp. 28, 189; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; International Magazine, January 1851, pp. 157–159; Bonnycastle's Newfoundland in 1842, ii. 99.]
C. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/O'Rourke, Tiernan

Tigernán Ua Ruairc in the ODNB.
​O'ROURKE, TIERNAN (d. 1172), king of Breifne, called in Irish Tighearnan Ua Ruairc, was head of the clans known as the Ui Briuin, or as the race of Aedh finn, and ruled Breifne, called in English state papers ‘the Breny,’ a district including the modern counties of Leitrim and Cavan; and Conmaicne, which corresponds to the county of Longford. He first appears in the chronicles in 1124, and at that date had a son, Gillabroide, who was slain in battle with the Connaughtmen. O'Rourke had a considerable body of cavalry, and was defeated by a similar force under Conchobhar MacLochlainn at Ardee, co. Louth, in 1128. In 1130 he defeated and slew Diarmait O'Maelsechlainn, king of Meath, at Slieve Guaire, co. Cavan, and in the following year he ravaged Cuailgne and Omeath, then districts of Ulster, now in the co. Louth. He fought the Connaughtmen in 1132, in 1133 made an incursion into Fermanagh, and in 1137 and 1139 invaded Meath. He was expelled from the chiefship of the Ui Briuin by the clan in 1141, after an unsuccessful war with the O'Connors, but regained his position before the end of the year, and in 1144 obtained half Meath from Turlough O'Connor [q. v.] In 1145 he attacked O'Connor, and again in 1146; and in 1148 invaded Ulidia with Donnchadh O'Carroll. Later in the year he was himself wounded when on his way to meet the king of Connaught. He gave hostages to Niall O'Lochlainn in 1149, and in 1150 was confirmed in possession of part of Meath by Muircheartach O'Lochlainn [q. v.] In 1152 Conmaicne was taken from him by MacLochlainn, and O'Connor and Diarmait MacMurchadha carried off his wife Dearbhforgaill, with all her cattle and movable possessions. She was forty-four years of age, and there seem very slight grounds for the current story that ​this elopement had anything to do with the Norman invasion of Ireland eighteen years later. She was daughter of Murchadh O'Maeleachlainn, and died at Mellifont Abbey, near Drogheda, in 1193. He had another war with Connaught in 1158, but made peace in 1159, and fought Muircheartach O'Lochlainn, but was routed at Ardee by the Ulstermen. He continued in alliance with Connaught for several years afterwards. In 1162 his son Maelseachlainn was slain by one of his own clan. Diarmait MacMurchadha paid him one hundred ounces of gold as a reparation in 1167, while Dearbhforgaill built a church at Clonmacnoise. He obtained eight hundred cows as an eric from the Meathmen for the murder of O'Fionnallain, for whom he was security. He was slain at Tlachta, co. Meath, by Hugo de Lacy in 1172, and his body was decapitated. His head was fixed on a gate of Dublin, and his body hung by the feet from a gibbet on the north side of the city.
Nineteen other chiefs or tanists named Tiernan O'Rourke occur in the Irish chronicles, of whom the most important was chief of the race of Aedh finn and of Breifne, married Aine, daughter of Tadhg MacDonnchaidh, and died in 1467.
[Annala Rioghachta Eireann, vols. ii. iii.; Book of Fenagh, ed. Hennessy; Annals of Loch Cé, ed. Hennessy, Rolls Ser.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/O'Reilly, Myles William Patrick

​O'REILLY, MYLES WILLIAM PATRICK (1825–1880), Irish politician, son of William O'Reilly, esq., of Knock Abbey, co. Louth, by Margaret, daughter of Dowell O'Reilly, esq., of the Heath, Queen's County, was born in Dublin in 1825. He was educated at St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, Durham, and at the university of London, where he graduated B.A. in 1845 (London Univ. Calendar, 1870, p. 203). Subsequently he took the degree of LL.D. at Rome. He joined the Louth rifles militia, in which he held a captain's commission. Being invited to Rome by Pius IX, he entered the pontifical service, with the rank of major, and was appointed to the command of the Irish brigade. In September 1860 the battalion of St. Patrick gallantly defended Spoleto against the Piedmontese troops, who were repeatedly repulsed, and O'Reilly surrendered only when the place had become untenable (O'Clery, Making of Italy, pp. 193–5). After his return to Ireland he was elected M.P. for the county of Longford in March 1862, and for many years he occupied a conspicuous place in the House of Commons among the debaters on Irish and military subjects. He was a member of the home-rule party, and was loyal to the leadership of Isaac Butt. He was a magistrate for the counties of Louth and Dublin. On at least one occasion he acted as examiner in classics at the Catholic University of Ireland, at the time when Dr. Newman was at its head. He vacated his seat in parliament in April 1879, when he accepted the post of assistant commissioner of intermediate education in Ireland. He died in Dublin on 6 Feb. 1880, and was interred in the family burial-place at Philipstown, near Knock Abbey.
He married, in 1859, Ida, daughter of Edward Jerningham, esq. She died in 1878. Besides occasional pamphlets and articles, he was the author of ‘Memorials of those who suffered for the Catholic Faith in Ireland in the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Collected and edited from the Original Authorities,’ London, 1868, 8vo; reprinted under the title of ‘Lives of the Irish Martyrs and Confessors, with Additions, including a History of the Penal Laws, by [the] Rev. Richard Brennan, A.M.,’ New York, 1878, 8vo.
[Annual Register, 1880, Chronicle, p. 152; Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 1863 and 1879; Tablet, 14 Feb. 1880, p. 216; Times, 10 Feb. 1880, p. 5, col. 3.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/O'Reilly, Andrew

​O'REILLY, ANDREW (1742–1832), Austrian general of cavalry, was born of Roman catholic parents at Ballinlough, co. Limerick, on 3 Aug. 1742, and entered the Austrian service in 1763, at the end of the seven years' war. He became a lieutenant in 1778, and was ober-lieutenant and captain of the infantry regiment of Calenberg in 1778-9. While major and adjutant of the 1st carabineer regiment in 1780-4, he served in the Bavarian succession war. In 1784-8 he was lieutenant-colonel of the 8th Hohenzollern cuirassiers, and in 1789 became colonel of the light horse regiment of Modena, which was made the 5th light dragoons in 1798, and was disbanded in 1801. He fought against the Turks in 1789, when the Austrians retook Belgrade ; and as a major-general in the Low Countries in 1792-4. When the French, under Moreau, crossed the Rhine in 1796, O'Reilly's skill as a cavalry commander could not save the Austrians from defeat, and he was himself wounded and made prisoner. He was soon after exchanged, and given a command in the interior.
In 1799 O'Reilly was in command at Zurich, and afterwards, as field-marshal-lieutenant (lieutenant-general), at Piacenza. He distinguished himself in the Italian campaign of 1800, at Montebello, Marengo, the Mincio, and other engagements, and received the grand cross of the Maria Theresa order. In 1805 he again distinguished himself at the head of the cavalry at Coldrerio, where the French, under Massena, were defeated after two days' hard fighting. When the war with France was renewed in 1809, O'Reilly was placed under the orders of the Archduke Maximilian, and when the archduke abandoned the defence of Vienna, which was attacked by an overwhelming force, O'Reilly was appointed governor. Deeming further resistance useless, and a conflagration of the city being feared, O'Reilly arranged for a surrender. The burgomaster presented himself before Napoleon, and terms were agreed to for a capitulation, by the fourteenth article of which the governor was to be permitted to bear the news to the Emperor Francis and explain the position of the monarchy. Old and worn out, O'Reilly took no part in the later campaigns of 1813-15. A general of cavalry and colonel-proprietor of the 3rd light horse regiment (since the 8th uhlans), O'Reilly died at Vienna, 5 July 1832, at the age of 90.
O'Reilly married, in 1784, Maria Barbara, countess of Sweerts and Spork; but, having no issue, adopted as his heir the son of his kinsman, Hugh O'Reilly of Ballinlough.
[Neue Deutsche Biographie and authorities there referred to.]
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Platts, John Thompson

​PLATTS, JOHN THOMPSON (1830–1904), Persian scholar, born at Calcutta on 1 August 1830, was second son of Robert Platts of Calcutta, India, who left at his death a large family and a widow in straitened circumstances. John, after being educated at Bedford (apparently privately), returned to India in early manhood, and during 1858-9 was mathematical master at Benares College. He was in charge of Saugor School in the Central Provinces from 1859 to 1861, when he became mathematical professor and headmaster of Benares College. In 1864 Platts was transferred to the post of assistant inspector of schools, second circle. Northwest Provinces, and in 1868 he became officiating inspector of schools, northern circle. Central Provinces. He retired on 17 March 1872, owing to ill-health. Platts then returned to England, and settling at Ealing occupied himself with teaching Hindustani and Persian. He had closely studied both languages and had thoroughly mastered their grammars and vocabulary. On 2 June 1880 he was elected teacher of Persian in the University of Oxford. He matriculated from Balliol College on 1 Feb. 1881, and on 21 June of that year was made M.A. honoris causa. On 19 March 1901 the degree of M.A. was conferred upon him by decree. He died suddenly in London on 21 Sept. 1904, and was buried at Wolvercote cemetery near Oxford.
Platts was twice married: (1) in 1856, at Lahore, India, to Alice Jane Kenyon (d. 1874), by whom he had three sons and four daughters; and (2) on 4 Oct. 1876 to Mary Elizabeth, only daughter of Thomas Dunn, architect and surveyor, of Melbourne, Australia, and widow of John Hayes, architect and surveyor, of Croydon; by her Platts had one son. His widow was awarded a civil list pension of 75l. in 1905.
Platts compiled:
* 'A Grammar of the Hindustani Language,' 1874.
* 'A ​Hindustani-English Dictionary,' 1881.
* 'A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English,' 1884.
* 'A Grammar of the Persian Language, Part I, Accidence,' 1894. He also edited the text of 'Gulistan of Sa'di' (1872), and published 'Sa'di (Shaikh Muslihuddin Shirazi)' photographed from MS. under his superintendence (1891).
He translated the 'Ikhwanu-s-Safa' from the Hindustani of Maulavi Ikram Ali (1875), and the 'Gulistan of Sa'di' (1876).
Platts' grammars of Persian and Hindustani were a marked advance upon the work of any English predecessor, and still hold the field. His 'Hindustani-English Dictionary' is a monument of erudition and research.
[Record Department, India Office; Oxford Times, 1 Oct. 1904.]
G. S. A. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Pope, Samuel

​POPE, SAMUEL (1826–1901), barrister, born at Manchester on 11 Dec. 1826, was eldest son of Samuel Pope, a merchant of London and Manchester, by his wife Phebe, daughter of William Rushton, merchant, of Liverpool. After private education he was employed in business, and in his leisure cultivated in debating societies an aptitude for public speaking. Coming to London, he studied at London University, entered at the Middle Temple on 13 Nov. 1855, and was called to the bar on 7 June 1858. Deeply interested in politics, he unsuccessfully contested Stoke as a liberal ​in the following year. For a few years he practised with success in his native town, but removed to London in 1865. In the same year, and again in 1868, he unsucessfully contested Bolton. In 1869 he was however made recorder of the town and took silk. In London he soon devoted himself to parliamentary practice, for which his persuasive eloquence and commanding personality admirably fitted him. He presented complicated facts and figures simply and interestingly and in due perspective. At his death he was the leader of the parliamentary bar. He was chosen a bencher of his inn on 27 Jan. 1870, and was treasurer in 1888-9, when he made a valuable donation of books to the library. A keen advocate of the temperance cause from youth. Pope was at his death an honorary secretary of the United Kingdom Alliance. He was a freemason, becoming senior grand deacon in grand lodge in 1886. He died at his residence, 74 Ashley Gardens, Westminster, on 22 July 1901, and was buried at Llanbedr in Merionethshire, of which county he was a J. P. and deputy lieutenant. Pope married Hannah, daughter of Thomas Bury of Timperley Lodge, Cheshire; she predeceased him without issue in 1880.
A portrait by Sir Hubert von Herkomer is in possession of the family. A loving cup with a bust of him in relief was presented to the Middle Temple in his memory by some friends (Master Worsley's Book, ed. A. R. Ingpen, K.C., p. 327). A cartoon portrait by 'Spy' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1885.
[The Times, 24 July 1901; Foster, Men at the Bar; Men and Women of the Time, 1899; Hutchinson, Notable Middle Templars, 1902; private information.]
C. E. A. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Plunkett, Francis Richard

​PLUNKETT, Sir FRANCIS RICHARD (1835–1907), diplomatist, born at Corbalton Hall, co. Meath, on 3 Feb. 1835, was sixth son of Arthur James, ninth earl of Fingall, and Louise Emilia, only daughter of Elias Corbally of Corbalton Hall. Educated at the Roman catholic college, St. Mary's, Oscott, he was appointed attache at Munich in January 1855, and transferred in July of that year to Naples, where he remained until diplomatic relations were broken off on 30 Oct. 1856. After a few months of service at the Hague he was transferred to Madrid, and in July 1859 was promoted to be paid attache at St. Petersburg. In January 1863 he was transferred as second secretary to Copenhagen, where he served during the troubled times of the war of Austria and Prussia against Denmark. After service at Vienna, Berlin, Florence, and again at Berlin, he was promoted to be secretary of legation at Yedo in 1873, then at Washington in 1876, becoming secretary of embassy at St. Petersburg in 1877. He was transferred to Constantinople in 1881, but after a few months of service, during part of which he was in charge of the embassy in the absence of the ambassador, Lord Dufferin [q. v. Suppl. II]. he was removed to Paris, with promotion to the titular rank of minister plenipotentiary. In July 1883 he was appointed British envoy at Tokio, and while there in 1886 he was made K.C.M.G. In 1886 and 1887 he took part as the senior British delegate in the conferences on the very difficult question of the revision of the treaties between Japan and the European powers, and the conditions on which the rights of extra-territorial jurisdiction enjoyed by those powers over their nationals resident in Japan should be abandoned. The conditions agreed upon at the conference were considered by the Japanese government to be too onerous, and it was not until 1894 that a definitive agreement was arrived at. In 1888 he was transferred to Stockholm, and in 1893 to Brussels, where in 1898 and 1899 he took part in the conferences for the abolition of bounties on the export of sugar and for the regulation of the liquor trade in Africa. In September 1900 he was appointed British ambassador at Vienna, and held that post till his retirement on pension in October 1905. He was made G.C.M.G. during his residence at Brussels in 1894, G.C.B. in 1901, and a G.C.V.O. in 1903, was sworn a privy councillor on his appointment as ambassador, and received from the Emperor Francis Joseph the grand cross of the order of Leopold on leaving Vienna, where his natural kindliness of disposition and urbanity of manner had made him universally popular. He died at Paris on 28 Feb. 1907 and was buried at Boulogne-sur-Seine.
He married on 22 Aug. 1870 May Tevis, daughter of Charles Wain Morgan, of Philadelphia, by whom he had two daughters.
[The Times, 1 and 2 March 1907; Foreign Office List, 1908, p. 401; papers laid before Parliament.]
S.