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

​THOMLINSON, ROBERT (1668–1748), benefactor of Newcastle-on-Tyne, the youngest son of Richard Thomlinson of Akehead, near Wigton, Cumberland, of an old Durham family, was born at Wigton in 1668, matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, on 22 March 1685–6, aged 17, and graduated from St. Edmund Hall, B.A. in 1689, and M.A. in 1692 (he was incorporated at Cambridge in 1719, and graduated D.D. from King's College in that year). In 1692 he held for a time the post of vice-principal of St. Edmund Hall, and in 1695 he was appointed lecturer of St. Nicholas (now the cathedral), Newcastle-on-Tyne. After some lesser preferments, which he probably owed to a family connection with Dr. John Robinson [q. v.], afterwards bishop of London, he was in 1712 inducted to the rectory of Whickham, Durham, upon the nomination of Lord Crewe, bishop of Durham. In 1715 he became master of St. Mary's Hospital, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and four years later Robinson appointed him to a vacant prebend at St. Paul's. Between 1720 and 1725, as executor of his brother John, rector of Rothbury, Thomlinson erected at Wigton a hospital (the ‘College of Matrons’) for the widows of poor clergymen, he himself contributing part of the expense, as well as a schoolmaster's house for the parish. In 1734 he contributed liberally to the rebuilding of St. Edmund Hall, and shortly afterwards he made over some sixteen hundred books to form the nucleus of a public library for Newcastle-on-Tyne. A building was provided to receive the books, and the library was opened to the public in October 1741. The librarian's salary having been provided for by an endowment from Sir Walter Blackett, Thomlinson purchased a perpetual rent-charge of 5l. to be expended annually on the purchase of books. Of these some eight thousand were included in 4,870 volumes, when they were made over to the public library committee of the Newcastle corporation in 1884. Thomlinson's other benefactions included a chapel-of-ease at Allenby in Cumberland, the charity school at Whickham, and considerable bequests to Queen's College, Oxford, to the Society for Propagating the Gospel (of which he was one of the earliest members), and to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He died at Whickham on 24 March 1747–8, and was buried in the north aisle of Whickham church. He married, in 1702, at East Ardsley, near Leeds, Martha Ray, who survived him. They appear to have had no issue.
[Notes kindly given by W. Shand, esq. and the same writer's elaborate Memoir of Dr. Thomlinson, to which is prefixed a pen and-ink portrait, ap. Archæologia Æliana, new ser. x. 59–79, xv. 340–63; Foster's Alumni Oxon. early ser.; Surtees's Durham, ii. 240; Yorkshire Diaries (Surtees Soc.), ii. 43 sq.; Gent. Mag. 1748, p. 187.]
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomson, John (1805-1841)

​THOMSON, JOHN (1805–1841), musical writer, eldest son of Andrew Mitchell Thomson [q. v.], successively minister of Sprouston, Perthshire, and St. George's, Edinburgh, by his wife, Jane Carmichael (d. 1840), was born at Sprouston on 28 Oct. 1805. He made the acquaintance of Mendelssohn on the composer's visit to Edinburgh in 1829, and renewed his acquaintance at Leipzig, where he also met Schumann and Moscheles, and studied under Schnyder von Wartensee. He returned to Edinburgh, and in 1839 he was elected first Reid professor of the theory of music in the university there. He gave the first Reid concert on 12 Feb. 1841, and the book of words contains a critical analysis by Thomson of the pieces produced—probably the first instance of analytical programmes.
Thomson died at Edinburgh on 6 May 1841, having occupied the chair for only eighteen months. Six months before his death he married a daughter of John Lee (1779–1859) [q. v.], principal of Edinburgh University.
He was the composer of three operas:
* ‘Hermann, or the Broken Spear,’ 1834;
* ‘The House of Aspen;’ and
* ‘The Shadow on the Wall;’ the two latter, produced at the Royal English Opera (Lyceum) on 27 Oct. 1834 and 21 April 1835 respectively, each enjoying a long run.
He also published ‘The Vocal Melodies of Scotland, with Symphonies and Accompaniments by John Thomson and Finlay Dunn,’ Edinburgh, n.d. 4to; new edit. 1880. He wrote many compositions for the piano and violin, and among a large number of songs the best known are ‘The Arab to his Steed,’ ‘Harold Harfäger,’ and ‘The Pirate's Serenade.’
[Grove's Dict. of Music; Brown's Biographical Dict. of Musicians; Baptie's Musical Biography; Baptie's Musical Scotland; Grant's Story of the University of Edinburgh; Scot's Fasti Eccl. Scot. I. i. 74.]
G. S-h.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomson, James (1800-1883)

​THOMSON, JAMES (1800–1883), architect, son of D. Thomson of Melrose, was born on 22 April 1800. From 1814 to 1821 he was a pupil of John (Buonarotti) Papworth [q. v.]; between 1827 and 1854 he designed Cumberland Terrace and Cumberland Place, Regent's Park; in 1838 the Royal Polytechnic Institute, Regent Street, and in 1848 the theatre adjoining it. He also designed the new buildings at Clement's Inn, and the Polygraphic Hall, King William Street, Strand. In 1845 he restored Alderton church, and in 1848 Leigh Delamere church, both in Wiltshire, and built the public hall and market-place at Chippenham. He made alterations in the Derbyshire bank, Derby, in 1850; planned the laying out of Mr. Roy's estate at Notting Hill; built (1851–4) Grittleton House, Wiltshire, the residence of Joseph Neeld; and in 1863 designed the Russian chapel, Welbeck Street, for the Russian embassy. In 1870 he designed the grand staircase and other additions to Charing Cross Hospital. He died on 16 May 1883, and was buried at Finchley.
Thomson read the following papers before the Royal Institute of British Architects, of which he was a fellow:
* ‘Composition in Architecture, Sir J. Vanbrugh,’ 15 June 1840.
* ‘National Advantages of Fresco Painting,’ 6 March 1843.
* ‘Hagioscope at Alderton Church,’ 28 April 1845.
* ‘Leigh Delamere Church,’ 15 May 1848.
He published ‘Retreats: Designs for Cottages, Villas, &c,’ 1827, 1833, 1840, and ‘School Houses,’ 1842.
[Builder, 1883, xliv. 705; Dict. of Architecture.]
C. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomson, James (1788-1850)

​THOMSON, JAMES (1788–1850), engraver, was baptised on 5 May 1788 at Mitford, Northumberland, where his father, James Thomson, afterwards vicar of Ormesby, Yorkshire, was then acting as curate. Showing a taste for art, he was sent to London to be articled to an engraver named Mackenzie, and on the voyage from Shields was nine weeks at sea. After completing his apprenticeship with Mackenzie, he worked for two years under Anthony Cardon [q. v.], and then established himself independently. He became an accomplished engraver in the dot and stipple style, devoting himself almost exclusively to portraits, and was largely engaged upon important illustrated works, including Lodge's ‘Portraits of Illustrious Personages,’ Fisher's ‘National Portrait Gallery,’ Walpole's ‘Anecdotes of Painting,’ Heath's ‘Book of Beauty,’ Mrs. Mee's ‘Gallery of Beauties,’ the ‘Keepsake,’ the ‘Court Magazine,’ and ‘Ancient Marbles in the British Museum.’ Thomson's principal single plates are the portraits of Mrs. Storey, after Lawrence, 1826; Lady Burghersh and her sisters, after Lawrence, 1827; John Wesley, after Jackson, 1828; Charles James Blomfield, bishop of London, after Richmond, 1847; the queen riding with Lord Melbourne, after Sir Francis Grant; Prince Albert, after Sir William Charles Ross; and Louis-Philippe and his queen, a pair, after E. Dubufe, 1850. He died at his house in Albany Street, London, on 27 Sept. 1850. By his wife, whose maiden name was Lloyd, he had two daughters, one of whom, Ann, married Frederick Goodall, R.A.
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Jacob

1904 Errata appended.
​OWEN, JACOB (1778–1870), architect, was born on 28 July 1778 in North Wales. After being educated at Monmouth, he was apprenticed to William Underhill, an engineer, who was occupied on canal works in Staffordshire. In 1804 he was appointed clerk of the works to the royal engineer department at Portsmouth, and in 1832 was transferred to the Irish board of works in Dublin as principal engineer and architect, which appointment he held until 1856. His executed works were almost exclusively those connected with his public appointment. In 1848 he erected the criminal lunatic asylum at Dundrum, near Dublin (see 16th Report of the Board of Public Work, Ireland, 1848, p. 16), and in 1850 Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. He made many additions to the Four Courts and Queen's Inns in Dublin, and erected model schools and other government buildings in Ireland.
He died at Great Bridge, Tipton, Staffordshire, on 26 Oct. 1870, and was buried in Mount Jerome cemetery, Dublin.
He married the daughter of his master, ​William Underhill, and by her had seventeen children. Of his sons, Jeremiah Owen became metallurgist to the admiralty and store receiver at Woolwich dockyard; Thomas Ellis Owen (d. 1862), architect at Portsmouth, was surveyor for the South Hampshire district, and was instrumental in the development of Southsea as a watering-place (he designed in 1842–3 the French Protestant Church at St. Martin's-le-Grand, which was taken down in 1888 for the extension of the general post office, and in 1851 the church of St. Jude's, Southsea); Joseph Butterworth Owen (1809–1872) held successively the livings of Walsall Wood (1835–7), St. Mary Belston, Staffordshire (1835–54), St. John's Chapel, Bedford Row (1854–7), and St. Jude's, Chelsea (1858–72); and James Higgins Owen (Dublin, B.A. 1844, M.A. 1852) succeeded his father as architect to the Irish board of works, and died on 9 April 1891. Owen's fourth daughter, Elizabeth Helen, married Sir Charles Lanyon [q. v.] of Belfast, and was the mother of Colonel Sir William Owen Lanyon [q. v.]
[Dict. of Architecture; Wheatley and Cunningham's London Past and Present, ii. 78; information from C. A. Owen, esq. of Dublin, and F. A. Owen, esq. of London and Walsall.]
B. P.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.211 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, John (1821-1883)

​OWEN, JOHN (1821–1883), Welsh musician, known in Wales by his pseudonym of ‘Owain Alaw,’ was born in Crane Street, Chester, on 14 Nov. 1821. His father was the captain of a small vessel; both parents were natives of Llanfachreth, Merionethshire, but had settled in Chester shortly before his birth. Owen began life as apprentice to a firm of cutlers, Messrs. Powell & Edwards; but in 1844, having shown a conspicuous aptitude for music, he gave up business and became a professional musician. He was organist in succession of Lady Huntingdon's chapel, St. Paul's, Boughton, St. Bridget's, St. Mary's, and the Welsh church (all in Chester), and at the same time gave tuition in music. It was, however, in connection with the Eisteddfod that he attracted the notice of his fellow-countrymen. His success in winning the prize for the best anthem at the Royal Eisteddfod of Rhuddlan (1850) was the first of a series of victories which gave ‘Owain Alaw’ a recognised place among Welsh musicians. He devoted himself energetically to composition, and during the next few years wrote a large number of glees, songs, and anthems, published in various Welsh musical magazines of the time. His only attempts at more ambitious work were the ‘Prince of Wales Cantata’ (1862) and the ‘Festival of Wales’ Cantata (1866). In 1860 appeared under his editorship the first number of ‘Gems of Welsh Melody,’ a collection of Welsh airs, published in four numbers at Ruthin (2nd edit. Wrexham, 1873). His fluent and melodious style of composition made him one of the most popular of Welsh musicians, and he was also much in request as conductor and adjudicator. He died at Chester on 29 Jan. 1883.
[Article by D. Emlyn Evans in Geninen, i. 124–30.]
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Willughby, Percivall

​WILLUGHBY, PERCIVALL (1596–1685), writer on obstetrics, was sixth son of Sir Percivall Willughby, knt., of Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire, where he was born in 1596. Francis Willughby [q. v.] was his nephew. Percivall was educated at Trowbridge, Rugby, Eton, and Oxford, where he matriculated from Magdalen College on 23 March 1620–1, his age being given as twenty-two, and graduated B.A. on 6 July 1621.
In 1619 he was, at the suggestion of his uncle Robert Willughby, himself a medical man, articled for seven years to Feamer van Otten, after which he was to have joined his uncle; but Van Otten dying in 1624, Willughby soon after commenced practice for himself, and in 1631 he settled in Derby, where he married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Francis Coke of Trusley, by whom he had two or three sons and two daughters.
On 20 Feb. 1640–1 he was admitted an extra licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. In 1655 he removed to London ‘for the better education of his children,’ but in 1660 he returned to Derby, where he resumed his practice as a physician, enjoying a high reputation throughout the neighbouring counties for his skill in obstetric operations. He deprecated the use of the crotchet, and, Chamberlen's secret of the forceps not having been as yet divulged, he endeavoured to overcome all difficulties by turning. At one period he was to some extent assisted by a daughter, whom he had trained as a midwife to ladies of the higher classes. He was a man of high culture, powerful intellect, and great modesty, scorning the secrecy which some of his contemporaries maintained as to their procedures; and though he committed to writing the conclusions at which he arrived after long years of study and observation, revising and transcribing the manuscripts in English and in Latin, he seems to have hesitated to the last at their publication, as if sensible of the want of some really scientific instrument (the forceps) for the perfection of his art. The earliest copy of his work is a closely written quarto, entitled ‘Dni Willougbaei, Derbiensis, De Puerperio Tractatus,’ in the British Museum Sloane MS. 529. The second, an amplification of this, and referred to by Dr. Denman in his ‘Practice of Midwifery,’ was then in the possession of his friend Dr. Kirkland; while the third and greatly enlarged edition consisted of two exquisitely written copies in Latin and in English, which were quite recently the property of the late Dr. J. H. Aveling, the English version being in two parts, with the titles ‘Observations in Midwifery’ and ‘The Countrey Midwife's Opusculum or Vade-mecum, by Percivall Willughby, Gentleman.’ It was privately printed in 1863 by Henry Blenkinsopp, but a Dutch translation had been printed as an octavo at Leyden in 1764, though no copy is now to be had in Holland. He was the intimate friend of Harvey and of most of the scientific men of the century, and died on 2 Oct. 1685, in the ninetieth year of his age, being buried in St. Peter's Church at Derby, where within the rails of the chancel is a tablet to his memory.
E. F. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Willymat, William

​WILLYMAT, WILLIAM (d. 1615), author, was probably a native of Cheshire. In 1585 he was presented to the rectory of Ruskington in Lincolnshire by Thomas Howard (afterwards Earl of Suffolk) [q. v.] In 1603, with the king's consent, he published a volume of extracts from James I's ‘Basilikon Doron,’ which he rendered into Latin and English verse and entitled ‘A Prince's Looking-Glasse, or a Prince's Direction, very requisite and necessarie for a Christian Prince. … Printed by Iohn Legat, Cambridge,’ 4to. The work was dedicated to Henry, prince of Wales, for whose benefit the ‘Basilikon Doron’ had been written. Encouraged by the favourable reception of his compilation, he published a companion volume in 1604 entitled ‘A Loyal Svbiect's Looking-Glasse, or a Good Subiect's Direction necessary and requisite for euery Good Christian … at London, printed by G. Elde for Robert Boulton,’ 4to. This work was also dedicated to Prince Henry. Willymat enforced by precepts drawn from ancient and modern writers the subject's duty of obedience to his rulers. He devoted a large portion of his book to rebuking reluctance in paying subsidies and customs, asserting that the subject's only lawful remedy lay in ‘the compassion, pity, and bountifulnesse of the king, prince, &c., in pardoning and remitting the same.’ In 1605 he published a third treatise of a religious nature, which shows literary ability of a high order. It was entitled ‘Physicke to ​cure the most Dangerous Disease of Desperation … by W. W. … at London, printed for Robert Boulton’ (8vo), and dedicated to his patron, the Earl of Suffolk (cf. Arber, Transcript of the Stationers' Reg. iii. 269). A second edition was published in 1607. On 15 July 1612 Willymat petitioned the king concerning the arrears of a yearly payment of 2l. to be made to the crown from the revenues of his rectory, which had remained unpaid for forty-seven years. He requested the remission of the arrears due before the commencement of James I's reign, offering to make good subsequent arrears. His petition was granted. Willymat died at Ruskington at the close of 1615, and his will was proved at Lincoln on 19 Jan. 1615–16. By his wife Margaret he had two sons—William and James—and four daughters: Sarah, Margaret, Frances, and Anne. He possessed land in Cheshire, which he bequeathed to his brothers, James and Roger; in Ruskington, which he left to his son William; and in Bicker, which he bestowed on his son James. The rest of his possessions he gave to his wife and three younger daughters, the eldest, Sarah, probably being married. Copies of all his works are in the British Museum Library.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Willymott, William

​WILLYMOTT, WILLIAM (d. 1737), grammarian, born at Royston in Cambridgeshire, was the second son of Thomas Willymott of Royston, by his wife Rachael, daughter of William Pindar, rector of Boswell Springfield in Essex. He was educated at Eton and admitted a scholar of King's College, Cambridge, on 20 Oct. 1692, graduating B.A. in 1697, M.A. in 1700, and LL.D. in 1707. He became a fellow, and after taking his master's degree went as usher to Eton. After some years he left Eton and commenced a private school at Isleworth. In 1721 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the mastership of St. Paul's school, being rejected apparently because he was suspected of an attachment to the Pretender. Some time before this he studied civil law and entered himself of Doctors' Commons, but, changing his mind, took orders, and in 1721 was made vice-provost of King's College, of which he was then senior fellow. In 1705 he was presented to the rectory of Milton, near Cambridge. He died, unmarried, on 7 June 1737, at the Swan Inn at Bedford, while returning from a visit to Bath.
Willymott was the author of numerous school books. Among them may be mentioned: 1. ‘English Particles exemplified in Sentences designed for Latin Exercises,’ London, 1703, 8vo; 8th edit. 1771. 2. ‘The Peculiar Use and Signification of certain Words in the Latin Tongue,’ Cambridge, 1705, 8vo; 8th edit. Eton, 1790, 8vo; new edit. Eton, 1818, 12mo. 3. ‘Phrædrus [sic] his Fables, with English Notes,’ 4th edit. London, 1720, 12mo; new edit. 1728. He also translated ‘Lord Bacon's Essays,’ London, 1720, 8vo; new edit. 1787; and ‘Thomas a Kempis … his Four Books of the Imitation of Christ,’ London, 1722, 8vo.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wilmot, Edward

1904 Errata appended.
​WILMOT, Sir EDWARD (1693–1786), baronet, physician, second son of Robert Wilmot and Joyce, daughter of William Sacheverell of Staunton in Leicestershire, was born at his father's seat of Chaddesden near Derby on 29 Oct. 1693. His ancestors were of account at Sutton-upon-Soar, Nottinghamshire, for some centuries, and in 1539 migrated into Derbyshire. He entered St. John's College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1714, was elected a fellow, took his M.A. degree in 1718 and M.D. in 1725. He was admitted a candidate or member of the College of Physicians on 30 Sept. 1725, and was elected a fellow on 30 Sept. 1726. In 1729 and 1741 he was a censor, and a Harveian orator in 1735. He was elected F.R.S. on 29 Jan. 1730. From 1725 he practised as a physician in London, and was elected physician to St. Thomas's Hospital, and in 1740 appointed physician-general to the army. In April 1731 he was appointed physician-extraordinary to Queen Caroline, and soon became physician in ordinary, and physician to Frederick, prince of Wales. He became physician to George II on the queen's death in 1737. He had large practice for many years. In 1736 John Fothergill [q. v.], who in after life spoke with respect of his skill, became his pupil. When Henry Pelham had lost two sons by sore throat in 1739, Wilmot preserved the life of his wife, Lady Catharine Pelham, by lancing her throat (Nichols, Lit. Anecd. ix. 738). In March 1751, with Matthew Lee [q. v.], he attended Frederick, prince of Wales, in his last illness, and does not seem to have anticipated his death (Bubb Doddington, Diary, p. 98). Archbishop Thomas Herring [q. v.] was his patient in a serious attack of pleurisy in 1753 (letter of Herring in Nichols's Illustrations, iii. 457). He was created a baronet on 15 Feb. 1759. On the death of George II, Wilmot, with John Ranby [q. v.], acquainted George III with two wishes which the late king had confided to them—that his body should be embalmed with a double quantity of perfumes, and that it should be laid close to that of the queen. George III at once assented (Horace Walpole, Memoirs, 1894, i. 7). Wilmot became physician in ordinary to George III in 1760, left London next year, and lived in Nottingham, but moved thence to Heringstone in Dorset, where he died on 21 Nov. 1786 (Gent. Mag. 1786, p. 1093), and was buried in that county in the church of Monkton, where his epitaph remains. He married Sarah Marsh, daughter of Richard Mead [q. v.] She died on 11 Sept. 1785, aged 83; her portrait, painted by Joseph Wright, A.R.A., belongs to the family, as does a portrait of Wilmot by Thomas Beach (Cat. Second Loan Exhib. Nos. 610, 615). He was succeeded in his baronetcy by his son, Robert Mead Wilmot, and had also two daughters, Ann and Jane.
N. M.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.281 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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