OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knyvet, Thomas (d.1622)

​KNYVET, THOMAS, Lord Knyvet of Escrick (d. 1622), was second son of Sir Henry Knyvet of Charlton, Wiltshire, by Anne, daughter of Sir Christopher Pickering of Killington, Westmoreland. Edmund Knyvet [q. v.], sergeant-porter to Henry VIII, was his grand-uncle. His brother Sir Henry Knyvet, of Charlton (d. 1598), high sheriff of Wiltshire in 1577, wrote in 1596 ‘The Defence of the Realme,’ first published in 1906 (Oxford, ed. Charles Hughes). Thomas was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, became a gentleman of the privy chamber to Queen Elizabeth, and was created M.A. on her visit to Oxford on 29 Sept. 1592. He sat for Thetford in the parliament of 1601. On 5 Aug. 1603 James I gave him the manor of Stanwell, Middlesex, to which a neighbouring property was added by royal grant in 1613, and he gained much favour with the king. He was knighted at the Tower on 14 March 1603–4. In his capacity of justice of the peace for Westminster, and as a gentleman of the privy chamber, Knyvet made the search of the cellars of the houses of parliament on the evening of 4 Nov. 1605, and discovered the powder; to him Fawkes made a confession of the plot. Knyvet was shortly afterwards appointed a privy councillor, member of the council of Queen Anne, and warden of the mint. James confided his daughter Mary to him to be educated, and she died at Stanwell on 16 Sept. 1607. On 4 July 1607 Knyvet was summoned to parliament as Baron Knyvet of Escrick, Yorkshire, and had gifts of 500l. from the king in 1612 and 1613. He regularly frequented the court, and seems to have had a town house in King Street, Westminster. He took part in the trial of the pyx, at which James was present in 1611, and was at the funerals of the Prince of Wales in 1612 and of the queen in 1619. Knyvet died on 27 July 1622, and was buried with his wife at Stanwell, where there is a large monument, with effigies in the chancel of the church. He had married, at St. Pancras Church, Soper Lane, London, on 21 July 1597, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Roland Hayward, and widow of Richard Warren of Essex. She died on 5 Sept. 1622; her two daughters predeceased her. By his will he left 20l. a year for a school for boys at Stanwell; he settled Stanwell on a nephew, John Cary, and on a niece, Catherine, who married as her second husband Thomas Howard, first earl of Suffolk, and whose seventh son was Edward, created lord Howard of Escrick [q. v.] Lord Knyvet must not be confounded with his cousin, Sir Thomas Knyvet of Buckenham, the head of the family, who was knighted on 11 May 1603.
[Lysons's Parishes in Middlesex not described in the Environs of London, ‘Stanwell;’ Gardiner's Hist. of England, i. 250; Cooper's Memorials of Cambridge, i. 374; Burke's Extinct Peerage; Davy's Suffolk Collections, lxii., Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 19138 (pedigree); Lodge's Illustr. of Brit. Hist. iii. 203; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 260; Jardine's Gunpowder Plot, p. 101; Gent. Mag. 1794, pt. i. 313 (tomb); Cal. of State Papers, Dom. 1603–23 (very few notices); Nichols's Progresses of King James, passim.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knox, William (1762-1831)

​KNOX, WILLIAM (1762–1831), bishop of Derry, fourth son of Thomas, first Viscount Northland, a title now merged in the earldom of Ranfurly, was born 14 June 1762. At the age of about sixteen he entered Trinity College, Dublin, where in 1781 he graduated B.A. In 1786 he became rector of Pomeroy in the diocese of Armagh, after which he obtained the rectory of Callan in the diocese of Ossory, and became chaplain to the Irish House of Commons. On 21 Sept. 1794 he was consecrated bishop of Killaloe in St. Peter's Church, Dublin, by the Archbishop of Dublin, assisted by the Bishops of Limerick and Kilmore. In 1803 he was translated to the see of Derry, where he was enthroned on 9 Sept. of that year. During his tenure of this diocese he became widely known for his philanthropy and benevolence, and was held in high esteem by people of all denominations. He died in London on 10 July 1831. He published several sermons. Knox married in 1785 Anne, daughter of James Spencer, esq., by whom he had twelve children, eight daughters and four sons. His eldest son, James Spencer Knox, D.D., was father of Sir Thomas George Knox [q. v.] George, the third son (1799–1881), was lieutenant-colonel in the Coldstream guards.
[Cotton's Fasti; Burke's and Foster's Peerage.]
T. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knyff, Leonard

​KNYFF, LEONARD (1650–1721), painter, born at Haarlem, on 10 Aug. 1650, was third son of Wouter Knyff, painter, by his second wife, Lydia Leenderts of Delft, widow of Jacob Bas of Haarlem. Knyff was known as a painter of birds and animals. He came to England about 1690, and settled in Westminster. He devoted himself in England to topographical drawing and painting, and made many drawings in Westminster and its vicinity. He is known principally by the series of bird's-eye views of palaces and gentlemen's seats in Great Britain, drawn by him and engraved by his fellow-countryman and neighbour in Westminster, Johannes Kip [q. v.], for vol. i. of ‘Britannia Illustrata,’ or ‘Nouveau Théâtre de la Grande Bretagne,’ published by Mortier in 1708. Knyff does not appear to have contributed to the later volumes. These drawings, though stiff and uninteresting as artistic productions, are of great archæological value. A good specimen, ‘The North Prospect of Windsor Castle,’ is in the possession of Mr. John H. Arkwright (Eton Loan Exhibition, 1891). Knyff died in Westminster in 1721. His collection of pictures was sold by auction in May 1723.
[Vertue's MSS. (Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 23069, 23073); Vander Willigen's Artistes de Haarlem; Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knyvett, Charles

​KNYVETT, CHARLES (1752–1822), musician, descended from the family of Knyvet or Knyvett of Fundenhall, Norfolk, was born in 1752. He possessed a fine alto voice, and was one of the chief singers at the Handel commemoration of 1784. On 6 Nov. 1786 he was appointed gentleman of the Chapel Royal. In 1789, in partnership with Samuel Harrison, he directed a series of oratorio performances at Covent Garden. In 1791, again in partnership with Harrison, and with the additional assistance of his brother William, he established at Willis's Rooms the Vocal Concerts, which were successfully carried on for three years. On 25 July 1796 he was appointed organist of the Chapel Royal, vice Thomas Sanders Dupuis, deceased. In 1801, with the co-operation of his brother William, his son Charles, and Messrs. Greatorex and Bartleman, he revived the Vocal Concerts at the Hanover Square Rooms, but in the following year he ​withdrew from the management. In 1808 he resigned his post of gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and was succeeded by his son Charles. Knyvett was a member of the Royal Society of Musicians from 4 Jan. 1778. He was for many years secretary to the Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Catch Club, whose meetings were held at the Thatched House Tavern, St. James's Street, and he was a frequent visitor at the meetings of the Madrigal Society. For one season he replaced Joah Bates [q. v.] as conductor at the Concerts of Antient Music. He died in Blandford Street, Pall Mall, on 19 Jan. 1822, and was succeeded as organist of the Chapel Royal by Sir G. T. Smart. He had purchased an estate at Sonning in Berkshire.
Parke (Musical Memoirs, ii. 77, 236) states that he considered Knyvett ‘one of the best singers of glees,’ and ‘perhaps the best catch singer in England.’ Knyvett married in his twenty-first year, and had three sons, Charles (see below), William [q. v.], and one who entered the army.
His eldest son, Charles Knyvett (1773–1852), born in 1773, was a chorister of Westminster Abbey under Sir William Parsons. He was educated at Westminster School, where he formed a close friendship with Lord Dudley and Ward which lasted until his death. He studied the organ and pianoforte under S. Webbe, and in 1802 was appointed organist of St. George's, Hanover Square. In 1801 he assisted his father in the revival of the Vocal Concerts. He died, after many years of retirement, on 2 Nov. 1852.
He published in 1815 ‘Six Airs harmonised for three and four voices;’ and also edited, in 1800, a ‘Collection of favourite Glees, Catches, and Rounds presented by the Candidates for the Premiums given by the Prince of Wales in the year 1800.’
[Grove's Dict. of Music, ii. 67, iv. 319; Burke's Extinct Baronetage; Bemrose's Choir Chant Book, App. p. xxiii; Gent. Mag. 1822 pt. i. 94; Georgian Era, iv. 536; Records of Royal Soc. of Musicians; Records of Madrigal Soc.; Chapel Royal Cheque Book; Cat. of Music in British Museum.]
R. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Knyvet, Thomas (d.1512)

​KNYVET, Sir THOMAS (d. 1512), officer in the navy, eldest son of Edmund Knyvet of Buckenham in Norfolk, by Eleanor, sister of Sir James Tyrrell of Gipping, Suffolk, was brother of Sir Edmund Knyvet [q. v.] Thomas was knighted by Henry VIII in 1509, became master of the horse 26 Feb. 1509–10, and held among other offices that of keeper of the New Park belonging to the lordship of Berkeley (27 Aug. 1510). He married the widow of John Grey, second viscount Lisle, whose christian name appears in the ‘State Papers’ as Marcella, and in the genealogies as Muriel. She was daughter of Thomas Howard, second duke of Norfolk, and thus sister of Sir Edward Howard, lord high admiral [q. v.] In 1512 Knyvet was captain of the Regent, the largest ship in the navy royal, one of the fleet with his brother-in-law off Brest. In ​the engagement of 10 Aug. the Regent was grappled by the Marie la Cordelière, the largest ship in the French fleet, commanded by the Sieur de Portzmoguer, whose house had been burnt a few months before. Owing to an outbreak of fire on board the Cordelière, both ships burnt and blew up, with the loss of almost all their men, estimated at about seven hundred on board the Regent and one thousand on board the Cordelière. It was said that Howard, who was warmly attached to his brother-in-law, swore that he would not see the king's face till he was revenged on the French for his death; and it was probably the desire to wreak this revenge that prompted the enterprise in which, in the following April, he lost his life. Knyvet left four sons and a daughter. Sir Edmund, his heir, succeeded him at Buckenham. Sir Henry, his third son, obtained the estate of Charlton, Wiltshire. The name has been spelt in many different ways. No signature of Sir Thomas's can be found, but the spelling here adopted is that followed by his representative, Sir Rowland Knyvet Wilson.
[Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, i. 1491, 3308; Jal, in Annales Maritimes et Coloniales (1844), lxxxvi. 993; Egerton MS. 1075, f. 26 b; Addit. MS. 5530, ff. 168–70; Metcalfe's Book of Knights; Chronicle of Calais (Camden Soc.), p. 9; Blomefield's Norfolk, i. 379.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lee, Frederick Richard

​LEE, FREDERICK RICHARD (1799–1879), painter and royal academician, was born at Barnstaple in Devonshire in 1799. He entered the army early in life, and obtained a commission in the 56th regiment. He served through a campaign in the Netherlands, but from weak health was obliged to leave the army. He had practised painting as an amateur, and now devoted himself to it as a profession. He became a student of the Royal Academy in 1818. He exhibited ​at the British Institution in 1822 and the following years. His pictures were favourably noticed, and on one occasion he obtained a premium of 50l. He exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy in 1824, and was from that time a prolific contributor to both exhibitions, and to others elsewhere. His favourite subject was the scenery of Devonshire, but he also painted Scottish and French landscape. Lee had a house at Pilton, near Barnstaple, but being from early life devoted to the sea, he lived a great deal on board his yacht, in which he visited the coasts of France, Spain, and Italy. Among interesting pictures of the sea-coast were 'The Coast of Cornwall at the Land's End' and 'The Bay of Biscay.' both exhibited in 1859, some views of Gibraltar, 'The Breakwater at Plymouth' (1861), and some views of Caprera, the home of Garibaldi, whom Lee visited in his yacht in 1864. His English landscapes were, however, his most popular works. In some of them the figures or cattle were introduced by his friend Mr. Thomas Sidney Cooper, R.A. For Mr. Wells of Redleaf, Kent, he painted some pictures of dead game, fish, and still life. There are four pictures by him in the National Gallery, two being from the Vernon collection, including 'The Cover Side.' in which the dogs, figures, and game were inserted by Sir Edwin Landseer. At the South Kensington Museum there are three pictures in oil and two in water-colour by Lee. Lee was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1834, and an academician in 1838. He exhibited for the last time in 1870, and became an honorary retired academician in the following year. Lee died at Vleesch Bank, Herman station, in the division of Malmsay, South Africa, where some of his family were living, on 5 June 1879, in his eighty-first year.
[Ottley's Dict. of Recent and Living Painters; Art Journal, 1879, p. 184; Pycroft's Art in Devonshire; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lee, Fitzroy Henry

​LEE, FITZROY HENRY (1699–1760), vice-admiral, eighth son of Edward Henry Lee, first earl of Lichfield of that creation, and of his wife, Lady Charlotte Fitzroy, natural daughter of Charles II and the Duchess of Cleveland, was born 2 Jan. 1698-1699 (Collins, Peerage, 1768, iii. 484). He entered the navy in 1717, and, after serving in the Launceston and Guernsey, passed his examination on 22 July 1720. In 1721 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and on 26 Oct. 1728 to be captain of the Looe. In 1731 he commanded the Pearl, the Falkland in 1734, and from 1786 to 1738 was governor of Newfoundland. From 1738 to ​1742 he commanded the Pembroke on the Mediterranean station, under Haddock and Mathews. In March 1746 he went out as commodore and commander-in-chief on the Leeward Islands station, with a broad pennant in the Suffolk. In this capacity he made himself very unpopular, not only among those under his command, but among the merchants and residents in the West Indies. Many complaints against him were sent home. He was accused of incivility, drunkenness, and neglect of duty, and on 4 Dec. 1746 Commodore Edward Legge [q. v.] was sent out to relieve him and try him by court-martial. Apparently the complaints could not be substantiated; for Lee was not tried, and on his arrival in England, in October 1747, his promotion to be rear-admiral, which had been suspended, was dated back to 15 July. On 12 May 1748 he was advanced to be vice-admiral of the white, but he had no further service, and died suddenly on 14 April 1750. 'Within a few hours of his death he had jocosely mentioned making his addresses to the relict of Sir Chaloner Ogle,' who died three days before him (Gent. Mag. xx. 188). He is described by Charnock as a 'free liver,' and was popularly spoken of as a man of debauched habits and foul tongue. It has been said, with some show of probability, that he was the original of Smollett's Commodore Trunnion. A portrait belongs to Viscount Billon.
[Charnock's Biog. Nav. iv. 195; commission warrant books in the Public Record Office; Correspondence of the Duke of Bedford, i. 270.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lee, Cromwell

​LEE, CROMWELL (d. 1601), compiler of an Italian dictionary, was younger son of Sir Anthony Lee or Lea of Burston and of Quarendon, Buckinghamshire, and brother of Sir Henry Lee [q. v.] He matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford, probably in 1572, but took no decree, and afterwards spent some years travelling in Italy. Later in life he settled in Oxford, and there compiled an Italian-English dictionary, which he completed as far as the word 'tralignato.' A manuscript copy is now in St. John's College Library. He died in 1601, in the parish of Holywell St. Cross. He married in 1575 Mary, daughter of Sir John Hareourt, and widow of Richard Taverner. Henry Lee of Craig Castle, co. Tipperary, who purchased in 1678 land at Barna in the same county, is said to have been his grandson. Henry Lee's descendants are still settled at Barna.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. i. 312; Lipscomb's Hist, of Buckinghamshire, ii. 402; Lysons's Magna Brit i. 500; St. Johns Coll. Reg.; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. i. 310, 379, 399.]
G. B. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mudge, William (1796-1837)

​MUDGE, WILLIAM (1796–1837), commander in the navy, born in 1796, third son of Major-general William Mudge [q. v.], was promoted to be lieutenant in the navy on 19 Feb. 1815. In August 1821 he was appointed first lieutenant of the Barracouta, with Captain Cutfield, employed on the survey of the east coast of Africa under Captain W. F. Owen [q. v.] He was afterwards moved into the Leven under the immediate command of Owen, and on 4 Oct. 1825 was promoted to the rank of commander. He was then appointed to conduct the survey of the coast of Ireland, on which he was employed till his death at Howth, on 20 July 1837. He was buried with military honours in the ground of the cathedral at Howth on 24 July.
In addition to 'Sailing Directions for Dublin Bay and for the North Coast of Ireland,' which were officially published, 1842, Mudge contributed several papers (mostly hydrographic) to the 'Nautical Magazine;' and to the Society of Antiquaries, in November 1833, an interesting account of a prehistoric village found in a Donegal bog (Archæologia, xxvi. 261). He married in 1827 Mary Marinda, only child of William Rae of Blackheath, by whom he had a large family. He has been confused with his father (e.g. in Brit. Mus. Cat.), whose work, it will be seen, was entirely geodetic.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mudie, Thomas Molleson

​MUDIE, THOMAS MOLLESON (1809–1876), composer, of Scottish descent, was born at Chelsea 30 Nov. 1809, and showed much musical capacity in the first examination of candidates for admission to the Royal Academy of Music in 1823. He took for leading studies at the academy composition, pianoforte, and clarinet, on which he obtained great proficiency. He was appointed a professor of the pianoforte in the academy in 1832, and held the post till 1844. In 1834 he became organist at Gatton, Surrey, the seat of Lord Monson, who, at his death in 1840, bequeathed him an annuity of 100l., but this Mudie relinquished in favour of his patron's widow. In 1844, on the death of his friend, Alfred Devaux, he went to Edinburgh to succeed him as a teacher of music. In 1863 he returned to London. He died there, unmarried, 24 July 1876, and was interred in Highgate cemetery.
As a composer Mudie's successes were mainly confined to his earlier years. While a student at the academy his song 'Lungi dal caro bene' was thought so meritorious that the committee paid the cost of its publication, an act which has been repeated only once since. Several vocal pieces, with orchestral accompaniment and symphonies in C and in B flat, were also composed while he was a student. The Society of British Musicians, founded in 1834, gave him much encouragement, and at their concerts were performed a symphony in F (1835), a symphony in D (1837), a quintet in E flat for pianoforte and strings (1843), a trio in D for pianoforte and strings (1843), and several songs and concerted vocal pieces on different occasions. While in Edinburgh he composed a number of pianoforte pieces and songs, and wrote accompaniments for a large proportion of the airs in Wood's 'Songs of Scotland.' His published music consists of forty-eight pianoforte solos, six pianoforte duets, nineteen fantasias, twenty-four sacred songs, three sacred duets, three chamber anthems for three voices, forty-two separate songs, and two duets. The existing scores of his symphonies and all his printed works are deposited in the library of the Royal Academy of Music. The drudgery of music-teaching seems to have diminished his powers of artistic conception, but some of his compositions, notably the pianoforte pieces and the symphony in B flat, are excellent.
[Grove's Dict. of Music, ii. 406; Brown's Biog. Dict. of Musicians; Musical Times, August 1876, p. 563.]
J. C. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macleod, Roderick

​MACLEOD, RODERICK, M.D. (d. 1852), physician, a native of Scotland, was educated at Edinburgh, where he graduated M.D. on 1 Aug. 1816, his thesis being 'De Tetano.' After a brief career in the army, from which he retired on half-pay, he settled in London. By 1822 he was physician to the Westminster General Dispensary, to the Infirmary for Children, and to the Scottish Hospital in London. He was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians on 22 Dec. 1821, and a fellow on 9 July 1836. In 1837 he read the Gulstonian lectures, and became consiliarius in 1839. On 13 Feb. 1833 he was elected physician to St. George's Hospital, and resigned that office in consequence of ill-health in 1845. Macleod, who was a member of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of London and of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, died at Chanonry, Old Aberdeen, on 7 Dec. 1852.
Macleod became in July 1822 editor and proprietor of the London 'Medical and Physical Journal,' which had been previously issued under the title of the 'Medical and Physical Journal,' Though the times were stormy for advocates of medical reform, Macleod conducted the paper with tact and ability. He was assisted in the editorship by John Bacot, M.D. In 1842 he published, with large additions, his Gulstonian lectures 'On Rheumatism in its various forms, and on the Affections of Internal Organs, more especially the Heart and Brain, to which it gives rise,' 8vo, London.
[Medical Times, 18 Dec. 1852, p. 625; Munk's Coll. of Phys. 1878.]
G. G.