OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Keith, Robert (d.1774)

1904 Errata appended.
​KEITH, ROBERT (d. 1774), ambassador, was only son of Colonel Keith of Craig, Kincardineshire, by Agnes, daughter of Robert Murray of Murrayshall, Stirlingshire. His father was seventh in descent from John Keith, fourth son of William, second earl Marischal. Robert was for some time secretary to the forces under the Earl of Stair. About August 1746 he was made secretary to John Montagu, fourth earl of Sandwich [q. v.], went with him to the Hague, and accompanied him to the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. In August 1748 he was appointed British minister at Vienna (Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 32814, ff. 59, 93), in succession to Sir Thomas Robinson [q. v.], and conducted with credit, though without much success, the negotiations regarding the imperial election of 1752, and the alliances which preceded the seven years' war. He was throughout a firm friend to Newcastle. At the end of 1753 he was raised to the rank of minister plenipotentiary (ib. 15874, f. 237). In 1758 he was transferred to St. Petersburg, where he remained through the revolution of 1762. An intrigue among certain members of the diplomatic service failed in its object of fastening upon him a charge of improper conduct with the Czarina Catherine; but when Catherine II ascended the throne the Russian government requested that a nobleman should take his place, and he returned to England in July 1762. He was apparently granted a pension of 1,000l. a year, and obtained supporters to his arms 17 March 1769 (Cal. Home Office Papers, 1766–9, Nos. 1121, 1424). For the first ten years of his retirement he lived at the Hermitage, near Edinburgh, devoting himself to gardening. His large circle of friends included Hume and Robertson, with whom, as ‘Ambassador Keith,’ he was very popular. Shortly before his death he removed to ​a house in St. Andrews Square, and he died there 21 Sept. 1774. By his wife Margaret, second daughter of Sir William Cunningham of Caprington, Ayrshire, he had two sons, Sir Robert Murray Keith [q. v.], who is separately noticed, and Sir Basil Keith, who served in the navy, and died governor of Jamaica in Aug. 1777. His daughter, Anne Murray Keith (1736–1818), is introduced under the name of Mrs. Bethune Baliol into the ‘Introduction to the Chronicles of Canongate.’ Scott, writing of her death, said that ‘much tradition, and of the very best kind,’ had died with her; she was known in Edinburgh as ‘Sister Anne.’
A very large number of Keith's letters are preserved among the Addit. MSS. at the British Museum. They give a complete account of his negotiations, and are mostly addressed to the Duke of Newcastle. Some of his letters are printed in ‘Memoirs of Sir Robert Murray Keith,’ 1849, vol. i.
W. A. J. A.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.171 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 329 | i | 8 | Keith, Robert (d. 1774): omit only |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Keith, Thomas

​KEITH, THOMAS (1759–1824), mathematical writer and teacher, son of Thomas Keith, labourer, and Elizabeth his wife, was baptised at Brandesburton, near Beverley, 22 Sept. 1759. His father died soon after his birth, and Keith spent some years as a private tutor. In 1781 he came to London, and gained his livelihood as a teacher of mathematics and wrote mathematical books. He did other hack-work, such as editing Paterson's ‘Road-book,’ but he became known to persons of influence, and in 1804 was appointed secretary to the master of his majesty's household. In 1810 he was made professor of geography to the Princess Charlotte of Wales, and he also taught the Princess Sophia Matilda. By the patronage of Charles Abbot, afterwards first Lord Colchester [q. v.], he was appointed in 1814 accountant to the British Museum. Keith died on 29 June 1824, at 1 York Buildings, New Road, Marylebone.
Keith's chief works, all published in London, are: 1. ‘A Short and Easy Introduction to the Science of Geography,’ 1787. 2. ‘The Complete Practical Arithmetician,’ 1788; 12th edit. 1838. 3. ‘The New Schoolmaster's Assistant,’ 1796. 4. ‘Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry,’ 1801. 5. ‘Treatise on the Use of the Globes,’ 1804. 6. ‘The Elements of Plane Geometry,’ 1814.
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Keith, William (d.1635)

​KEITH, WILLIAM, sixth Earl Marischal (d. 1635), was the eldest son of George, fifth earl Marischal, by his wife Margaret, daughter of Alexander, fifth lord Home [q. v.] On 21 Jan. 1608 he was, along with his father, summoned [see Keith, George, fifth Earl ​Marischal] to answer for his conduct towards Francis Sinclair, son of the Earl of Caithness (Reg. P. C. Scotl. viii. 38). He succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father, 2 April 1623. On 1 Oct. of the same year he granted a charter, ratifying his father's erection of Marischal College, Aberdeen, and mortification therefor of the lands of the Black and the White friars, but specially excepting the lands of the chaplanries of Bervie and Cowie (Fasti Mariscallanæ Aberdonensis, i. 190–4). He was present at the funeral of James I at Westminster Abbey, 5 May 1625 (Balfour, Annals, ii. 117). When Charles I in 1626 bought three ships for securing the Scottish coasts, the Earl Marischal was made commander of them; but, according to Sir James Balfour, allowed his captains to make good cheer instead of annoying the enemy (ib. ii. 141). When Charles entered Edinburgh after his coronation in 1633 the Earl Marischal received him at the High Tolbooth, and ‘conveyed him to his tribunal through his guard standing within the door and set the king down’ (Spalding, Memorials, i. 38). In the following year he fitted out a fleet, which he sent to the assistance of Uladislaus VII, king of Poland. He died at his castle of Dunnottar 28 Oct. 1635, and was buried in the church there on 26 Dec. following. By his wife, Lady Margaret Erskine, daughter of John, earl of Mar, he had four sons, William, seventh earl Marischal [q. v.]; George, eighth earl Marischal; Hon. Sir Robert Keith; and John, first earl of Kintore [q. v.]; and three daughters: Mary, married to John, lord Kinpont; Jane, to Alexander, lord Pitsligo; and Anne.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Evans, William Edward

​EVANS, WILLIAM EDWARD (1801–1869), divine and naturalist, was born 8 June 1801 at Shrewsbury. He inherited a taste for poetry and natural history from his father, John Evans, M.D., who was a physician in that town, and author of a poem in four books on bees (1806–13). His mother was Jane Wilson. A brother, Robert Wilson Evans [q. v.], became archdeacon of Westmoreland. From Shrewsbury School, then ruled by Dr. Butler, Evans gained a scholarship at Clare Hall, Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degree of B.A. in 1823 and M.A. in 1826. After taking holy orders he became curate of Llanymynech, Shropshire, till his ​marriage to a cousin, Elizabeth Evans, when he was presented to the living of Criggion, Montgomeryshire. This, however, he resigned in order to live at Burton Court, Leominster, which his wife had inherited, and to hold the sole charge of the parish of Monkland. In 1841 he was appointed prebendary of Hereford and prælector of the cathedral. After holding Monkland for eighteen years, in 1850 Evans accepted the living of Madley with Tibberton, Herefordshire. In 1861 he became canon of Hereford Cathedral. His health failed for the last two or three years of his life, and he died in the Close, Hereford, 21 Nov. 1869.
Evans possessed a lively apprehension of natural objects and beauties, some wit, and a fair amount of reading. He was an eloquent and effective preacher, a careful student of animals, especially of birds, and an excellent angler. His chief work is ‘The Song of the Birds; or Analogies of Animal and Spiritual Life,’ 1845, 8vo, in which the habits of birds are shown to be instinct with higher lessons. Thus their ‘rising and soaring,’ he states, is emblematical of the ‘spiritual flights of the renewed spirit.’ The introduction displays much observation, and has been rightly called ‘full of grace and beauty;’ but the versification falls short of his aim, although its sentiments are frequently elevated, and a pure and religious strain of thought everywhere pervades it. The twenty-two chapters on our chief song birds show the minute carefulness and accuracy of Evans's powers of observation. Besides this he wrote ‘Sermons on Genesis,’ ‘Family Prayers,’ ‘First Revelations of God to Man’ (Sermons), and a ‘Letter to the Bishop [of Hereford] on Diocesan Education,’ 1850, with one or two occasional sermons. He left one daughter and three sons, one of whom is the present vicar of Holmer, Herefordshire.
M. G. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Everard, John (fl.1611)

​EVERARD, JOHN (fl. 1611), catholic student, was born at Dean, Northamptonshire, in 1587. For seven years he was educated at home under a B.A. of Cambridge, named Johnson, and subsequently he prosecuted his studies for half a year under the tuition of a doctor of divinity named Strickland. Then he was sent to ​Clare Hall, Cambridge, and placed under the care of Dr. Byng, principal of the college. Everard's father died in 1608, and his mother afterwards was married to Richard Smyth, rector of Bulwick, Northamptonshire. While at the university he was converted to the catholic faith through reading the works of Bellarmin and Stapleton, and going to the college of the English jesuits at St. Omer he was there reconciled to the Roman church by Father John Floyd. He was admitted into the English College at Rome as a probationer in 1610, but he went away after two or three months, because he was afflicted with dizziness in the head during his studies, and also because he was unable to agree with his fellow-students. Returning to England he published an account of his experiences as a student in a book entitled 'Britanno-Romanvs, sive Angligenarum in collegio Romano vitæ ratio,' London, 1611, 8vo. Of his subsequent career nothing certain is known. Perhaps he may be identical with the Jesuit father John Everard who died at the Professed House, Antwerp, on 6 Dec. 1649.
[Foley's Records, iv. 611. vi. 257. vii. 234; Gillow's Bibl. Dict.; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Everard, Robert

​EVERARD, ROBERT (fl. 1664), catholic writer, was a gentleman of liberal education who had been engaged in the civil war with the rank of captain in the reign of Charles I, and who, 'according to the enthusiastical disposition of those times, had listed ​himself under different sects.' Eventually he joined the Roman catholic church.
He wrote:
* 'Baby-baptism Routed,' Lond. 1650, 4to. This elicited a reply from Nathaniel Stephens, a presbyterian preacher, whose work was criticised by John Tombes in his 'Antipaedobaptism.'
* 'Nature's Vindication; or a check to all those who affirm Nature to be Vile, Wicked, Corrupt, and Sinful,' Lond. 1652, 16mo.
* 'Three questions propounded to B. Morley about his practice of Laying on of Hands,' Lond. n. d. 8vo. This led to a controversy between Everard, Morley, and T. Morris, a baptist.
* 'The Creation and the Fall of Man,' Lond. n. d. 8vo, Nathaniel Stephens replied to this in ' Vindiciae Fundamenti; or a Threefold Defence of the Doctrine of Original Sin,' 1658.
* 'An Epistle to the several Congregations of the Non-Conformists' [Lond. ?], 2nd edit. 1664, 8vo. In this work the author states the reason of his conversion to the catholic church. Replies to it were published by 'J. I.,' Matthew Poole, and Francis Howgill.
[Dodd's Church Hist, iii. 283; Gillow’s Bibl. Dict.; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howell, Thomas Bayly

Contains subarticle, Thomas Jones Howell (died 1858), his son. 1904 Errata appended.
​HOWELL, THOMAS BAYLY (1768–1815), editor of the 'State Trials,' born in 1768, was son of John Howell of Jamaica. On 23 Jan. 1782 he was admitted of Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1790 (Register). He matriculated at Oxford from Christ Church on 27 March 1784, but did not graduate (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715-86, ii. 701). When William Cobbett projected a new edition of the 'State Trials,' he secured Howell as the editor. Howell carried the work from the first volume (1809) to the twenty-first (1815), the remaining twelve volumes being edited by his son, Thomas Jones Howell. The notes and illustrations accompanying each trial are excellent. He was F.R.S. (8 March 1804) and F.S.A. He died at Prinknash Park, near Gloucester, on 13 April 1815 (Gent. Mag. vol. lxxxv. pt. i. p.472).
Howell was author of 'Observations on Dr. Sturges's Pamphlet respecting Non-residence of the Clergy . . . in a Letter ... to Mr. Baron Maseres. The second edition,’ 8vo, London, 1803.
His son, Thomas Jones Howell (d. 1858), who edited the 'State Trials' (vols. xxii. 1815-xxxiii. 1826), was admitted of Lincoln's Inn on 9 Nov. 1814 (Register). He sold Prinknash after 1842. He died at Eaton Place West, London, on 4 June 1858 (Gent. Mag. 1858, ii. 93). He was twice married (in 1817 and 1851).
[Wallace's Reporters, p.58.]
G. G.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.162 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 117 | ii | 9 | Howell, Thomas B.: for (1815) read (1814) |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howell, William (1656-1714)

​HOWELL, WILLIAM (1656–1714), divine, was the son of G. Howell of Oxford, who is termed 'pauper' in the Wadham 'Register.' Wood says that the father was a tailor. William Howell matriculated as a servitor from Wadham College, Oxford, in 1670, but shortly afterwards removed to New Inn Hall. Here he graduated B.A. in 1673, and proceeded M.A. in 1676. He took orders, and became schoolmaster and curate of Ewelme in Oxfordshire; he was certainly the latter in 1688, and here his wife died in 1700. Howell died in 1714, and was buried at Ewelme on 23 Jan. 1713-14; there is a tablet to his memory in the church.
Howell wrote:
* 'The Common-prayer-book the best Companion, &c.,' Oxford, 1686, 8vo; republished with additions at Oxford in 1687.
* 'The Word of God the best Guide to all Persons at all Times and in all Places, &c.,' Oxford, 1689, 8vo.
* 'Prayers in the Closet: for the Use of all devout Christians, to be said both Morning and Night,' Oxford, 1689, 8vo, one sheet; also two sermons published at Oxford in 1711 and 1712 respectively.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 787; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 334, 354; R. B. Gardiner's Reg. of Wadham College, Oxford, p.286; Brit. Mus. Cat.; information from the rector of Ewelme.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howells, William

William Howels in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​HOWELLS, WILLIAM (1778–1832), minister at Long Acre Chapel, London, eldest of the twelve children of Samuel Howells, was born in September 1778 at Llwynhelyg, a farmhouse near Cowbridge in Glamorgan. After some years' study under the Rev. John Walton of Cowbridge, and Dr. Williams, the master of Cowbridge school, he went in April 1800 to Wadham College, Oxford, and left in 1803 without a degree. An elegy by him on his tutor Walton in 1797, published in the 'Gloucester Journal,' introduced him to the notice of Robert Raikes [q. v.], who offered him journalistic work. At Oxford he was under baptist influences, but he was ordained by Dr. Watson, bishop of Llandaff, in June 1804, to the curacy of Llangan, Glamorgan. Both he and his vicar occasioned some complaint by preaching at methodist chapels. In 1812 Howells became curate to the united parishes of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe and St. Anne, Blackfriars, in London, and in 1817 lessee of the episcopal chapel in Long Acre, where he gradually gathered together an appreciative audience. His strongly evangelical sermons were widely popular, and his self-denying life, despite his eccentricities, gave no handle to his enemies. He died on 18 Nov. 1832 (Gent. Mag. 1832, ii. 653), and was buried in a vault under Holy Trinity Church, Cloudesley Square, Islington. In the church itself a tablet was placed to his memory.
The following collections of Howell's sermons and prayers appeared after his death:
* 'Remains,' edited by Moore, Dublin, 1833, 12mo; new ed., London, 1852, 8vo.
* 'Twelve Sermons,' London, 1835, 8vo.
* 'Sermons, with a Memoir by Charles Bowdler,' London, , 2 vols. 8vo.
* 'Twenty Sermons,' London, 1835, 12mo.
* 'Fifty-two Sermons from Notes,' by H. H. White, London, 1836, 8vo.
* 'Prayers before and after the Sermon,' London, 32mo.
* 'Choice Sentences,' edited by the Rev. W. Bruce, London, 1850, 18mo.
[Memoirs by the Rev. E. Morgan and Charles Bowdler; funeral sermon by the Rev.Henry Melvill; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit. i. 905.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howes, Edmund

​HOWES, EDMUND (fl. 1607–1631), chronicler, lived in London, and designated himself 'gentleman.' Undeterred by Stow's neglect, and despite the ridicule of his acquaintances, he applied himself on Stow's death in 1605 to continuations of Stow's 'Abridgement' and of his 'Annales.' The former he undertook, after discovering (he tells us) that no one else was likely to perform it. Howes's first edition of Stow's 'Abridgement, or Summarie of the English Chronicle,' appeared in 1607. A dedication to Sir Henry Rowe, the lord mayor, a few notices of 'sundry memorable antiquities,' and a continuation of `maters forrein and domesticall' between 1603 and 1607, constitute Howes's contributions. In 1611 Howes issued another edition of the same work, with a further continuation to the end of 1610, and a new dedication addressed to Sir William Craven, lord mayor.
Howes issued in 1615 an expanded version of Stow's well-known 'Annales or Chronicle,' with `an historicall preface,' and a continuation from 1600, the date of the last edition, to 1615. According to Howes's own account Archbishop Whitgift had suggested this task to him, and he received little encouragement while engaged on it (Stow, Annales, 1631, ​ded.) In 1631 he published his final edition of the 'Annales,' with a dedication to Charles I, and a concluding address to the lord mayor and aldermen of London. Howes lays much stress on his love of truth, and the difficulties caused him in his labours by 'venomous tongues.' In a letter to Nicholas, dated 23 Dec. 1630, he refers to the passage of his work through the press, and mentions Sir Robert Pye as a friend (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1629-31, p.416). The 1631 edition of the 'Annales' is the most valuable of all, and Howes's additions are not the least interesting part of it.
[Notes and Queries, 1st ser. vi. 199; Howes's prefaces and dedications.]
S. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howes, Francis

​HOWES, FRANCIS (1776–1844), translator, fourth son of the Rev. Thomas Howes of Morningthorpe, Norfolk, by Susan, daughter of Francis Linge of Spinworth in the same county, was born in 1776, and was educated at the Norwich grammar school. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1794, graduated B. A. in 1798 as eleventh wrangler, and proceeded M.A. in 1804. In 1799 he obtained the members' prize. His chief college friend was John (afterwards Sir John) Williams [q. v.], the judge, who subsequently allowed him 100l. a year. He held various curacies, and in 1815 became a minor canon of Norwich Cathedral, afterwards holding the rectories successively of Alderford (from 1826) and of Framingham Pigot (from 1829). He died at Norwich in 1844, and was buried in the west cloister of the cathedral . He married early Susan Smithson, and left issue; one of his sisters, Margaret, married Edward Hawkins, and was the mother of Edward Hawkins [q. v.], provost of Oriel.
Howes published the following translations into English verse:
* 'Miscellaneous Poetical Translations,' London, 1806, 8vo.
* 'The Satires of Persius, with Notes,' London, 1809, 8vo.
* 'The Epodes and Secular Ode of Horace,' Norwich, 1841, 8vo, privately printed.
* 'The First Book of Horace's Satires,' privately printed, Norwich, 1842, 8vo.
After his death his son, C. Howes, published a collection of his translations, London, 1845, 8vo. The merit of his translations was recognised by Conington in the preface to his version of the satires and epistles of Horace. Howes composed epitaphs for various monuments in Norwich Cathedral.
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howes, John

​HOWES, JOHN (fl. 1772–1793), miniature and enamel painter, is principally known as an exhibitor of portraits and other subjects in enamel at the Royal Academy from 1772 to 1793. He occasionally exhibited miniatures, and latterly a few historical pictures. In 1777 he painted and exhibited a medallion portrait of David Garrick, from a drawing by Cipriani, which was presented to the actor by the Incorporated Society of Actors of Drury Lane Theatre; this miniature was lent by the Rev. J. T. C. Fawcett to the Exhibition of Miniatures at South Kensington in 1862 (see Catalogue).
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Howell, William (1638?-1683)

​HOWELL, WILLIAM (1638?–1683), historian, born about 1638, was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge (B.A. 1651, M.A. 1655), of which he became a fellow. On 25 Nov. 1664 he was created doctor of civil law, and was incorporated at Oxford on 6 July 1676. He was tutor to John, earl of Mulgrave. On 4 Feb. 1678 he was admitted a civilian (Coote, English Civilians, pp. 99-100), and became chancellor of the diocese of Lincoln. He died in the beginning of 1683. By license dated 3 Aug. 1678 he married Miss Mary Ashfield of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London (Chester, London Marriage Licences, ed. Foster, col. 718). He wrote 'An Institution of General History . . . from the beginning of the World till the Monarchy of Constantine the Great,' fol., London, 1661 (another edition 1662), which he translated into Latin in 1671 as 'Elementa Historiæ,' 12mo, London, for the use of Lord Mulgrave. The history was afterwards brought down 'to the fall of Augustulus,' and published in 1685, with a dedicatory letter to James II by the author's widow. Mary Howell, and a preface by Compton, bishop of London, and others. What is styled the second edition' was issued in three parts, fol., London, 1680-5. The compilation was praised by Gibbon ( ​Autobiography, ed. 1827, i. 33). Howell was also author of 'Medulla Historiæ Anglicanæ. Being a comprehensive History of the Lives and Reigns of the Monarchs of England,' which passed through several editions, though without his name. The earliest edition mentioned by Wood is dated 1679; a twelfth edition, brought down to 1760, appeared in 1766.
[Wood's Fasti Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 355.]
G. G.