OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cholmley, Hugh (1574?-1641)

​CHOLMLEY, HUGH (1574?–1641), controversialist, born about 1674, was brought up almost from infancy with Bishop Joseph Hall, their fathers being in the service of Henry, earl of Huntingdon, then president of the north. With Hall he studied at the grammar school of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, and with him went up in 1589 to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where, as Hall records in his autobiography, they were 'for many years partners of one bed.' Cholmley took his M.A. degree in 1696, and afterwards proceeded B.D.; but all traces of his college career are lost, his name appearing in the index only of the registers. In 1601 the mastership of Blundell's School, Tiverton, fell vacant, and Hall, who had at first accepted, but immediately afterwards declined, the appointment in order to become rector of Hawstead, Suffolk, recommended his 'old friend and chamber-fellow,' Cholmley was accordingly instituted, but he does not appear to have ever taken charge of the school (Harding, Hist. of Tiverton, vol. ii. bk. iii. p. 110). On 17 Feb. 1604 he became rector of the portion of Clare in Tiverton, and upon Hall's advancement to the see of Exeter in 1627 was appointed bishop's chaplain, prebendary of Exeter on 14 Aug. 1628, canon on 16 Jan. 1632, and subdean on 29 March in the same year. As some return for these favours he essayed to defend Hall against the innuendoes of Henry Burton [q. v.] in a pamphlet entitled 'The State of the Now-Komane Church. Discussed by way of vindication of the . . . Bishop of Exceter, from the weake cauills of Henry Burton. By H. C.,' 8vo, London, 1629. It is a feeble performance, and Burton easily met Cholmley's challenge and that of a younger champion, Robert Butterfield [q. v.], in his 'Babel no Bethel,' published the same year. Hall, in thanking Cholmley for what he charitably terms 'your learned and full reply/ hints ms disapproval at its publication (Works, 1837-9, ix. 424). Cholmley died on 16 Sept. 1641, and was buried two days later in Exeter Cathedral. By his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of John Eedes of Exeter, he had a family of four sons and three daughters (Harding, Hist. of Tiverton, vol. ii. bk. iv. p. 43; Will reg, in P.C.C. 126; Evelyn).
[Hall's Works (1837-9), i. xv, xviii, vi. 164; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy), i. 391, 423; Rymer's Fœdera (fol.), xiz. 441; Oliver's lives of the Bishops of Exeter, p. 296.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Choke, Richard

​CHOKE, Sir RICHARD (d. 1483?), judge, son of John Choke of Stanton Drew in Somersetshire, a pears as a pleader in the ‘Yearbook’ for 1440–1, again in that for 1453–4, and thenceforth with frequency during the reign of Henry VI. He was called to the degree of serjeant in July 1453. The following year he bought the manor of Long Ashton in Somersetshire, a property worth, as Leland informs us, 600 marcs per annum, and here, according to the same authority, he ‘kept his chief house,’ having ‘great furniture of silver.’ In 1455 he was one of the commissioners then appointed to raise money for the defence of Calais. Shortly after the accession of Edward IV he was created a justice of the common pleas, his patent being ​dated in September 1461. His tenure of office was unbroken by the vicissitudes of the disturbed period which followed, his patent being renewed by Henry VI on his return to power in 1470, by Edward IV in the following June on the accession of Edward V in April, and on the accession of Richard III in June 1483. 'He appears to have been present at the coronation of Richard III; at any rate he received seven yards of red cloth from the royal wardrober. Probably he died soon afterwards, as there is no record of any fine levied before him, after March 1482-3. He is first described by Dugdale as knight under date 1470. At his death he held the manors of Stanton Drew, Long Ashton, and Tempilcloude in Somersetshire, and that of Randolveston in Dorsetshire. He married twice. By his first wife, Joan, daughter of William Pavey of Bristol, he had three sons and two daughters. His second wife, Margaret Morris, survived him by a year. In a pedigree given by Ashmole (Antiquities of Berkshire, iii. 318), the descent of Sir John Cheke, tutor of Edward VI, is traced to the judge who is miscalled Sir Richard Cheek. The mistake, which seems to have arisen from a confusion between the manor of Ashton in Essex, which was held for a time by Sir John Cheke, and the manor of Long Ashton in Somersetshire, held by Sir Richard Choke, is repeated by Strype in his life of Cheke. Among the most ancient of the baronies by tenure mentioned in Nicolas's 'Historic Peerage' is that of Cioches or Chokes, the estates of which lay in the several counties of Northampton, liertford, Gloucester, and Bedford. The barony became extinct early in the thirteenth century; but it is probable that the judge was descended from a junior branch of the family settled in Gloucestershire, or one of the neighbouring counties.
[Collinson's Somersetshire, ii. 291-2, 434; Yearbooks, 19 Hen. VI, Mich. f. 48, 32 Hen. VI, Trin. f. 4, Mich. ff. 4, 7. 10-12, 18, 21, 33 et seq.; Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, vi. 234, 241; Dugdale's Chron. Ser. 66, 70, 72; Dugdale's Orig. 46; Grants from the Crown, Ed. V (Camden Soc.), xxx.; Leland's Itin. (Hearne), vii. pt. ii. f. 66 a; Col. Inq. P. M. iv. 417; The Antiquarian Repertory, i. 62; Strype's Cheke (Oxford edit.), p. 129; Baker's Northamptonshire, ii. 272-73; Foss's Judges of England.]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chiswell, Richard (1673-1751)

1904 Errata appended.
​CHISWELL, RICHARD, the younger (1673–1751), traveller, was son of Richard Chiswell the elder [q. v.], by his second wife, ​ Mary, daughter of Richard Royston, bookseller to Charles I and Charles II. He was a Turkey merchant, travelled much in the East, was a director of the Bank of England, and in 1714 M.P. for Caine, Wiltshire. He purchased Debden Hall, with the manor of Deynes, Essex, in 1715 (Wright, Essex, ii. 140, 143). He died on 14 May 1751, aged 78, and was buried at Debden (Morant, Essex, ii. 562). He married Mary, daughter and heiress of Trench, merchant of London; she died in 1726, having had ten children.
He wrote, but apparently did not publish: 1. Remarks on a voyage or journey to the river Euphrates, &c., in April and May 1698. 2. Journal of travels through Germany and Italy to Scanderoon in company with Henry Maundrell and others, March-July 1696. 3. Journal of a voyage from Aleppo to Jerusalem in company with Henry Maundrell in 1697. All these are in Addit. HS. 10623.
[Authorities cited ahove.]
T. C.
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chiswell, Trench

1904 Errata appended.
​CHISWELL, TRENCH, orginally Richard Muilman (1735?–1797), a London merchant interest in antiquarian studies, was the only son of Peter Muilman, an eminent Dutch merchant, of Kirby Hall, Essex, by Mary Trench (Chiswe1l), daughter of Richard Chiswell the younger [q. v.] of Debden (or Depden) Hall, near Newport and Saffron Walden, Essex. The marriage of his parents took place in 1734 (see T. Pingo's medal—1774—of P. Muilman and his in the British Museum), and he may have been born about 1735. On the death of his mother`s brother (Richard Chiswell), on 3 July 1772, he beoame into possession of Debden Hall and of a fortunate about 120,000l. He at that time assumed the name of Trench Chiswell. He rebuilt the mansion at Debden, and laid out a large sum in improving his estate. He was M.P. for Aldborough, Yorkshire, a justice of the peace and deputy-lieutenant of the county of Essex. In 1791 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He made some literary collections relating to the history of Essex, and is said to have possessed some ‘fine Caxtons,’ which were accidentally burned during his lifetime. It is stated by Nichols (Lit. Anecd. iii. 611)—who may, however, be confounding Richard Muilman (Trench Chiswell) with his father, P. Muilman—that Chiswell assisted in publishing ‘A New and Complete History of Essex,’ &c., ‘by a Gentleman,’ Chelmsford, 1770, &c. 6 vols. 8vo. It was mainly based on Morant's 'History of Essex,' and was published under the patronage and direction of Peter Muilman (Gough, Brit. Topog. i. 347; Upcott, Eng. Topog. i. 229 f.), who obtained views and other illustrations for it. The literary part of the book was in the hands of a writer who signs himself ‘the editor,’ perhaps Chiswell himself. Owing to a series of unsuccessful speculations in connection with West India estates, Chiswell’s mind became deranged, and he shot himself at his home at Debden on 3 Feb. 1797. He married a daughter of James Jurin M.D. by whom he had one child, a daughter, Mary, the wife of Sir Francis Vincent, bart.
[Manuscript autobiographical notes by P. Muilman in the British Huseum (King’s Library) copy of the New and Complete Hist. of Essex; Gent. Mag. lxvii. pt. i. (1797), 173, 249-50; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. lii. 610, 811, ix. 652, 799; Nichols's Lit. Illust. iv. 718; Wright's History of Essex, ii, 140.]
W. W.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.65 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chitty, Thomas

1904 Errata appended.
​CHITTY, THOMAS (1802–1878), special pleader and legal writer, was the second son of Joseph Chitty [q. v.], and brother of Joseph Chitty, jun. (‘Chitty on Contracts’). He began to practise at the very early age of nineteen, being admitted a special pleader in 1820, and continued to attend his chambers at 1 King's Bench Walk for fifty-seven years. He never was called to the bar. Like his father he trained an immense number of eminent lawyers: Lords Cairns and O’Hagan, Chief-Justice Whiteside, Mr. Justice Willes, Mr. Justice Quain, Sir James Hannen, Sir Emerson Tennent, Mr. Forster (author of ‘Life of Dickens’), Mr. Henry Matthews, Lord Herschell, Mr. Justice Mathew, and Mr. Justice A. L. Smith. Though he was in practice thirty-two years before the Common Law Procedure Act, he was no adherent of the old system of technical pleading, but advocated and adapted himself to both the Common Law Procedure Act and the Judicature Act. He was an excellent whist-player and musician, performed on the violoncello, and was a pupil of Linley. He was also an energetic volunteer. He retired from practice at the end of 1877, and died at his house in Lancaster Gate 13 Feb. 1878. Chitty edited Archbold’s ‘Practice’ (2nd edit. 18315; 14th edit., by T. Willes Chitty, 1885), and Burn’s ‘Justice of the Peace’ (1845), and wrote ‘Forms of Practical Proceedings’ (1834), quoted as ‘Chitty’s Forms,’ of which his grandson, T. Willes Chitty (son of Thomas Edward Chitty), edited the twelfth edition in 1883. His second son, Joseph William, was raised to the bench in 1881.
[Ann. Reg. cxx. 136; Solicitors’ Journal, 23 Feb. 1878; Law Journal, 23 Feb. and 2 March 1878.]
J. A. H.
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chitty, Edward

​CHITTY, EDWARD (1804–1863), legal reporter, third son of Joseph Chitty the elder [q. v.] was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1829, and practiced as an eqnity draughtsman. He published a series of reports of cases in bankruptcy with Mr. Deacon, beginning in 1833, and with Basil Montagu in 1839. In 1840 he went to Jamaica, whence he returned after many years’ absence, and died at Walham Green on 28 Sept. 1883. Besides his share in ‘Deacon & Chitty’ he is the author of Chitty's ‘Equity Index’ (1831), which reached a third edition in 1858, and a fourth in 1888; of an ‘Index to Common Law Reports’ (with Francis Forster) in 18-11; and of the ‘Commercial and General Lawyer’ (2nd edit. 1839). He also published the ‘Fly-Fisher's Text Book’ (1841) under the pseudonym of ‘Theophilus South.'
[Law List, 1840, 1863; Law Mag. September 1863; Gent. Mag. 1863, pt. ii. 683, 365.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chitty, Joseph

​CHIITTY, JOSEPH, the elder (1776–1841), legal writer, practised as a special pleader under the bar for some years before his call to the bar, which took place at the Middle Temple on 28 June 1816. He never took silk, but enjoyed an enormous practice, trained in succession in his pupil ​room at 1 Pump Court a great number of the most eminent lawyers, and poured forth a series of standard practitioners’ books. His learning and his memory were alike extraordinary, and although inclining to excessive technicality he did more than perhaps any man of his time to facilitate the study of the law. An illness in 1833 withdrew him from practice, but his labours as an author continued almost to the time of his death, which took place at his house in Southampton Street, Fitzroy Square, on 17 Feb. 1841. His sons, Joseph [see below], Thomas [q.v.], Edward [q.v.], and Tompson (d. 4 Feb. 863, aged 47), all continued to practise and write upon law.
Chitty’s works were: 1. ‘A Treatise on Bills of Exchange,’ 1799; third edit. 1809; fourth, 1812; fifth 1818; sixth, 1822; ninth, assisted b J. W. Hulme, 1840. 2. ‘Precedents of (general Issues ’ and a ‘Synopsis of Practice,’ each on a single sheet, 1805. 3. ‘Precedents of Pleading,’ first ed. 1808. 4. ‘Prospectus of Lectures on Commercial Law,’ 1810 ; second edit. 1836. 5. ‘Treatise on the Law of Apprentices,’ 1811. 6. ‘Treatise on the Game Laws,’ 1811; second edit. 1826. 7. ‘A Treatise on the Law of Nations,’ 1812. 8. Beawes’s ‘Lex Mercatoria,’ sixth edit. 1812. 9. ‘A Treatise on Criminal Law,’ 1816; second edit. 1826. 10. ‘A Synopsis of the Practice in the King's Bench and Common Pleas,’ 1816. 11. ‘A Treatise on Commercial Law,’ 1818; second edit. 1826. 12. ‘Reports of Cases on Practice and Pleading, with Notes,’ vol. i. 1820; vol. ii., with ‘ Reports of Cases in Lord Mansfield’s Time from the MSS. of Mr. Justice Ashurst,’ 1823. 13. ‘On Commercial Contracts,’ 1823. 14. ‘A Treatise on the Law of Stamp Duties,’ assisted by Mr. Hulme, 1829. 15. ‘A Collection of the Statutes of Practical Utility, with Notes,’ 1829-37 (continued to 1880 by Mr. J. M. Lely, and commonly quoted as ‘Chitty’s Statutes ’) 16. ‘The Practice in the Courts of King? Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer,’ 181-2 ; 3rd edit. 1837-42, commonly quoted as ‘ Chitty’s Practice.’ 17. An edition of ‘Blackstone’s Commentaries,’ 1832. 18. ‘The Practice of the Law in all Departments,’ 1833-8. 19. ‘A Treatise on Medical Jurisprudence,’ 1834. 20. ‘The Practice on Amendments of Variances,' 1835. 21. ‘On the Office of a Constable,’ 1837.
Joseph Chitty the younger, special pleader, of the Middle Temple, wrote on (1) the Prerogatives of the Crown, 1820; (2) Bills of Exchange, 1834; (3) Contracts, 1841 (11th edit. 11 by Mr. J. A. Russell), quoted as ‘Chitty on Contracts;’ (4) Precedents in Pleading, 1886-8. He died 10 April 1838 (Gent. Mag. 1838, i. 554.)
[Ann. Reg. lxxxiii. 187; Gent. Mag., February 1841, p. 96, November 1841, p. 537; Law Mag. viii. 64, x. 139.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Batmanson, John

​BATMANSON, JOHN (d. 1531), prior of the Charterhouse in London, studied theology at Oxford, but there is no evidence of his having taken a degree in that faculty, ‘though supplicate he did to oppose in divinity.’ Whether the John Batemanson, LL.D., who was sent to Scotland in 1509 to receive James IV's oath to a treaty with England, and who acted on several commissions to examine cases of piracy in the north of England from that date till 1516, is the same man, is doubtful, but probable, as the name is by no means a common one. In 1520 he was already a Carthusian, and was employed by Edward Lee (afterwards archbishop of York) in connection with his critical attack upon Erasmus. Erasmus (from whose letters we learn this fact) gives a spiteful sketch of his character—‘unlearned, to judge from his writings, and boastful to madness.’ In 1523, according to Tanner, on the authority of a manuscript belonging to Bishop Moore, he was prior of the Charterhouse of Hinton in Somerset; but his name has escaped the researches of Dugdale and his later editors, both in connection with Hinton and London. On the death of William Tynbigh, prior of the London Charterhouse, in 1529, Batmanson was elected to succeed him. He died on 16 Nov. 1531, and was buried in the convent chapel. This is the date given by ​Theodore Petre, the biographer of the Carthusians. If the statement of Maurice Chauncy, a contemporary of Batmanson's, that his successor Houghton, who was executed for refusing the oath of supremacy, died on 4 May 1535, ‘in the fifth year of his priorate,’ be correct, Batmanson must have resigned the office some months before his death. The character given of him varies with the opinions of the writer. Pits and Petre speak of his great learning and angelic life, while Bale calls him supercilious and arrogant, and fond of quarrelling, though he allows that he was a clear writer. The only incident of his rule that has come down to us shows him in a favourable light. One of his monks was so affected by the solitary life that he was on the point of committing suicide when the prior discharged him from the order.
The following is a list of his works: 1. ‘In Cantica Canticorum,’ lib. i. 2. ‘In Salamonis Proverbia,’ lib. i. 3. ‘In Evangelium illud “Missus est,”’ lib. i. 4. ‘De Christo duodenni, Homilia una (Cum factus esset Jesus annorum duodecim).’ 5. ‘Institutiones Novitiorum,’ lib. i. 6. ‘De Contemptu Mundi,’ lib. i. 7. ‘De unica Magdalena, contra Fabrum Stabulensem,’ lib. i. 8. ‘Contra annotationes Erasmi Rotterdami,’ lib. i. 9. ‘Contra quædam Scripta Martini Lutheri,’ lib. i. 10. ‘Retractatio quorundam Scriptorum suorum,’ lib. i. None of these appear to exist in print, or in any of the more important collections of manuscripts in England.
C. T. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Batt, Anthony

​BATT, ANTHONY (d. 1651), was a Benedictine monk, who resided for some years in the English monastery of his order at Dieulwart, in Lorraine. Weldon (Chronological Notes) says his death occurred 12 Jan. 1651, and adds that ‘he was a great promoter and practiser of regular discipline, a famous translator of many pious books into English. He wrote a most curious hand, and spent much of his time at La Celle, where there is a Catechism of a large size, which he composed at the instance of some of the fathers in the mission.’ His published works are: 1. ‘A Heavenly Treasure of Confortable Meditations and Prayers written by S. Augustin, Bishop of Hyppon. In three severall Treatises of his Meditations, Soliloquies, and Manual,’ translation, St. Omer, 1624, 12mo. 2. ‘A Hive of Sacred Honie-Combes, containing most sweet and heavenly counsel, taken out of the workes of the mellifluous doctor S. Bernard, abbot of Clareual,’ Douay, 1631, 8vo. 3. ‘A Rule of Good Life,’ translated from St. Bernard, Douay, 1633, 16mo. 4. ‘Thesaurus absconditus in Agro Dominico inventus, in duas partes; 1° Precationes, 2° Meditationes,’ Paris, 1641, 12mo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Batt, William

​BATT, WILLIAM, M.D. (1744–1812), was born at Collingbourne, in Wiltshire, on 18 June 1744, and was for some time a student at Oxford University. He then attended courses of medical instruction in the London schools, after which he went to Montpellier, where he took his doctor's degree in 1770. His name also appears, under date 5 Oct. 1771, among the students who studied at Leyden. On completing his studies he returned to England, but on account of his health he subsequently removed to Genoa, where he obtained an extensive medical practice, and in 1774 was appointed professor of chemistry in the university. Previous to this the study of chemistry in the university of Genoa had been much neglected, but soon after his appointment the lectures were thronged with pupils. He also made a special study of botany, and gathered an extensive collection of rare plants. His wide and varied acquirements and his public spirit won him the general esteem of his fellow-citizens, which was greatly increased by his self-sacrificing attentions to the sick during the severe epidemic of 1800. He resigned his professorship in 1787 on account of a prolonged visit to England. He died at Genoa on 9 Feb. 1812. He was the author of a considerable number of treatises on medical subjects, the principal of which are: ‘Pharmacopea,’ 1787; ‘Storia della epidemia che fece strage in Genova all' epoca del blocco,’ 1800; ‘Reflessioni sulla febbre degli spedali,’ 1800; ‘Considerazioni sull' innesto della vaccina,’ 1801; ‘Alcuni dettagli sulla febbre gialla,’ 1804; ‘Memoria sulla Scarlattina perniciosa,’ 1807; and ‘Storia di una epidemia che regnò in Genova nel 1808,’ 1809. A large number of his papers are in the ‘Transactions of the Medical Society of Genoa.’
[Celesia's Continuation of Isnardi's Storia della Università di Genova, 2nd part (1867), pp. 19–22; Peacock's Index to English-speaking students who have graduated at Leyden, p. 7; Brit. Mus. Catalogue.]