OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Legge, George (1755-1810)

​LEGGE, GEORGE, third Earl of Dartmouth (1755–1810), statesman, born 3 Oct. 1765, son of William, the second earl [q. v.], by Frances Catherine, only daughter and heiress of Sir Charles Gunter Nicholl, K.B., was edncated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated 22 Oct. 1771, and was created M.A. 3 July 1775, and D.C.L. 28 Oct. 1778. He entered the House of Commons 5 June 1778 as member for Plymouth, and in the succeeding parliament represented the county of Stafford, his courtesy title being Lord Lewisham. He made his maiden speech 17 March 1779 against the bill for the relief of protestant dissenters, and afterwards (25 Nov.) moved an address to the throne. He supported the government on the rupture with Holland in January 1781; in 1782 he was appointed lord of the bedchamber to the Prince of Wales, in 1783 lord warden of the stannaries, retiring from office upon the dismissal of Fox and Lord North in the same year. On 19 May 1801 he was made president of the board of control, having been sworn of the privy council the preceding 17 March, and 15 June following e was summoned to the House of Lords, in his father's lifetime, as Baron Dartmouth, but never sat as such. He took his seat as Earl of Dartmouth 29 Oct. 1801. In 1802 (15 Aug.) he was made lord steward of the household, and in 1804 (14 May) lord chamberlain. He was an official trustee of the British Museum (1802–10), K.G. (1805), and colonel of the loyal Birmingham regiment of volunteers. He died in Cornwall on 1 Nov. 1810, and was buried on the 24th in the family vault in Trinity Church, Minories, London.
He married, 24 Sept. 1782, Lady Frances Finch, daughter of Heneage, third earl of Aylesford, by whom he had five sons and nine daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son, William.
[Gent. Mag. 1810, pt. ii. p. 500; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Georgian Era, i. 557; Parl. Hist. xx. 307, xxi. 1084; Beatson's Polit. Index, i. 456, ii. 386; Courthope's Hist. Peerage; Collins's Peerage (Brydges), iv. 123; Doyle's Official Baronage; Lords' Journ. xliii. 395; Haydn's Book of Dignities, ed. Ockerby; Diary and Correspondence of Charles Abbot, Lord Colchester, i. 615.]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ralph the Timid

​RALPH the Timid, Earl of Hereford (d. 1057), younger son of Drogo or Dreux (d. 1035), count of the Vexin, by Godgifu or Goda, daughter of Ethelred II, came over to England in 1041, during the reign of Hardecanute (Historia Ramesiensis, p. 171), with his uncle, Edward the Confessor. The latter, who came to the throne the next year, regarded the young man with favour, and he was entrusted with the earldom of Worcestershire, probably in subordination to Leofric, earl of Mercia [q. v.] (Codex Diplomaticus, iv. 123, No. 792; Norman Conquest, ii. 111); he was in command there in July 1049, when a force of pirates from Ireland and Welsh under Gruffydd ab Rhydderch [q. v.] invaded the shire. He fled before them, leaving Worcester to be burnt by the invaders, and gaining for himself the appellation of ‘the timid earl’ (Will. Malm. Gesta Regum, ii. c. 199; Flor. Wig. an. 1055). On the outbreak of the quarrel between the king and Earl Godwin [q. v.], which arose out of the outrage committed by Ralph's stepfather, Count Eustace of Boulogne, at Dover in 1051, he marched to Gloucester to uphold the king (ib. an. 1051). When Godwin and his sons were banished he received Swegen's earldom of Herefordshire (Norman Conquest, ii. 160, 561), and it was thought possible at this time that, in spite of the fact that Ralph had an elder brother living (Count Walter III, who died in 1063), Edward might fix upon him as his successor (ib. pp. 298, 367). It was known in June 1052 that Godwin was about to attempt to return to England, and Ralph, in conjunction with Earl Odda, another of the king's kinsmen, was put in command of a fleet at Sandwich to prevent his landing. The weather was bad, and Godwin returned with his vessels to Flanders; but Ralph was held to have displayed little activity, and both he and Odda were replaced in their command (Anglo-Saxon Chron. an. 1052, Peterborough). Ralph was the only foreign earl that was allowed to retain his earldom after Godwin's return. In 1055 his earldom was invaded and ravaged by Ælfgar [q. v.], the dispossessed earl of East Anglia, and his Welsh allies under Gruffydd. He met the invaders on 24 Oct., two miles from Hereford, at the head of an army composed partly of the English of his earldom and partly of French and Normans. He commanded the English to fight on horseback, contrary to their custom. He was the first to flee, and it is said that his French and Normans fled with him, and that the English followed their example; four or five hundred of them were slain, and Hereford was sacked and set on fire (Flor. Wig. an. 1055; Anglo-Saxon Chron. an. 1055, Abingdon; Norman Conquest, ii. 388–90). Ralph died on 21 Dec. 1057, and was buried in Peterborough Abbey, to which he was a benefactor (Anglo-Saxon Chron. an. 1057; Hugo Candidus, Cœnob. Burgi Historia, p. 44). He was inert, cowardly (Gesta Regum, ii. c. 199), and, it may be inferred from his order to the English at the battle of Hereford, arbitrary and headstrong.
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ralston, John

​RALSTON, RALESTON, or RAULSTON, JOHN (d. 1452), bishop of Dunkeld, came of a family which traced its descent from Ralph, a son of one of the earls of Fife; but more probably it owed its name to Ralston, a village in Renfrewshire, where it had long been seated (Crawford, Hist. of Renfrewshire, 1782, pp. 170, 242). In 1426 John was chaplain and secretary to James I's nephew, Archibald Douglas, fifth earl of Douglas and second duke of Touraine [q. v.] Subsequently he became rector of Cambuslang, sacrist and canon of Glasgow, provost of Bothwell, and dean of Dunkeld. About 1440 he received the degree of doctor of laws. In February 1443–4 he was granted a safe-conduct to go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, and in the same year was appointed secretary to James II, in which capacity he witnessed numerous royal grants. He also acted as auditor in the exchequer in 1444, 1445, 1447, 1449, and 1450. In 1447 he was made keeper of the privy seal and bishop of Dunkeld, being consecrated on 4 April 1448. In the latter year he was sent on an embassy to Charles VII, king of France, to renew the treaty between the two kingdoms, and to request Charles to recommend a French princess as wife of James II. The former object was accomplished on 31 Dec., but, there being no French princess eligible for James, the ambassadors proceeded to Philip of Burgundy, who suggested his kinswoman Mary of Gueldres [q. v.] After returning to Paris and securing the approval of Charles, the ambassadors concluded the marriage negotiation at Brussels. In June Ralston conducted Mary to Edinburgh, where she was married on 3 July 1449.
In the same year the bishop became lord high treasurer, resigning his offices of secretary and keeper of the privy seal. In September he was sent to England to renew the truce between the two kingdoms, and before the end of the year gave up the treasurership. In his official capacity he took a considerable part in the proceedings of the Scottish parliament in 1450 and 1451. In the latter year he was sent on a similar mission to England. He died towards the end of 1452, and was buried at Dunkeld.
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramadge, Francis Hopkins

​RAMADGE, FRANCIS HOPKINS, M.D. (1793–1867), medical writer, born in 1793, was eldest son of Thomas Ramadge of Dublin. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated B.A in 1816 and M.B. and M.A. in 1819. He was incorporated on his M.B. degree at Oxford as a member of St. Alban Hall on 4 May 1821, and proceeded M.D. on 27 June following (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1888, iii. 1172). Ramadge was admitted an inceptor-candidate of the College of Physicians on 26 June 1820, a candidate on 1 Oct. 1821, and a fellow on 30 Sept. 1822. He was censor in 1825. He established himself in London, where he became successively physician to the Central Infirmary and Dispensary, and lecturer there on the principles and practice of medicine and chemistry, and senior physician to the infirmary for asthma, consumption, and other diseases of the lungs. He died at 12 Clarges Street, Piccadilly, on 8 June 1867.
Besides contributions to the ‘Lancet,’ ‘Medical Times,’ and ‘Notes and Queries,’ Ramadge wrote: 1. ‘Consumption Curable,’ 8vo, London, 1834; 2nd edit. 1838; 3rd edit. 1842. An American edition appeared at New York in 1839; it was also translated into German by Dr. Hohnbaum, and into French by Dr. Lebeau. 2. ‘On Asthma and Diseases of the Heart’ (2nd edit. 8vo, London, 1847). A translation, with notes, of Laennec's ‘Treatise on Mediate Auscultation,’ 8vo, London, 1846, which was seen through the press by Theophilus Herbert, M.D., was ‘essentially the work of Dr. Ramadge.’
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ralph of Wader

​RALPH of Wader, Earl of Norfolk (fl. 1070). [See Guader, Ralph.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ram, James

​RAM, JAMES (1793–1870), conveyancer and legal author, son of James Ram of Monkwick, Essex, was born in 1793. He was indentured to a London firm of solicitors, but afterwards entered Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1817, and ​proceeded M.A. in 1823. After making what was then the grand tour during 1818–22, he entered the Inner Temple, where he was called to the bar on 21 Nov. 1823. A pupil of the eminent conveyancer, Richard Preston [q. v.], he practised in London and Ipswich, where he resided in later life, and died in 1870. He married the only daughter of Captain Ralph Willett Adye [see Adye, Stephen Payne], and left issue.
As a legal author Ram obtained a well-founded reputation for painstaking research, methodical arrangement, and lucidity of style. His works, all published in London, are as follows: 1. ‘The Science of Legal Judgment: a Treatise designed to show the Materials whereof, and the Process by which, the Courts of Westminster Hall construct their Judgments, and adapted to practical and general use in the Discussion and Determination of Questions of Law,’ 1822, 8vo; New York, 1871, 8vo. 2. ‘Observations on the Natural Right of a Father to the Custody of his Children and to direct their Education; his Forfeiture of this Right, and the Jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery to control it,’ 1825, 8vo. 3. ‘An Outline of the Law of Tenure and Tenancy: containing the first principles of the law of real property,’ 1825, 8vo. 4. ‘A Treatise on the Exposition of Wills of Landed Property,’ 1827, 8vo. 5. ‘A Practical Treatise of Assets, Debts, and Incumbrances,’ 1832; 2nd edit. 1837. 6. ‘A Treatise on Facts as Subjects of Inquiry by a Jury,’ 1851, 8vo; New York, 3rd edit. 1873.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramage, Craufurd Tait

​RAMAGE, CRAUFURD TAIT (1803–1878), miscellaneous writer, born at Annefield, near Newhaven, on 10 Sept. 1803, was educated successively at Wallace Hall Academy, Dumfriesshire, at the Edinburgh high school, and the university, where he graduated M.A. in 1825. While at the university he took private pupils, including Archibald Campbell Tait, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. After leaving college Ramage became tutor in the family of Sir Henry Lushington, and spent three years with his pupils in Naples, afterwards making the tour of Italy. For fifteen years after his return he was tutor in the family of Thomas Spring-Rice, afterwards Lord Monteagle [q. v.] He devoted his leisure to literary pursuits, and contributed to the ‘Quarterly Journal of Education,’ the ‘Penny Cyclopædia,’ and the seventh edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica.’
In 1841 Ramage was appointed vice-master of Wallace Hall Academy, and he succeeded, on the death of Dr. Mundell, to the rectorship in 1842. He was nominated a justice of the peace for Dumfriesshire in 1848, and the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the university of Glasgow in 1852. He died at Wallace Hall on 29 Nov. 1878.
He published four anthologies, entitled ‘Beautiful Thoughts,’ respectively ‘from Greek Authors, with English Translations, and Lives of the Authors,’ Liverpool, 1864, 8vo; ‘from Latin Authors, with English Translations,’ Liverpool, 1864, 8vo; 3rd edit. enlarged, 1877, 8vo; ‘from French and Italian Authors, with English Translations and Lives of the Authors,’ Liverpool, 1866, 8vo; ‘from German and Spanish Authors,’ Liverpool, 1868, 8vo. His other works are: ​1. ‘Defence of the Parochial Schools of Scotland,’ Edinburgh, 1854, 8vo. 2. ‘The Nooks and Byways of Italy. Wanderings in Search of its Ancient Remains and Modern Superstitions,’ Liverpool, 1868, 8vo. 3. ‘Drumlanrig Castle and the Douglases: with the Early History and Ancient Remains of Durisdeer, Closeburn, and Morton,’ Dumfries, 1876, 8vo. 4. ‘Bible Echoes in Ancient Classics,’ Edinburgh, 1878, 8vo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ralph of St. Albans

1904 Errata appended. Contains subarticle Ralph Gobion or Gubiun (d. 1151) (Ralph Gubion)
​RALPH of St. Albans or RALPH of Dunstable (fl. 1180?), learned writer, was probably a native of Dunstable and monk of St. Albans. By some writers he is called Robert. At the request of another monk, William, he turned into verse, with some amplifications, William's Latin prose lives of St. Alban and St. Amphibalus, which William had dedicated to the abbot Simon (1166–1188). Copies of Ralph's work are in the Cotton. MSS. Julius D iii. ff. 125–58 b, and Claud. E. iv. 3, ff. 47–58 b, and in MS. Trinity College, Dublin, E. i. 40 (Leland, De Script. iii. 163). In the ‘History of St. Albans’ by Thomas of Walsingham, Ralph is compared to Virgil (J. Amundesham, Rolls Ser. ii. 296, 304).
A contemporary, Ralph Gobion or Gubiun (d. 1151), abbot of St. Albans, was an English secular priest of good lineage, chaplain and treasurer to Alexander [q. v.], bishop of Lincoln (1123–1147), who obtained for him admission as monk of St. Albans, with leave to continue with the bishop. Alexander also promised Ralph succession to the abbacy, and secured his election in 1146. Ralph had attended the lectures of a certain Master Odo, an Italian, and was remarkable for his love of learning and his large collection of books. He visited France, met Eugenius III at Auxerre, and from him procured a privilege for his monastery. He freed the abbey from debt, improved the estates and buildings, and gave vestments. According to the historian of the monastery, he unjustly deposed his prior, Alquinus, whom he disliked, on suspicion of counterfeiting the seal of the house. In 1150 he fell ill, and on 18 June made the prior his deputy. He died on 7 July, and was buried at the east front of the chapter-house. He is probably the Ralph of St. Albans who wrote a Latin prose history in five books of Philip and Alexander, kings of Macedon, extracted from Pompeius Trogus, Orosius, Josephus, Jerome, Solinus, Augustine, Beda, and Isidore. A copy is in the MS. 154, Caius College, Cambridge, ff. 1–136 (cf. Bodleian MS. Greaves, 60). Pits observes that some say Geoffrey or Walter Hemlington, monk of St. Albans, wrote on Alexander and dedicated his work to Ralph (Vossius, De Historicis Latinis, 1651).
M. B.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.230 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Neville, Geoffrey de (d.1285)

​NEVILLE, GEOFFREY de (d. 1285), baron, son of Geoffrey de Neville (d. 1249), and younger brother of Robert de Neville (d. 1282) [q. v.], first appears as taking an active part in the barons' war, siding, like most of his family, with the king. In 1264 he was with Prince Edward, and was captured at the battle of Lewes, but was soon exchanged for Robert Newington, who had been made prisoner by the king at Northampton. On Edward's escape in 1265 Neville again joined him, and was present when he recaptured Dover, being left in charge as constable of the castle (Gervase of Canterbury, ii. 243). The following year, perhaps as a reward for his fidelity, he was granted the right of free market in his town of Appleby, Lincolnshire. In 1270 he was governor of Scarborough Castle, and also head of the justices in eyre for pleas of the forests beyond the Trent. In 1275 he was appointed chief assessor in Cumberland and Lancashire, of the fifteenth granted by the prelates, earls and barons. The next two years he was summoned to serve in the campaigns against Llywelyn. In 1280 he was chief justice in eyre for pleas of the forest in Nottinghamshire, and in 1282 he was summoned to serve against Llywelyn in April, May, and August. In 1283 he was present at the Shrewsbury parliament, and in the same year was one of the executors of his brother Robert. Geoffrey died in 1285.
Like his father, Neville is said to have married a Margaret, daughter of John de Longvillers (d. 1255), who brought him Hoton Longvillers and various other manors. Geoffrey, and after his death his widow, had considerable difficulty in proving their titles to some of these manors when Edward I instituted his ‘quo warranto’ inquiry (Placita de Quo Warranto, pp. 186, &c.) By Margaret, who survived him many years, Neville had one son, John, from whom were descended the Nevilles of Hornby.
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Neville, Grey

​NEVILLE, GREY (1681–1723), politician, elder son of Richard Neville (1655–1717) of Billingbear, Berkshire, and Catharine, daughter of Ralph Grey, baron Grey of Werke, was born in the parish of St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, London, 23 Sept. 1681. His father, who represented Berkshire in seven parliaments, was third son of Richard Neville (1615–1676) of Billingbear, a gentleman of the privy chamber, and colonel of the forces to Charles I. Grey was elected M.P. for Abingdon 10 May 1705. A petition against his return was unsuccessfully presented by his tory opponent, Sir Simon Harcourt [q. v.] (Journal of House of Commons, vol. xv.) In the next parliament, elected in 1708, Neville sat for Wallingford. On 1 Feb. 1715 he was elected for Berwick-on-Tweed, and was re-elected for the same constituency 31 March 1722. He supported the Act for naturalising foreign protestants in 1708, voted for the impeachment of Dr. Sacheverell, and generally acted with the whigs. When the first schism broke out in the party, he joined the Walpole section, and voted with the majority which threw out the Peerage bill of 1719. Neville's most prominent action as a member of the House of Commons was his defence in 1721 of James Craggs the elder [q. v.] and John Aislabie [q. v.], late chancellor of the exchequer, who had been implicated in the affairs of the South Sea Company.
Neville died on 24 April 1723 at his seat, Billingbear. He was very popular with the dissenters, and left a sum of money to Jeremiah Hunt [q. v.], pastor of the congregational church at Pinner's Hall, to preach a sermon after his death. One condition of the bequest was that his name should not be mentioned in the sermon.
By his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Boteler of Woodhall, who died 16 Nov. 1740, Neville had only one child, a daughter, who died in infancy. His portrait was painted by Dahl in 1720, and engraved by G. White. His brother Henry, who was born 17 Aug. 1683, succeeded to the Billingbear estates, and assumed the additional name of Grey. He was elected to the House of Commons for Wendover 21 Nov. 1709, and died in September 1740.
G. Le G. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Graham, John (d.1298)

​GRAHAM, Sir JOHN (d. 1298), warrior, the second son of Sir David Graham of Dundaff, by Annabella, daughter of Robert, earl of Strathearn, was friend of William Wallace. He joined Wallace at an early period in his career, and assisted him so manfully that Buchanan says of him that next to Wallace he was the most valiant of the Scots. In an engagement near Queensberry, where Wallace with a few followers was hardly pressed by several hundred English soldiers, Graham came to the rescue, and, having put the English to flight, pursued and slew their captain, Graystock. He was slain at the battle of Falkirk on 22 July 1298. Graham was one of the few still unbroken, when, as he struck down a knight, he was stabbed by a soldier from behind. His death was grievously lamented by Wallace, who is represented by Blind Harry the Minstrel as weeping over the body when found upon the field of battle. Graham was buried in the churchyard of Falkirk, where a monument was afterwards ​erected to his memory, which has been carefully preserved. The sword with which he is alleged to have fought is in possession of the Duke of Montrose. It is inscribed with the following lines:—
Sir John the Grame, verry vicht and wyse, One of the chiefes relievit Scotland thryse: Fought with this sword, and ne'er thought schame; Commandit nane to beir it bot his name.
H. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Graham, John (1776-1844)

​GRAHAM, JOHN (1776–1844), historian, born in 1776 in co. Fermanagh, Ireland, was grandson of Lieutenant James Graham of Clones, and great-grandson of James Graham of Mullinahinch, who was a cornet at the defence of Enniskillen in 1689. The family was transplanted to Ulster from Cumberland in the early part of the seventeenth century. He graduated B.A. in 1798 and M.A. in 1815 at Trinity College, Dublin, was ordained in the established church of Ireland, and obtained the curacy of Lifford, co. Donegal. He had witnessed the celebration of the centenary of the siege of Londonderry in 1788, and had been brought up in admiration of its heroes. In 1819 he published, by the aid of Lord Kenyon, in London, ‘Annals of Ireland, Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Military,’ an account compiled from numerous authorities of the wars in Ireland, which began in October 1641. In 1823 he published at Londonderry ‘Derriana,’ consisting of a history of the siege of Londonderry and defence of Enniskillen in 1688 and 1689, with historical poetry and biographical notes. It is a clear and interesting account of the siege, based on the journals of the defenders and other contemporary records. One of the poems, ‘The Shutting of the Gates,’ is a spirited ballad of six stanzas, which attained widespread popularity in the district, and may still be heard in farmhouses between the Foyle and the Ban, where these lines are felt—
Cold are the hands that closed that gate Against the wily foe, But here to time's remotest date Their spirit still shall glow.
A second edition of the book, without the poems, was published in Dublin in 1829, and the poems were printed separately in the same year. In April 1824 Graham obtained the rectory of Tamlaght-ard, commonly called Magilligan, on the coast of county Derry, and here he resided till his death, 6 March 1844. In 1839 he published in Dublin ‘A History of Ireland from the Relief of Londonderry in 1689 to the Siege of Limerick in 1691,’ a book much read in the north of ​Ireland. He often took part in Orange celebrations, but always expressed good feeling towards the Roman catholics, and was popular in his district, where many stories of his eccentricities remain. Sir Walter Scott wrote to him, and is said to have admired his ballads.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Graham, John (fl.1720-1775)

​GRAHAM, JOHN (fl. 1720–1775), history-painter, an Englishman by birth, went at an early age to Holland, and settled at the Hague, where he studied painting under Pieter Terwesten and Arnold Houbraken. His name appears in the lists of the Guild of St. Luke at the Hague from 1718 to 1742. He also visited Rome to study art there, and on his return visited Paris and London, though he made the Hague his home. He lived with his sister in a house, which he adorned with ceiling and other paintings from his own hand. In 1775 it appears that Graham and his sister removed to London, where he probably died at a very advanced age.
L. C.