OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Duff, James (1729-1809)

​DUFF, JAMES, second Earl of Fife (1729–1809), was second son of William Duff, Lord Braco of Kilbryde. His father, son of William Duff of Dipple, co. Banff, was M.P. for Banffshire 1727–34, was created Lord Braco in the peerage of Ireland 28 July 1735, and was advanced to the dignity of Earl of Fife and Viscount Macduff, also in the peerage of Ireland, by patent dated 26 April 1759, ​on proving his descent from Macduff, Earl of Fife. His mother was his father's second wife, Jean, daughter of Sir James Grant of Grant, bart. He was born 29 Sept. 1729. In 1754 he was elected M.P. for Banff, and was re-elected in 1761, 1768, 1774, and 1780, and in the parliament of 1784 represented the county of Elgin. He succeeded his father in the title and estates in September 1763, and devoted himself to the improvement of the property, which he largely increased by the purchase of land in the north of Scotland. He was twice awarded the gold medal of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, for his plantations, with which he covered fourteen thousand acres. He offered the farmers on his estate every inducement to cultivate their land on the most approved principles, and himself set the example by instituting near each of his seats a model farm, where agriculture and cattle-breeding were carried on under his personal supervision. In 1782 and 1783, when all crops failed, he allowed his highland tenants a reduction of twenty per cent. on their rents, and disposed of grain to the poor considerably below the market price, importing several cargoes from England, which he sold at a loss of 3,000l. He was created a British peer by the title of Baron Fife, 19 Feb. 1790. He held the appointment of lord-lieutenant of county Banff, and founded the town of Macduff, the harbour of which was built at a cost of 5,000l. He died at his house in Whitehall, London, 24 Jan. 1809, and was buried in the mausoleum at Duff House, Banffshire. He married, 5 June 1759, Lady Dorothea Sinclair, only child of Alexander, ninth earl of Caithness, but he had no issue, and his British peerage became extinct on his death. He was succeeded in his Irish earldom by his next brother, Alexander.
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Duesbury, William

​DUESBURY, WILLIAM (1725–1786), china manufacturer, born 7 Sept. 1725, was son of William Duesbury, currier, of Cannock in Staffordshire. He first practised as an enameller at Longton in the same county, but in 1755 he moved with his father to Derby. At this time the Derby potworks on Cockpit Hill were held by Messrs. John and Christopher Heath, bankers in the town, while at the same time a French refugee, Andrew Planché, was making china figures in an obscure tenement in Lodge Lane. Duesbury learnt the art from Planché, and entered into an agreement with him and John Heath to establish a china manufactory. Soon after the Heaths failed, Duesbury, having cleared himself from the debts which their failure brought upon him, set up a china manufactory for himself in the Nottingham Road. This may fairly be called the first foundation of the Derby china manufactory. Duesbury managed to obtain a good staff of workmen and assistants, and the manufactory soon became prosperous and important, and the products extensively sought after. In June 1773 he opened a warehouse in London at No. 1 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, and had periodical sales by auction of his stock. In 1770 he purchased the works and stock of the defunct manufactory at Chelsea, in 1775 those of the manufactory of Bow, in 1777 those of Giles's manufactory, Kentish Town, besides others; he thus became the most important china manufacturer in the kingdom, and enjoyed the royal patronage. Duesbury died in November 1786, and was buried in St. Alkmund's, Derby. By his wife, Sarah James of Shrewsbury, he had several children, of whom William Duesbury, the eldest surviving son, succeeded to the proprietorship of the works. He was born in 1763, and the prosperity of the works reached its highest point shortly after he succeeded to them. He took into partnership an Irish miniature-painter named Michael Kean. Duesbury's health broke up early, and he died in 1796. By his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of William Edwards, solicitor, of Derby (who remarried the above mentioned Kean), he left three sons, of whom William Duesbury, born in 1787, inherited, but did not take part in the works, which in 1809 were disposed of to Robert Bloor [q. v.] The second son, Frederick Duesbury, became a well-known physician in London, and was father of Henry Duesbury, who practised as an architect in London, and died in 1872.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dudley, Thomas

​DUDLEY, THOMAS (fl. 1670–1680), engraver, was a pupil of Wenceslaus Hollar [q. v.], and his plates are etched in a manner resembling, but greatly inferior to, his master's style. A book-plate in the print room of the British Museum shows him to have had considerable technical skill, but his portraits and figures are ill drawn. His most important work was a series of etchings executed in 1678, representing the life of Æsop, from drawings by Francis Barlow [q. v.], (now in the print room aforesaid), and added by Barlow to his second edition of the ‘Fables’ (1687). A few portraits by him are known, including one of Titus Oates on a broadside, entitled ‘A Prophecy of England's Future Happiness.’ In 1679 he seems to have visited Lisbon in Portugal, as he engraved portraits of John IV and Peter II of Portugal, of Theodosius Lusitanus (1679), Bishop Russel of Portalegre (1679), and of a general, the last named (in the print room) being signed ‘Tho. Dudley Anglus fecit Vlissippone.’
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Duff, James (1752-1839)

​DUFF, Sir JAMES (1752–1839), general, only son of Alexander Duff of Kinstoun, N.B., entered the army as an ensign in the 1st or Grenadier guards on 18 April 1769. He was promoted lieutenant and captain on 26 April 1775, and made adjutant of his battalion in 1777, and on 30 April 1779 he was knighted as proxy for the celebrated diplomatist Sir James Harris, afterwards first earl of Malmesbury, at his installation as a knight of the Bath. He was promoted captain and lieutenant-colonel on 18 July 1780, colonel on 18 Nov. 1790, and major-general on 3 Oct. 1794, and in 1797 received the command of the Limerick district. While there he rendered important services during the insurrection of 1798, and managed to keep his district quiet in spite of the state of affairs elsewhere. He was promoted lieutenant-general on 1 Jan. 1801, and general on 25 Oct. 1809, and at the time of his death, at Funtington, near Chichester, on 5 Dec. 1839, he was senior general in the British army, and was one of the few officers who held a commission for over seventy years. It is noteworthy that he had as aides-de-camp during his Limerick command two famous officers, William Napier [q. v.] and James Dawes Douglas [q. v.] There are numerous allusions to him in the 'Life of Sir William Napier.'
H. M. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Duff, James (1776-1857)

​DUFF, JAMES, fourth Earl of Fife (1776–1857), Spanish general, elder son of the Hon. Alexander Duff, who succeeded his brother as third Earl Fife in 1809, was born on 6 Oct. 1776. He was educated at Edinburgh and was not intended for the army. On 9 Sept. 1799 he married Mary Caroline, second daughter of John Manners, who died on 20 Dec. 1805. Thereupon Duff sought distraction in 1808 by volunteering to join the Spaniards in their war against Napoleon. His assistance was gladly received, especially as he came full of enthusiasm and with a full purse, and he was made a major-general in the Spanish service. He served with great distinction at the battle of Talavera, where he was severely wounded in trying to rally the Spanish runaways, and was only saved from becoming a prisoner by the gallantry of his lifelong friend, Major (afterwards Lieutenant-general Sir) S. F. Whittingham. In that year, 1809, he became Viscount Macduff on his father's accession to the Irish earldom of Fife, but he still continued to serve in Spain, and was present during the defence of Cadiz against Marshal Victor, and was again severely wounded in the attack on Fort Matagorda in 1810. On 17 April 1811 he succeeded his father as fourth Earl Fife, and as lord-lieutenant of Banffshire, and returned to England, after being made for his services a knight of the order of St. Ferdinand. He was elected M.P. for Banffshire in 1818, and made a lord in waiting in the following year, and he was created a peer of the United Kingdom as Lord Fife on 27 April 1827, in which year he was also made a knight of the Thistle. He soon afterwards retired altogether to Scotland, where he lived at Duff House, Banffshire, much beloved by his tenantry and greatly interested in farming and cattle raising, and there he died, aged 80, on 9 March ​1857. He was succeeded by his nephew, James Duff, the elder son of his only brother, General the Hon. Sir Alexander Duff, G.C.H., who was a most distinguished officer, and commanded the 88th regiment, the Connaught Rangers, from 1798 to 1810, serving at its head in Baird's expedition from India to Egypt in 1801, and in the attack on Buenos Ayres in 1806, and who had predeceased him in 1851.
H. M. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacDougall, Allan

​MACDOUGALL, ALLAN (1750?–1829), Gaelic poet, known as Blind Allan, was born in Glencoe, Argyllshire, about 1750. At an early age he was apprenticed to an itinerant tailor, and during his wanderings he committed to memory many lines of Gaelic poetry, then orally preserved, and he thus quickened a natural aptitude for composing satirical verse. One day while at work he quarrelled with a fellow-tailor, who pierced his eye with a needle, and the wound rendered him totally blind. He afterwards made a living as a strolling musician, attending country feasts with his fiddle, and reciting his own compositions. In 1790, having received a house and a plot of land at Inverlochy, near Fort William, he retired thither, and, with the assistance of Ewan Maclachlan [q. v.], himself a poet, made arrangements for publishing his Gaelic verses, which duly appeared at Edinburgh in 1798, and included some work by Maclachlan. Colonel MacDonald, laird of Glengarry, subsequently took MacDougall under his care, and appointed him his family bard. In 1828 the poet travelled over the Western Highlands, soliciting subscriptions for a new edition of his book, but before it was issued he died, in 1829. He is buried at Kilfinan, Argyllshire.
[Reid's Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica; Mackenzie's Beauties of Gaelic Poetry.]
J. R. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacEachen, Evan

Eoghan MacEachainn in the ODNB.
​MACEACHEN, EVAN (1769–1849), Gaelic scholar, born at Arisaig, Invernessshire, in 1769, was educated in a school at Ruthven, near Keith. He was sent in 1788 to the Scots College at Valladolid, where he was ordained priest in 1798. On his return to the mission he was stationed at Arisaig. In 1801 he was removed to Badenoch, and thence was sent, about 1806, in the capacity of professor, to the seminary of Lismore. In 1814 he was appointed to the mission of Aigas in Strathglass, from which he was transferred in 1818 to Braemar. In consequence of failing health he retired in 1888 to Ballogie, and in 1847 he removed to Tombae, Banffshire, where he died 9 Sept. 1849.
He translated into Gaelic: 1. 'The Abridgment of Christian Doctrine,' printed while he was at Aigas. 2. 'The Spiritual Combat,' 1835. 3. 'The Following of Christ,' 1836. 4. 'The Declaration of the British Catholic Bishops,' published by the Catholic Institute. His more important Gaelic translations, still in manuscript, are: (5) the 'New Testament,' and (6) Bishop Challoner's 'Meditations.' He also published (7) a work on arithmetic, in English, and (8) a Gaelic dictionary, 1842.
[Stothert's Catholic Mission in Scotland p. 691 ; Catholic Directory for Scotland, 1850.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacFait, Ebenezer

​MACFAIT, EBENEZER, M.D. (d. 1786), miscellaneous writer, was eminent in his day as a Greek scholar and mathematician. He practised medicine at Edinburgh, but died at Alva, the seat of his friend John Johnston, on 25 Nov. 1786 (Scots Mag. xlviii. 6221 He was author of: 1. 'Remarks on the Life and Writings of Plato, with Answers to the principal Objections against him; and a General View of his Dialogues,' 8vo, Edinburgh, 1760 [anon.] 2. 'A new System of General Geography,' pt. 1 (all published), 8vo, Edinburgh, 1780. Macfait also contributed two papers on meteorological subjects to vol. i. of 'Essays Physical and Literary' (1754).
[Watt's Bibl. Brit.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacDonnell, Richard Graves

​MACDONNELL, Sir RICHARD GRAVES (1814–1881), colonial governor, was eldest son of Richard MacDonnell, D.D., who was provost of Trinity College, Dublin, from 1852 till his death on 24 Jan. 1867. His mother was Jane, second daughter of Richard Graves, dean of Ardagh. Macdonnell was born in Dublin 3 Sept. 1814, and was educated at Trinity College, where he was a scholar 1833, and graduated B.A. 1836, M.A. 1836, LL.B. 1846, and LL.D. 1862. He was called to the Irish bar 1838, and to the English bar, at Lincoln's Inn, 25 Jan. 1841. On 20 July 1843 he was appointed chief justice of the Gambia, and on 1 Oct. 1847 governor of the British settlements on the Gambia. While holding that post he conducted several exploring expeditions, opening up the interior of Africa from the Gambia to the Senegal. He also organised and accompanied some military expeditions, with success, against native tribes who had long oppressed the traders of the river. In 1832 he became governor of St. Lucia, and on 10 Jan. 1863 administrator and captain-general of the island of St. Vincent. From 8 June 1866 to 4 March 1862 he was governor of South Australia, where he aided in opening up the Murray river and in developing the resources of the colony. He was afterwards lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia from 28 May 1864 till October 1866, and governor of Hong-kong from 19 Oct. 1866 till 1872, when he retired from the public service on a pension. He was gazetted C.B. 12 Feb. 1862, was knighted by the queen at Buckingham Palace 28 Jan. 1866, and was created K.C.M.G. 23 Feb. 1871. His wife, whom he married in 1847, was Blanche Ann, the third daughter of Francis Skurray of Brunswick Square, Brighton.
He died at Hyeres, France, 5 Feb. 1881, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery 14 Feb.
[Times, 8 Feb. 1881, p. 10; Men of the Time, 1879, p. 662; Solicitors' Journal, 1881, xxv. 300; Illustr. London News, 1881, lxxviii. 220-2, with portrait.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Murray, David (1567-1629)

​MURRAY, Sir DAVID (1567–1629), of Gorthy, poet, born in 1567, was the second son of Robert Murray of Abercairny, Perthshire, by a daughter of Murray of Tullibardine, Perthshire. In August 1600 he appears to ​have been comptroller of the household to James VI (Dalyel, Fragment of Scottish Hist. p. 50) Very learned and accomplished he became gentleman of the bedchamber to Prince Henry with whom he was a favourite and after 1610 was successively groom of the stole and gentleman of the robes (Birch, Life of Henry, Prince of Wales, 1760 p 218) A free gift of 2,000l was bestowed upon him in 1613 and in 1615 he received 5,200l to promote discharge of his (Nichols, Progresses of King James, ii. 374). From Charles I he obtained a charter under the great seal bestowing upon him the estate of Gorthy Perthshire He without an heir in 1629. A portrait by unknown hand is in the National Gallery Edinburgh it has an inscription '1603 Æ. 36, Sir David Murray.' A engraving is given in David Laing's 'Specimen of a proposed Catalogue of a portion the Library at Britwell House,' Edinburgh 1852 and also in Laing's 'Adversaria' (Bannatyne Club). Another portrait is at Abercairny, Perthshire.
In 1611 Murray published in London an octavo volume containing (1) 'The Tragicall Death of Sophonisba,' a long poem in seven line stanzas to which are prefixed two addressed to Prince Henry and (2) 'Cœlia,' in which are included twenty six respectable sonnets a pastoral ballad, 'The Complaint of the Shepheard Harpalus,' and an 'Epitaph on the Death of his Deare Cousin M. Dauid Moray.' The 'Complaint' was published separately in single sheet folio [1620?]. In 'Sophonisba' Murray displays numerous irregularities while occasionally bursting genuine verse Of three introductory to the piece one is by Drayton who his friend's 'strong muse.' Other complimentary verses in the volume are by Simon Grahame [q.v.], and by John Murray (1575-1632) [q.v.] His 'Psalm CIV' was printed in 4to by Andro Hart, Edinburgh, 1615, of this the only extant copy is believed be in the Drummond Collection in the Edinburgh University Library. Murray's Poems were reprinted by the Bannatyne Club in 1823.
[Irving's History of Scotish Poetry; A. Campbell's Hist. of Poetry in Scotland, p. 130; Brydges's Censura, x. 373–6; Poems by Sir D. Murray Gortby, No. 2 of Bannatyne Club Series; Douglas's Baronetage of Scotland.]
T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Murray, Daniel

​MURRAY, DANIEL (1768–1852), archbishop of Dublin, born on 18 April 1768 at Sheepwalk, near Arklow, co. Wicklow, was the son of a farmer. He studied at Dublin and Salamanca, and on receiving ordination as a priest of the Roman catholic church, he was employed as a curate at Dublin and Arklow. Apprehensive of violence from disorderly troops in the latter district, he removed to Dublin, and acquired the esteem of the archbishop of that see, John Thomas Troy. Murray was consecrated in 1809 Troy's coadjutor, under the title of archbishop of Hierapolis 'in partibus infidelium.' Murray acted for a time as president of the Roman catholic college at Maynooth, and earnestly opposed the projected arrangement with government designated the 'veto.' On the death of Archbishop Troy in 1823 Murray succeeded to the see of Dublin. He enjoyed the confidence of successive popes, and was held in high respect by the British government. Pusey had an interview with him in 1841, and bore testimony to his moderation, and Newman had some correspondence with him before 1845 (Liddon, Life of Pusey, ii. 246-7; J. B. Mozlet, Letters, p. 122). A seat in the privy council at Dublin, officially offered to him in 1846, was not accepted. His life was mainly devoted to ecclesiastical affairs, the establishment and organisation of religious associations for the education and relief of the poor. Among these was the order of the 'Sisters of Charity,' for the constitution of which he obtained papal confirmation. As a preacher Murray is stated to have been ' pre-eminently captivating and effective,' especially in appeals for charitable objects. Murray took part in the synod of the Roman catholic clergy at Thurles in 1850, and died at Dublin on 26 Feb. 1852. He was interred in the pro-cathedral, Dublin, where a marble statue of him has been erected in connection with a monument to his memory, executed by James Farrell, president of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Fine Arts. The only published works of Murray are pastoral letters, sermons, and religious discourses. Two volumes of his sermons appeared at Dublin in 1859, extending to nearly fourteen hundred pages, 8vo, with his portrait prefixed from a painting by Crowley in 1844. A marble bust of Archbishop Murray is in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.
[Notices of Archbishop Murray, by the Rev. W. Meagher, Dublin, 1853; Dalton's Archbishops of Dublin, 1838; Madden's United Irishmen, 1858; Brady's Episcopal Succession, 1876; Life of M. Aikenhead, by S. Atkinson, Dublin, 1882.]
J. T. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Livingstone, Charles

1904 Errata appended.
​LIVINGSTONE, CHARLES (1821–1873), missionary and traveller, brother of Dr. David Livingstone [q. v.], was born at Blantyre in Lanarkshire on 28 Feb. 1821. He attended the local school and worked with his brother in the cotton-factory of H. Monteith & Co., from which he moved to a lace factory at Hamilton. He devoted his leisure time to study, and became a Sunday-school teacher. In 1840 he emigrated to the Western States of America, and became a student at a training college for missionaries. In 1847 he entered the Union Theological College, New York City, from which he took his degree in 1850. Dr. Storrs of Massachusetts took a deep interest in him, and obtained for him a pastoral charge in that state. In April 1857 he came to England on leave of absence, and met his brother David, fresh from his discoveries in Central Africa, who induced him, not without a struggle, to leave his family and his flock in America, and to join the Zambesi expedition. Through many privations and difficulties he was the doctor's faithful companion and assistant till 1863, when he was invalided home, and went to join his family in America. His health would not, however, allow of his resuming ministerial duties, and after writing out his journal, he came to meet his brother David in England, and assist him in preparing the work on the Zambesi for the press. In October 1874 he accepted the appointment of her majesty's consul at Fernando Po, and in 1867 the Bights of Benin and Biafra, including the mouths of the Niger, were added by Lord Stanley to his consular district. His upright and consistent Christian life gave him great influence with the chief, whom he persuaded to abolish many cruel and heathenish customs. He visited the Okrikas, a savage cannibal tribe, and his visit resulted in great good to them. He died near Lagos, 28 Oct. 1873, of African fever.
[Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1874, vol. xxxiii.]
R. H. V.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.183 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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