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

​HOLWELL, WILLIAM, M.D. (1726–1798), divine, eldest son of William Holwell, esq., of Exeter, and Ann Blackall, daughter of Ofspring Blackall [q. v.], was born in 1726, matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in December 1741, and graduated B.A. in 1745, M.A. in 1748, and B.D. in 1760. He was tutor to Lord Beauchamp (afterwards second Marquis of Hertford), and was elected proctor for 1758. He was presented to the vicarage ​of Thornbury in Gloucestershire by Christ Church in January 1762, was appointed prebendary of Exeter in 1776, and was at one time chaplain to George III. He died 13 Feb. 1798.
He wrote:
* 'Selecti Dionysii Halicarnensis de priscis scriptoribus Tractatus græcè et latinè,' 1766.
* 'The Beauties of Homer, selected from the Iliad,' 1775.
* 'Extracts from Mr. Pope's translation, corresponding with the Beauties of Homer,' 1776.
* 'A Mythological, Etymological, and Historical Dictionary, extracted from the Analysis of Ancient Mythology' (by Jacob Bryant [q. v.]), 1793.
[Information from Winslow Jones, esq.; Gent. Mag. 1798, lxviii. 259; Exeter Cathedral Register; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Oxford Catalogue of Graduates, and Honours Register; Horace Walpole's Letters, vi. 107; Hardy's Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl.; Gloucester Dioc. Reg.; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. iii. 743, confuses this William Holwell with a nephew, William Holwell Carr, q.v.]
E. C-n.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flower, Edward Fordham

​FLOWER, EDWARD FORDHAM (1805–1883), author, younger son of Richard Flower, a brewer, banker, agriculturist, and breeder of sheep, was born at Marden Hall, Hertfordshire, on 31 Jan. 1805. Benjamin Flower [q. v.] was his uncle. At the age of twelve he went with his father to Illinois, United States, but returning in 1824 he in 1827 married Celina, eldest daughter of John Greaves of Radford House, near Leamington, and, settling at Stratford-on-Avon, opened a brewery in 1832, which was so successful that in thirty years he was able to retire and leave the business to his sons. He four times held the office of mayor of Stratford, the last occasion being in 1864, the year of the Shakespeare tercentenary. In this celebration he took a leading part, and was well known to all visitors to Shakespeare's birthplace, more especially to Americans, many of whom he hospitably entertained at his residence, The Hill, built in 1855. As a liberal he contested Coventry in 1865, and ​North Warwickshire in 1868, but was not elected. In 1873 he removed his residence to London, and being a great lover of horses he spent the remainder of his life in an endeavour to mitigate the sufferings caused by the use of improper harness, tight bearing-reins, and gag-bits. In these efforts he was to a certain extent successful. He died at 35 Hyde Park Gardens, London, 26 March 1883, and his widow Celina died 2 March 1884, aged 79. He left three sons, Charles Edward Flower, William Henry Flower, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., director of the Natural History Department, British Museum, and Edgar Flower. The books he published were: 1. ‘A Few Words about Bearing Reins,’ 1875. 2. ‘Bits and Bearing Reins,’ 1875; seventh edition, 1886. 3. ‘Horses and Harness,’ 1876. 4. ‘The Stones of London, or Macadam v. Vestries,’ 1880.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flower, Eliza

​FLOWER, ELIZA (1803–1846), musical composer, elder daughter of Benjamin Flower [q. v.], was born at Harlow, Essex, 19 April 1803. Her first published compositions, a series of ‘Fourteen Musical Illustrations of the Waverley Novels’ (1831), followed by ‘Songs of the Seasons’ and a number of other pieces, indicated the musician's power of sympathetic expression. Among a few political songs, ‘The Gathering of the Unions,’ a juvenile composition, has been republished as having been performed at the great Birmingham meeting in May 1832, where, in fact, the words had been sung, but to another musical setting. Of a higher character, though equally simple, is the widely known chorus, ‘Now pray we for our country’ (1842). The chief work of Miss Flower's musical life was the composition of ‘Hymns and Anthems, the words chiefly from Holy Scripture and the writings of the poets,’ arranged in five parts, ‘Adoration’ (1841), ‘Aspiration,’ ‘Belief,’ ‘Heaven upon Earth’ (1846), and ‘Life in Death’ (as yet unprinted). Eighteen of these pieces were republished in 1888, and a further selection is contemplated. The object of the composer was to supply a musical service for the congregation of South Place Chapel, Finsbury, which had no liturgy, and was accustomed to simple psalmody led by a precentor. A choir was, however, formed, and many of these compositions, full of melody and musical feeling, and at the same time truly devotional in character, were performed. Among the anthems deserving special mention are several to poetry written by her sister, Mrs. Sarah Flower Adams [q. v.], including ‘Darkness shrouded Calvary,’ and the well-known ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee,’ to the music of which many admirers of this hymn are strangers. Among the more simple hymns are Sir John Bowring's ‘Ancient of Ages’ and Milton's ‘Defend the Poor and Desolate.’ For the South Place Chapel choir a hymn-book was specially compiled by Mr. W. J. Fox, to which music from the best composers was adapted by Miss Flower. This highly gifted and enthusiastic musician died of consumption 12 Dec. 1846, and was buried in her father's grave near Harlow. Her portrait, drawn from memory by Mrs. Bridell Fox, lithographed by Vinter, has been published by Charles Fox.
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flood, Valentine

​FLOOD, VALENTINE, M.D. (d. 1847), anatomist, was born in Dublin, where his father practised as a barrister, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, as a member of which he took the degrees of B.A. in 1820, M.B. and M.A. in 1823, and M.D. in 1830 (Cat. of Graduates in University of Dublin, 1591–1868, p. 199). After serving the apprenticeship, at that time necessary for becoming licensed by the Irish College of Surgeons, to Richard Carmichael [q. v.], he took out the letters testimonial of the college, of which he ultimately became a fellow, and in 1828 or 1829 was appointed demonstrator of anatomy in the school of medicine connected with the Richmond Hospital. His increasing reputation as an anatomist led to his being chosen a lecturer on anatomy in the Richmond school about 1831–2. For a few seasons he gave his undivided attention to this branch of the profession, and became a favourite among the pupils. As a private teacher he eventually commanded one of the best classes in Dublin. Had Flood continued these pursuits, for which he was so admirably adapted, it is certain that he would have enjoyed a highly prosperous career. But becoming ambitious of succeeding as a general practitioner, he connected himself with one of the Dublin dispensaries about 1835, and laboured incessantly among the poor of the district in which he lived. To follow out his intention of becoming by this means introduced into general practice, his classes were neglected; students first complained, then rebelled, and finally deserted him. Having lost position both as a lecturer and a private teacher, Flood was at length obliged to leave Dublin. He went to London, and became associated with a medical school in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square; but he did not succeed. His health became impaired, and in 1846 he returned to Ireland. He then obtained one of the appointments afforded by the board of health to some fever sheds at Tubrid, in the county of Tipperary, and there contracted the epidemic typhus, of which he died 18 Oct. 1847. A stone was erected to his memory by the clergy of both denominations, and the principal members of the relief committee at Tubrid.
As early as 1828 Flood published at Dublin the first volume of a work never completed, entitled ‘The Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System,’ 12mo, which, though not without merit, lacked lucidity of style, and attracted little attention. In 1839 he issued the treatise upon which his fame will chiefly rest, ‘The Surgical Anatomy of the Arteries, and Descriptive Anatomy of the Heart: together with the Physiology of the Circulation in Man and inferior Animals,’ 12mo, London, 1839 (new edition by John Hatch Power, M.D., 16mo, Dublin, 1850). During his connection with the Richmond school he brought out a work on ‘The Anatomy and Surgery of Femoral and Inguinal Hernia. Illustrated with eight folio plates, drawn on stone by Mr. William Lover, from dissections and designs by Dr. Flood,’ fol., London, 1843, an excellent compilation. Flood was a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flood, Frederick

​FLOOD, Sir FREDERICK (1741–1824), Irish politician, was the younger son of John Flood of Farmley, county Kilkenny, and nephew of Warden Flood, chief justice of the court of king's bench in Ireland, the father of the Right Hon. Henry Flood [q. v.] He was born in 1741, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he proceeded B.A. in 1761, M.A. in 1764, LL.B. in 1766, and LL.D. in 1772. He was called to the Irish bar in 1763, soon attained considerable legal practice, and in the social circles of Dublin was immensely popular from his wit and oddity. He succeeded to handsome estates from both his parents, and in 1776 was elected to the Irish House of Commons as member for Enniscorthy. He sat for that constituency till 1783. From 1783 to 1790 he was M.P. for Ardfert, and in 1796–7 for Carlow borough. His relationship to Henry Flood did more for his reputation then his own abilities, and he consistently followed in his cousin's footsteps. In 1778 he was made a K.C. and elected a bencher of the King's Inns, and on 3 June 1780 he was created a baronet of Ireland ‘of Newton Ormonde, co. Kilkenny, and Banna Lodge, co. Wexford.’ Two years later he married Lady Juliana Annesley, daughter of the fifth Earl of Anglesey, and he took a prominent part in the volunteer movement, being elected colonel of the Wexford regiment. In many debates which preceded the abolition of the Irish parliament Flood was a frequent speaker. Sir Jonah Barrington calls him an ostentatious blunderer, whose ‘bulls’ did not contain the pith of sound sense which underlay the mistakes of Sir Boyle Roche. He adds that Flood would rashly accept any suggestions made to him while speaking, and one day, just after he had declared ‘that the magistrates of Wexford deserved the thanks of the lord-lieutenant,’ he added, on some wit's suggestion, ‘and should be whipped at the cart's tail’ (Barrington, Personal Sketches, i. 111). He steadily opposed the Act of Union, but when that measure was carried he did not retire from politics, but sat in the united House of Commons for the county of Wexford from 1812 to 1818. He made no particular impression there. His only son died unmarried in 1800, and it was proposed to perpetuate Flood's title by creating him a baronet of the United Kingdom, with remainder to his only daughter Frances, who was married to Richard Solly, esq. He died before the patent for this new honour had passed the great seal ​on 1 Feb. 1824, and left his estates to his grandson, Richard Solly, who took the name of Flood in addition to his own.
H. M. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flower, John

​FLOWER, JOHN (fl. 1658), puritan divine and preacher, born about 1624, was the son of William Flower of Cubley, Derbyshire. He became a commoner of New Inn Hall, Oxford, in Act term 1640, proceeded B.A. 2 April 1647, and was created M.A. by the parliamentary visitors, 14 April 1648. According to Wood ‘he was soon after preacher of God's word at Ilmington in Warwickshire, and afterwards at Staunton in the county of Nottingham, where I find him in 1658’ (Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 101, 112). He wrote: 1. ‘The Free and Honourable Servant, set forth in his Privileges and Prerogatives,’ 8vo, London, 1652. 2. ‘Several Quæries concerning the Church of Jesus Christ upon Earth, briefly explained and resolved,’ 8vo, London, 1658.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Flitcroft, Henry

​FLITCROFT, HENRY (1697–1769), architect, son of Jeffery Flitcroft, gardener to William III at Hampton Court, and grandson of Jeffery Flitcroft of Twiss Green, Winwick, Lancashire, was born on 29 Aug. 1697, and on 6 Nov. 1711 was apprenticed to Thomas Morris, citizen and joiner of London, for seven years, being admitted to the freedom of that company on 3 Nov. 1719. It is said that Flitcroft was employed as a carpenter in the house of Richard Boyle, third earl of Burlington [q. v.], and broke his leg by falling ​from a scaffold; hence he attracted the notice of the earl, who employed him as draughtsman on the edition of Inigo Jones's designs, published by Kent in 1727 at the Earl of Burlington's expense; some of these drawings are in the library of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Burlington's patronage insured Flitcroft's success, and even gained the architect the nickname of ‘Burlington Harry.’ In 1726 Flitcroft was employed in the office of the board of works; he continued to be engaged as clerk of the works at Whitehall, St. James's, and Westminster, as well as at Richmond and Kew, until 20 Nov. 1746, when he was appointed master-carpenter; on 10 May 1748 he succeeded Kent as master-mason; and on 10 March 1758 he succeeded Ripley as comptroller of the works in England, which post he held until his death. In 1729 Flitcroft designed a mansion for John Baynes near Havering in Essex; in 1733 he was commissioned to make the necessary alterations in Carlton House, then recently purchased, for Frederick, prince of Wales. In 1731 he entered into a contract to pull down the old church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields and to erect a new church and steeple in its place; the new church was opened in 1734, having been erected at a cost of over 10,000l., exceeding the original estimate by about 3,000l. It is perhaps too closely copied from Gibbs's church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. In 1737–9 Flitcroft was employed in erecting the church of St. Olave, Tooley Street, Southwark, which was completed at a cost of 5,000l. About 1745 he designed the church of St. John at Hampstead. Flitcroft made considerable alterations in Wentworth House, Yorkshire, for the Marquis of Rockingham, and in Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, for the Duke of Bedford; in 1747 he designed for Mary Lepel, lady Hervey, a house in St. James's Place, looking on the Green Park, afterwards occupied by the Earl of Moira; and in 1749 he rebuilt the church at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire. Flitcroft's general repute led to his being elected sheriff of London and Middlesex in June 1745, but he paid the fine to be excused serving the office; in 1747 he paid a similar fine on being elected renter warden of the Joiners' Company. He built for himself a house at Frognal, Hampstead, called Montagu Grove, where he resided for some time. He died on 25 Feb. 1769, in his seventy-second year, and was buried at Teddington in Middlesex. In the Royal Library at the British Museum there is a volume of architectural drawings and designs by Flitcroft, executed about 1750, and dedicated to William, duke of Cumberland.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harper, John (d.1742)

​HARPER, JOHN (d. 1742), actor, originally performed at Bartholomew and Southwark fairs. A performance for his benefit at Bullock's booth in Birdcage Alley, consisting of the 'Jew of Venice,' songs and dances, and the drunken man by Harper, is announced in the 'Daily Courant' of 24 Sept. 1719. On 7 Nov. at Lincoln's Inn Fields he was the original Montmorency in Buckingham's 'Henry IV of France,' and during the season of 1719-20 he played Teague in 'The Committee,' and was the first representative among other characters of Grogram (a mercer) in the 'Pretenders,' and Sir Roland Heartfree in Griffin's ' Whig and Tory.' He remained at Lincoln's Inn Fields until 1721, playing among other parts Dr. Caius in the 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' and Ajax in 'Troilus and Cressida.' On 27 Oct. 1721 his name appears as Sir Epicure Mammon in the 'Alchemist' at Drury Lane. Here he remained for eleven years, taking the parts of booby squires, foxhunters, &c., proving himself what Victor calls 'a jolly facetious low comedian.' His good voice was serviceable in ballad opera and farce. Davies, who speaks of him as 'a lusty fat man,' praises the brutal and jolly ignorance of his Sir Harry Gubbins in the 'Tender Husband,' the absurd humour, awkward bashfulness, and good-natured obstinacy of his Sir Wilful Witwould in the 'Way of the World,' and declares his Jobson 'the Cobbler in the 'Devil to Pay, or the Wives Metamorphosed,' of Coffey an admirable second to Miss Clive's inimitable Nell. For some years he was the Falstaff of Drury Lane, and he also played the king in 'King Henry VIII,' and in Banks' 'Virtue Betrayed.' His Falstaff was more popular than that of Quin, and had, according to Victor, a jollity wanting in his rival. Tony Aston says that 'the Falstaff of Betterton wanted the drollery of Harper' (Brief Supplement, p. 4). In Sir Epicure Mammon he failed to please Davies, and his only qualifications for King Henry appear to have been fatness and joviality. Harper was one of the actors who in 1733 seceded from Drury Lane. On account of his 'natural timidity,' according to Davies, he was selected by Highmore, the patentee, in order to test the status of an actor, to be the victim of legal proceedings taken under the Vagrant Act, 12 Queen Anne, and on 12 Nov. 1733 he was committed to Bridewell as a vagabond. On 20 Nov. he came before the chief justice of the king's bench. It was pleaded on his behalf that he paid his debts, was well esteemed by persons of condition, was a freeholder in Surrey, and a householder in Westminster. He was discharged amid acclamations on his own recognisance. On 21 Oct. 1738 Harper's name appears in the Drury Lane bills in his favourite part of Cacafogo in 'Rule a Wife and have a Wife.' Soon afterwards he had a stroke of paralysis. He died on 1 Jan. 1742. A print of Harper as Jobson was published in 1739.
[Works cited; Genest's Account of the English Stage; Colley Gibber's Apology, ed. Lowe; Davies's Dramatic Miscellanies, and Life of Garrick; Gilliland's Dramatic Mirror.]
J. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harold, Francis

​HAROLD, FRANCIS (d. 1685), Franciscan and author, was a native of Limerick, and member of the Franciscan order, to which his uncle, Luke Wadding, was the historiographer. Harold acted for a time as professor of theology at Vienna and Prague. He subsequently became an official of the Irish Franciscan convent of St. Isidore, Rome, of which Wadding was rector, and was appointed chronographer of the order of St. Francis. He died at Rome, 18 March 1685.
Harold published: 1. A Latin epitome of Wadding's 'Annals of the Franciscans,' extending from 1208 to 1540, Rome, 1662, 2 vols. fol. To the first volume Harold prefixed a memoir of Wadding, with a dedication to Cardinal Francesco Barberini. The second volume was dedicated to Michael Angelo Sambuca, minister-general of the Franciscan order. The 'Life of Wadding' was reissued at Rome in 1731. 2. 'Limalimata conciliis, constitutionibus synodalibus, et aliis monumentis, quibus Toribius Alphonsus Mogrovius, archiepiscopus Limanus, provinciam Limensem seu Peruanum imperium elimavit, et ad normam canonum composuit; omnia fere ex Hispanico Latine reddita, notis etscholiis illustrata,' Rome, 1673, fol. This work contains a collection of documents connected with the councils and affairs of the Spanish representatives of the Roman catholic church in Peru, with many particulars illustrating the relations between the Spanish missionaries and the Indians. 3. 'Beati Tlmribii Alphonsi Mogroveii, archiepiscopi Limensis vita exemplaris,' Rome, 1683, 4to. This biography of Alfonso Toribio Mogrobeio, the zealous and philanthropic archbishop of Lima (1581 to 1606 ), who was canonised in 1726, is of great rarity. A copy, with the author's manuscript corrections, is preserved in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.
[Traité de l'étude des Conciles, Paris, 1724; Annales Ordinis Minorum, 1731; Dictionnaire de Moreri, Paris, 1759; Scriptores Ordinis Minorum, 1731.]
J. T. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harper, James

​HARPER, JAMES, D.D. (1795–1879), theologian, was born at Lanark 23 June 1795. His father was a secession minister, a descendant of Sir John Harper of Cambusnethan and Craigcrook, who was sheriff of Lanarkshire in the time of Charles II, and a friend and associate of Archbishop Leighton. Harper was educated at the university of Edinburgh, where, besides the ordinary curriculum of arts, he took several of the medical classes, and thereafter he attended the divinity hall of the secession church, which at that time was held at Selkirk under the charge of Dr. Lawson. In 1818 he was licensed by the united secession presbytery of Lanark, and in 1819 was ordained to the charge of the secession congregation in North Leith. His connection with this large congregation was maintained for sixty years, though latterly the duties were discharged by a colleague. In 1826 he became editor of a journal started under the auspices of members of the united secession church, the 'Edinburgh Theological Magazine,' which he conducted with ability and independence. During the controversy about the British and Foreign Bible Society Harper opposed Dr. Andrew Thomson, the champion of the anti-apocrypha cause. He was called to the chair of the secession synod in 1840. In 1843 he received the honorary degree of D.D. from Jefferson College in the United States. In the same year he was appointed professor ​of pastoral theology for the secession church, but retained his charge. Harper took an active part in promoting the union of the secession and relief bodies, which was effected in 1848. In that year he was transferred from the chair of pastoral to that of systematic theology. He also promoted a commemoration of the Westminster Assembly in 1843, and of the evangelical alliance which sprang out of that commemoration. In 1850 he was appointed editor of the 'United Presbyterian Magazine,' which took the place of the journals of the Secession and the Relief. In 1860 he became moderator of the united presbyterian synod. He supported the proposal of union between the united presbyterian and free churches, and was an active member of the committee which strove to effect that union, but unsuccessfully, owing to the opposition of Dr. Begg and others. In 1876, when the theological hall of the united presbyterian church was reconstructed, and the period of study changed and enlarged, he was associated with Dr. Cairns in the chair of apologetical and systematic theology, and likewise called to preside over the college. In 1877 the university of Glasgow conferred on him the honorary degree of D.D. He died on 13 April 1879.
Harper made no important contributions to literature, but enjoyed an excellent reputation as a scholar and theologian.
[Andrew Thomson's Memoir of James Harper, D.D., 1880 ; Edinburgh newspapers, 14 April 1879 ; personal knowledge.]
W. G. B.