OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oliver, William (1804?-1853)

​ OLIVER, WILLIAM (1804?–1853), landscape-painter, was born about 1804. He painted in oil as well as in water-colours, but chiefly in the latter, and took most of his subjects from foreign scenery, especially in France and the Pyrenees. He began to exhibit in 1829, when he sent to the Society of British Artists ‘A Beach Scene in Kent' and a ‘Fish Boat.' In 1831 he was elected a member of the New Society (now the Royal Institute) of Painters in Water-Colours, and his drawings appeared annually at its exhibitions until 1854. He also sent oil-paintings to the Royal Academy from 1835 so 1853, and to the British Institution from 1836. He published in 1842 a folio of 'Scenery of the Pyrenees,' lithographed by George Barnard, Thomas Shotter Boys, Carl Hughe, and others.
Oliver died at Langley Mill House, Halstead, Essex, on 2 Nov. 1553, aged 49. There is an oil-painting by him of ‘Foligno' in the South Kensington Museum.
His wife, Emma Sophia Oliver (1819-1885), daughter of W. Eburne, coachbuilder, of Rathbone Place, London, was born on 15 Aug. 1819, and married in 1840. She was elected a member of the New Society of Painters in Water-Colours in 1849, and exhibited also landscapes both in water-colours and in oil at the Royal Academy, ​British Institution, Society of British Artists, and various provincial galleries. After Oliver's death she married, about 1856, John Sedgwick, a solicitor, of Watford, Hertfordshire, but continued to follow her profession in her first husband's name until her death, which took place at the Brewery House, Great Berkhamstead, on 15 March 1885.
[Art Journal, 1853, p. 311; Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, ed. Graves and Armstrong, 1886-9, ii. 225; Miss Clayton's English Female Artists, 1876, ii. 227-30; Exhibition Catalogues of the Royal Academy, British Institution (Living Artists), Society of British Artists, and New Society of Painters in Water-Colours.]
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oliver of Malmesbury

Eilmer in the ODNB.
​OLIVER of Malmesbury otherwise known as Eilmer, Elmer, or Æthelmær (fl. 1066), astrologer and mechanician, a monk of Malmesbury, is said by William of Malmesbury, who calls him Eilmer, a latinised form of the English name Æthelmaer, to have been a man of learning. In his youth he attempted to follow the example of Dædalus, fitted wings on to his hands and feet, ascended a tower to get the help of the wind, threw himself off, and is said to have flown a furlong or more. Becoming frightened at the strength of the wind, he fell and broke his legs, and thenceforward was lame. He attributed his failure to his having omitted to provide himself with a tail, which would have steadied him in his flight. He was advanced in years when, on 24 April 1066, there appeared the great comet, which, though seen with awe in every part of Europe, was held in England and elsewhere to have been a presage of the Norman conquest (Freeman, Norman Conquest, iii. 71, 72, 646-50). On beholding it Eilmer cried 'Thou hast come, thou hast come, bringing sorrow to many mothers. Long ago have I seen thee, but now more terrible do I behold thee, threatening the destruction of this country' (Will. Malm. Gesta Regum, ii. c. 225). The story seems to have been popular. It is possible that Orderic, writing independently of William of Malmesbury, refers to Elmer's words (p. 492); Alberic of Trois Fontaines (an. 1066) took the story from William of Malmesbury. It appears in the 'Speculum Historiale' of Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1204), and is given by Higden in his 'Polychronicon,' where the monk of Malmesbury is called Oliver, and the story consequently is in the two English translations of that work. Lastly, it was copied by John Nauclerus of Tubingen, who wrote his 'Commentaries* about 1500. Bale, in the 1549 edition of his 'Catalogus,' attributes to Oliver the authorship of the 'Eulogium Historiarum;' he corrects this strange mistake in the edition of 1557, where he quotes Capgrave as showing that the 'Eulogium' was compiled in the reign of Edward III. He says that Oliver was the sent known to exist,
[Will. Malm. Gesta Regum, lib. ii. c. 225 (Rolls Ser.) Orderic p. 492, ed. Duchesne ; Vincent of Beauvais's Speculum Majus, IV, Spec. bk. 25, e. 35, f. 350; Higden's Polychronicon, vii. 222 (Rolls Ser.); John Nauclerus's Memorabilium Commentarii, f. 160; Bale's Cat. Illustr. 88. cent. ii. p. 163 (1557); Eulogium Hist. i. Pref. xxvii (olls Ser.); Freeman's Norm. Conq. iii. 72. Wright (Biogr. Brit. Lit. ii. 18), who did not know that Oliver of Malmesbury was the same with the Eilmer of William of Malmesbury's 'Gesta Regum,' says that Bale is the only authority for Oliver's existence.]
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Worth, Charles Frederick

​WORTH, CHARLES FREDERICK (1825−1895), dressmaker, was the son of William Worth, a solicitor at Bourne, Lincolnshire, who lost his property in speculations. Born in 1825, he was at first intended for a printer, but after a few months went to London to be apprenticed to Messrs. Swan & Edgar, linendrapers. He was chiefly employed in bookkeeping, but showed an interest in French fabrics and models. In 1846, on the expiration of his indentures, he went to Paris, and for twelve years was in the service of Gagelin, silkmercer. A lady's train designed by him figured in the exhibition of 1855. He next, in partnership with a Swede named Bobergh, started in business as a lady's tailor. Princess Metternich, wife of the Austrian ambassador, was one of his earliest customers, and the Comtesse de Pourtalès introduced him to the Empress Eugénie, to whom he submitted every novelty. Thenceforth all wealthy Paris flocked to his rooms in the Rue de la Paix, and acknowledged him as the dictator of fashions. After the war of 1870 Bobergh retired, and Worth, with the assistance of his two sons, continued a business which yielded 50,000l. a year profit, going down daily, to the end of his life, to the establishment from his house in the Rue de Berri or the villa erected by him at Suresnes. He was liberal to his staff and to French charities, but had joined the French reformed church and did not associate with the English colony. He died on 10 March 1895, and was buried at Suresnes. His widow died on 8 Aug. 1898.
[Private information; Annuaire Bottin, 1859; Figaro, Sup. Littéraire, 13 April 1887; Gaulois, 11, 12, and 14 March 1895; New York Herald, Paris edit., and other Paris papers of March 1895; Daily Telegraph, 10 Aug. 1898.]
J. G. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Worsley, Philip Stanhope

​WORSLEY, PHILIP STANHOPE (1835−1866), poet, born at Greenwich on 12 Aug. 1835, was son of Charles Worsley (1783−1864), rector of Finchley, Middlesex, a member of the family of the Worsleys of Gatcombe, Isle of Wight. After attending the Cholmeley grammar school, Highgate, he was admitted to a scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 28 May 1853, and graduated B.A. and M.A. in 1861. He gained the Newdigate prize (‘The Temple of Janus,’ Oxford, 8vo) in 1857, and became a fellow of his college in 1863. His health interfered with the pursuit of any profession, and he devoted himself chiefly to classical and poetical studies. His version of the ‘Odyssey’ in the Spenserian stanza was published in 1861 (reissued 1868 and 1877), and his translation of the first twelve books of the ‘Iliad’ in the same metre in 1865. On 8 May of the following year Worsley died unmarried at Freshwater after a long illness, terminating in consumption. His patience and cheerfulness under great suffering, and the beauty of his character, are pathetically extolled by Sarah Austin in a note to the ‘Athenæum’ of 19 May 1866.
Worsley's distinction as a poet is to have achieved what no one else has achieved. His Spenserian translation of the ‘Odyssey’ and the first half of the ‘Iliad,’ regarded merely as an endeavour to make Homer speak like Spenser, leaves no room for improvement. No version diverging so widely from the form of the original can become the standard version; it was nevertheless well that the attempt should be made as a test of the power and resources of our language. In grace, skill, command of diction, and native music, Worsley is surpassed by no poet who has employed this most difficult form, peculiar to our language, of which the most accomplished foreign translators are shy, and of which Shelley said, ‘You must succeed or fail.’ ‘Worsley,’ says Matthew Arnold, ‘making the stanza yield to him what it never yielded to Byron, it s treasures of fluidity and sweet ease, above all bringing to his task a truly poetical taste and skill, has produced a version of the Odyssey much the most pleasing of those hitherto produced.’ If he is more successful with the ‘Odyssey’ than with the ‘Iliad,’ this is because the romantic character of the former poem adapts itself better to the romantic stanza. The translation of the ‘Iliad’ was completed by John Conington [q. v.], and the contrast between the two moieties of the book is most instructive. Conington was a greater scholar than Worsley, and his command of language is remarkable; but as a poet he was made, not born, and his mechanical stanzas entirely want ‘the grandeur and the bloom’ of his predecessor.
Worsley's original poems, first published in 1863 (‘Poems and Translations,’ London, 8vo) and reprinted in 1875, are pleasing from their elegance and polish, but deficient in originality and force. He was born to interpret others.
[Sarah Austin in Athenæum, 19 May 1866; Gent. Mag. 1866, i. 925; Fowler's Hist. of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, p. 414; Foster's Alumni Oxon. (1715−1886); private information.]
R. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Worth, William

​WORTH, WILLIAM (1677−1742), classical scholar and divine, born at Penryn, Cornwall, and baptised at St. Gluvias, its parish church, on 20 Feb. 1676−7, was the second son of William Worth, merchant of Penryn, who died there on 22 Jan. 1689−90, aged 55, by his wife Jane, daughter and coheiress of Mr. Pennalerick. He matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, on 14 March 1691−2, but migrated to St. Edmund Hall, graduating B.A. on 17 Oct. 1695, and MA. on 4 July 1698. In 1702, on the nomination of Archbishop Tenison, he was elected fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford, he was chaplain to the bishop of Worcester in 1705, and on 14 Dec. 1705 he was collated to the archdeaconry of Worcester. He proceeded B.D. in 1705 and D.D. in 1719.
The value (5l.) of this archdeaconry in the king's books was greater than that of any preferment tenable with his fellowship. The warden of All Souls' College thereupon declared, on 7 Jan. 1706−7, that the fellowship was vacant. Worth appealed to Tenison against the warden's action, but on 12 June 1707 renounced the appeal. Bishop William Fleetwood [q. v.] was led to publish his ‘Chronicon Preciosum’ on the occasion of this dispute.
Worth retained this archdeaconry until his death in 1742, and combined with it from 17 Feb. 1715−16 the third canonry at Worcester. From 16 July 1707 to 1713 he held the rectory of Halford in Warwickshire. On 9 April 1713 he was collated to the rectory of Alvechurch, and on 11 July following to the rectory of Northfield, both in Worcestershire, and he enjoyed both these benefices, with his canonry and archdeaconry, until his death. He died on 7 Aug. 1742, and was buried in Worcester Cathedral on 11 Aug. His wife was a Miss Price, and their only daughter, with a fortune of 60,000l., married on 3 March 1740, William Winsmore, mayor of Worcester in 1739−40 (Gent. Mag. 1740, p. 147).
Worth edited at Oxford in 1700 ‘Tatiani Oratio ad Græcos. Hermiæ irrisio gentilium philosophorum,’ with his own annotations and those of many previous scholars. Hearne says that ‘most of the notes, with the dedication and preface, were written by Dr. Mill’ (Collections, Oxford Hist. Soc. i. 40). Worth's notes to the tract of Hermias were included in the edition by J. C. Dommerich, which was printed at Halle in 1764. He greatly assisted Browne Willis in his account of Worcester Cathedral (Survey of Cathedrals, vol. i. p. vi), and extracts from his collections on Worcestershire are embodied in Nash's history of that county. Edward Dechair in his edition of the ‘Legatio pro Christianis’ (1706) of Athenagoras was much indebted to Worth for various readings in manuscripts (preface to edition). A letter from Worth to Potter, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, on the death of Dr. John Mill [q. v.] is in Lambeth MS. 933, art. 42, and a copy is in the British Museum Additional MS. 4292, art. 61. It is printed in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ (1801, ii. 587) and in H. J. Todd's ‘Brian Walton’ (i. 79−81).
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Worsley, Edward

​WORSLEY, EDWARD (1605−1676), Jesuit, born in Lancashire in 1605, is said to have been an Oxford student and a protestant minister, but his name does not occur in the records of that university. He entered the Society of Jesus on 7 Sept. 1626. Having repeated his studies at the college of Liege, he was made professor of philosophy, logic, and sacred scripture. He was professed of the four vows on 29 Sept. 1641, and in 1655 he was a missioner in London. He was declared rector of the college at Liege on 31 Oct. 1658. In 1662 he was acting as English procurator and missioner at the Professed House, Antwerp, where he died on 2 Sept. 1676, aged seventy-one. He was ‘regarded both by his own community and by externs as an oracle alike of talent, industry, learning, and prudence’ (Foley, Records, iv. 597).
Subjoined is a list of his works, which were all published under the initials ‘E. W.’ 1. ‘Truth will out; or a Discouery of some Untruths, smoothly told by Dr. Jeremy Taylor in his Dissuasiue from Popery; with an Answer to such Arguments as deserve Answer,’ 1665, 4to. 2. ‘Protestancy without Principles; or Sectaries unhappy Fall from Infallibility to Fancy,’ Antwerp, 1668, 4to. At the end are ‘A few Notes upon Mr. Poole's Appendix against Captain Everard’ [see Poole, Matthew]. The book is in reply to Matthew Poole's ‘Nullity of the Romish Faith’ and Bishop Stillingfleet's ‘Account of the Protestant Religion.’ 3. ‘Reason and Religion; or the certain Rule of Faith, where the Infallibility of the Roman Catholick Church is asserted against Atheists, Heathens, Jewes, Turks, and all Sectaries. With a refutation of Mr. Stillingfleet's many gross errors,’ Antwerp, 1672, 4to. 4. ‘The Infallibility of the Roman Catholick Church and her Miracles defended against Dr. Stillingfleets ​Cavils,’ Antwerp, 1674, 2 vols. 8vo. In the second volume the author maintains the truth of the miraculous translation of the house of Loreto. 5. ‘A Discovrse of Miracles wrought in the Roman Catholick Chvrch, or a full Refutation of Dr. Stillingfleets unjust Exceptions against Miracles,’ Antwerp, 1676, 8vo. 6. ‘Anti-Goliath, or an Epistle to Mr. [Daniel] Brevint, containing some Reflections upon his Saul and Samuel at Endor,’ 1678, 8vo, pp. 59: a posthumous work.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Worsley, William

​WORSLEY, WILLIAM (1435?−1499), dean of St. Paul's, born probably about 1435, is believed to have been the son of Sir Robert Worsley of Booths in Eccles, Lancashire, and his wife Maude, daughter of Sir John Gerard of Bryn, Lancashire. His brother Robert married Margaret, niece of William and Lawrence Booth [q. v.], both of them archbishops of York, to whose influence William owed most of his preferments. He was possibly educated at Cambridge, as no mention of him occurs in Wood; he is usually described as ‘sanctæ theologiæ’ ‘professor,’ but in his epitaph is styled ‘doctor of laws.’ On 29 April 1449 he was collated to the prebend of Tachbrook in Lichfield Cathedral, on 30 March 1453 to Norwell Overall in Southwell, and in 1457 to South Cave in York Cathedral. These preferments were apparently conferred on him during his minority by his uncles, for it was not till 20 Sept. 1460 that he was ordained priest. On 19 May 1467 he was instituted to the rectory of Eakring, Nottinghamshire. On 28 Sept. 1476 he was admitted archdeacon of Nottingham, and on 22 Jan. 1478−9 he was elected dean of St. Paul's in succession to Thomas Winterbourne; he retained with it the archdeaconry of Nottingham and the prebend of Willesden in St. Paul's, and from 1493 to 1496 also held the archdeaconry of Taunton. Worsley held the deanery throughout the reigns of Edward V and Richard III, but in 1494 he became involved in the conspiracy in favour of Perkin Warbeck [q. v.] He was arrested in November, confessed before a commission of oyer and terminer, and was attainted of high treason on the 14th (Rot. Parl. vi. 489b). The lay conspirators were put to death, but Worsley was saved by his order, and on 6 June 1495 he was pardoned (Gairdner, Letters and Papers, ii. 375). In October following parliament passed an act (11 Henry VII, c. 52) restoring him in blood (Statutes of the Realm, ii. 619). He had retained his ecclesiastical preferments, and died in possession of them on 14 Aug. 1499, being buried in St. Paul's Cathedral; his epitaph and a very pessimistic copy of Latin verses are printed by Weever (Funerall Monuments, p. 368; Gough, Sepulchral Mon. ii. 337). Fabyan describes Worsley as ‘a ​famous doctour and precher’ (Chronicle, p. 685). His will, dated 12 Feb. 1498−9, was proved at Lambeth on 8 Nov. 1499, and at York on 27 March 1500, and is printed in ‘Testamenta Eboracensia,’ iv. 155−6; by it he left money for an obit in St. Paul's.
[Authorities cited; Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl. ed. Hardy, passim; Newcourt's Repertorium and Hennessy's Nov. Rep. Eccl. Londin. 1898; Polydore Vergil, p. 592; Bacon's Henry VII, ed. 1870, p. 339; Gairdner's Richard III, p. 352; Busch's England under the Tudors. i. 95; Archæologia, xxvii. 165; Dugdale's St. Paul's; Milman's St. Paul's; Testamenta Ebor. (Surtees Soc.); notes from Francis Worsley, esq.]
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Worth, Richard Nicholls

​WORTH, RICHARD NICHOLLS (1837−1896), miscellaneous writer and geologist, was the eldest son of Richard Worth, a builder of Devonport, by his wife Eliza, daughter of Richard Nicholls of the same place. He was born on 19 July 1837, and apprenticed in 1851 at the Devonport and Plymouth ‘Telegraph,’ becoming a member of the staff in 1858. In 1863 he joined the ‘Western Morning News,’ remaining with it till 1865. In 1866 and the following year he lived at Newcastle-on-Tyne as editor of the ‘Northern Daily Express,’ but, finding the climate too trying, rejoined the staff of the ‘Western Morning News’ in 1867. In 1877 he became associated with Messrs. Brendon & Son, printers and publishers, of Plymouth, receiving a testimonial of plate by public subscription in Devon and Cornwall for his services as a journalist. In this business he remained till his death, though he continued to contribute occasionally, not only to the local press but also to ‘Nature,’ the ‘Academy,’ and other periodicals.
Worth was a diligent student, and devoted all his spare time to investigating the history and geology of the west of England. Patient and exact, dreading hasty theorising, he was one of that indefatigable band of workers who have done so much for the history, archaeology, and geology of Devon and Cornwall. Altogether Worth published about 140 papers between 1869 and his death, mostly historical, and in the proceedings of local societies; some of the scientific papers appeared in the ‘Quarterly Journal’ of the Geological Society of London, of which he became a fellow in 1875. Besides a series of guide-books and several smaller works, he was the author of: 1. ‘History of the Town and Borough of Devonport,’ Plymouth, 1870, 8vo. 2. ‘History of Plymouth,’ Plymouth, 1871, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1873; 3rd edit. 1890. 3. ‘The Three Towns Bibliotheca’ [for Plymouth, Devonport, and Stonehouse], 1871, 8vo. 4. ‘The West Country Garland, selected from the Writings of the Poets of Devon and Cornwall,’ Plymouth, 1878, 8vo.
He was twice president of the Plymouth Association, and in 1891 of the Devonshire Association. A true son of the west, he loved its two great counties, and no stranger interested in their history or geology ever sought Worth's help in vain. He died suddenly at Shaugh Prior, where he was temporarily resident, on 3 July 1896, and was buried in the village churchyard. He married, 22 March 1860, at Stoke Damerel, Devonshire, Lydia Amelia, daughter of Richard Davies of the Dockyard, Devonport. One son and one daughter survived him.
A portrait in oils, painted by Lane in 1873, is in possession of the family.
T. G. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Walter, Hubert

​WALTER, HUBERT (d. 1205), archbishop of Canterbury. [See Hubert.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Walter, Henry

​WALTER, HENRY (1785–1859), divine and antiquary, born at Louth in Lincolnshire on 28 Jan. 1785, was the eldest son of James Walter, master of the grammar school at Louth and afterwards rector of Market Rasen in Lincolnshire. He was admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge, on 1 March 1802, and graduated B.A. in 1806, being classed as second wrangler in the mathematical tripos. He was also junior Smith's prizeman. He was elected fellow and tutor of his college, retaining his fellowship until his marriage in 1824; commenced M. A. in 1809; and proceeded to the degree of B.D. in 1816. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society on 11 Nov. 1819. On the foundation of Haileybury College in 1806 he was appointed professor of natural philo​sophy, and retained the post until 1830, when he entered on the spiritual duties of the rectory of Haselbury Bryant in Dorset, to which he had been instituted on 7 May 1821 on the presentation of the Duke of Northumberland, who had been one of his pupils at Cambridge. He died at Haselbury Bryant on 25 Jan. 1859, and was buried in the churchyard of the parish. In 1824 he was married to Emily Anne, daughter of William Baker of Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire.
For the Parker Society he edited three volumes of William Tyndale's writings, viz. 'Doctrinal Treatises, and Introductions to different portions of the Holy Scriptures,' 1848; 'Expositions and Notes on sundry portions of the Holy Scriptures,' 1849; and 'An Answer to Sir Thomas More's Dialogue,' 1850. He likewise brought out an edition of 'The Primer . . . set forth by the order of King Edward VI,' London, 1825, 12mo.
Among his own writings are: 1. 'Lectures on the Evidences in favour of Christianity and the Doctrines of the Church of England,' London, 1816, 12mo. 2. 'A Letter [and a second Letter] to the Right Rev. Herbert [Marsh], Lord Bishop of Peterborough, on the Independence of the authorised Version of the Bible,' London, 1823-1828, 8vo. 3. 'The Connexion of Scripture History made plain for the Young by an Abridgment of it,' London, 1840, 12mo. 4. 'A History of England, in which it is intended to consider Man and Events on Christian Principles,' London, 1840, 7 vols. 12mo. 5. 'On the Antagonism of various Popish Doctrines and Usages to the Honour of God and to His Holy Word,' London, 1853, 16mo.
T. C.