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

​GORDON, Sir HENRY WILLIAM (1818–1887), commissary-general, born 18 July 1818, was eldest son of Lieutenant-general Henry William Gordon and Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Enderby of Croom's Hill, Blackheath, and brother of Charles George Gordon [q. v.] He was educated at Sandhurst, and entered the army in August 1835, serving in the 59th foot. He was employed on the staff in the East and West Indies and China. In 1847-8 he was an assistant poor-law commissioner in Ireland, and was a relief inspector during the famine. In 1855 he left the army and entered the ordnance department. From March 1855 to July 1856 he was in the Crimea, which was his last service abroad. He obtained the Crimean and Turkish medals, was appointed C.B. (civil) in 1857, and K.C.B. in 1877. In January 1870 he was made controller, and in November 1875 commissary general. He died at Oat Hall, Hayward's Heath, 22 Oct. 1887. Gordon was on very intimate terms with his famous brother, whom he resembled in his simplicity of life and integrity of character. He married, in 1851, Henrietta Rose, widow of Captain Granet, and daughter of Lieutenant-general W. Staveley, C.B. By her he had a numerous family. One of his sons was drowned on board the Captain, 7 Sept. 1870. Gordon is commemorated on the monument which he erected to his brother's memory in St. Paul's Cathedral. He wrote 'Events in the Life of Charles George Gordon' 1886.
[Times, 24 and 25 Oct. 1887; Graphic, 26 Nov. 1887 (with portrait); Illustrated London News, 29 Oct. 1887.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, George (1806-1879)

​GORDON, GEORGE (1806–1879), horticultural writer, born at Lucan, co. Dublin, 25 Feb. 1806, was trained by his father, who was land-steward and gardener at Sterling House, near Dublin, entering into service at fourteen years of age. From 1823 to 1827 he was employed in the gardens of two country gentlemen. In 1827 he was in the nursery of J. Colvill in King's Road, Chelsea, when, on 18 Feb. 1828, he was taken on the staff of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick, and, with a brief exception, remained there during the rest of his life. He rose to be one of the foremen, two of his contemporaries being Robert Fortune [q. v.], the Chinese traveller, and Robert Thompson, well known for his standard volume on garden management. Gordon was foreman of the arboretum, and, having paid special attention to coniferous trees, he brought out his 'Pinetum' in 1858, Robert Glendinning being associated with him in this and a 'Supplement' in 1862, of which book a second edition was produced by B. G. Bohn, the bookseller, in 1875. Dr. Lindley used Gordon's practical knowledge in some papers on conifers in the 'Journal of the Horticultural Society' in 1850 and 1851, hence the authority of Lindley and Gordon for certain species and varieties. The 'Pinetum' was unfortunately neither popular nor scientific, but between both those extremes. His herbarium was bought at his death by Sir Joseph Hooker, and by him presented to the herbarium of the Royal Gardens, Kew. Gordon died at Kew 11 Oct. 1879, having been an associate of the Linnean Society since 16 Feb. 1841.
Pritzel, in his 'Thesaurus,' confuses the subject of this notice with the Rev. George Gordon, who published anonymously 'A Collectanea for the Flora of Moray' at Elgin in 1839, 8vo.
[Gard. Chron. new ser. (1879), xii. 569.]
B. D. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, James (1553-1641)

​GORDON, JAMES, D.D. (1553–1641), Jesuit, a member of the house of Lesmore, Aberdeenshire, born in 1553, entered the Society of Jesus at Paris in 1573. After teaching theology with distinction he was appointed rector of the college of his order at Toulouse, and subsequently rector of the college at Bordeaux. He took the degree of D.D., and was nominated theologian of the metropolitan church of Bordeaux at the council of Bordeaux. When advanced in years he was summoned to court as confessor to Louis XIII. He died at Paris on 17 Nov. 1641.
His works are: 1. 'Opus chronologicum, nnorum seriem, regnorumque mutationes, ​et rerum toto orbe gestarum narrationem, à mundi exordio ad nostra usque tempora complectens,' Poitiers 1613, and Cologne 1614, 2 vols. fol.; 2nd edition, Poitiers, 1617, fol. 2. 'De Catholica Veritate. Pro epithalamio. Ad Serenissimum Valliorum Principem, magnum Britanniarum hæredem,' Bordeaux, 1623, 12mo. 3. 'Biblia Sacra cum commentariis, ad sensum literæ, et explicationem temporum, locorum, rerumque omnium, quæ in Sacris codicibus habent obscuritatem,' 3 vols., Paris, 1632, fol. 4. 'Theologia Moralis Universa, octo libris comprehensa,' 2 vols., Paris, 1634, fol. 5. 'Opuscula tria. Chronologicum, Historicum, Geographicum,' 3rd edition, Cologne, 1636, 12mo. This is extracted from the 'Opus Chronologicum.' It has been printed several times. 6. 'De rebus Britanniæ novis.'
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dalrymple, David (d.1721)

​DALRYMPLE, Sir DAVID (d. 1721), of Hailes, Haddington, was the fifth son of James, first Viscount Stair, by Margaret, eldest daughter of James Ross of Balniel, Wigton. He became a member of the Faculty of Advocates 3 Nov. 1688, was made a baronet 8 May 1700, represented Culross in the Scotch parliament in 1703, and was solicitor-general to Queen Anne. Having been in 1706 a commissioner to arrange the treaty of union, he was elected to the first parliament of Great Britain in February 1707, and represented the Haddington burghs from 1708 till his death. He was appointed queen's advocate in Scotland in 1709 at a salary of 1,000l. a year, and auditor to the Scotch exchequer in 1720. He married on 4 April 1691 Janet, daughter of Sir James Rochead of Inverleith, and widow of Alexander Murray of Melgund, and had three sons and three daughters, of whom James succeeded him in the baronetcy, and the second, Hugh, took, with the Melgund estates, the name of Murray of Kynnymond. Dalrymple died on 3 Dec. 1721.
[Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, ii. 525; Anderson's Scottish Nation; Rivington's Treasury Papers, 4 July 1709.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashe, Thomas (fl.1600-1618)

​ASHE or ASH, THOMAS (fl. 1600–1618), legal writer, was entered a student of Gray's Inn in 1574, was called to the bar 24 Jan. 1582-3, and became pensioner of his inn 17 Oct. 1597. He was the author of the following works: 1. 'Abridgment des touts les cases reportez alarge per Monsieur Plowden . . . compose & digest par T. A [she],' 1600? of which another edition appeared in 1607. 2. 'Ἐπιεικεια: et table generall a les annales del ley per quel facilement troveres touts les cases contenus in yceux; queux concerne le exposition des statutes per equitie,' 1609; with an appendix of cases reported by 'G. Dalison and G. Bendloes, in Queen Elizabeth's reign. 3. 'Le Primer Volume del Promptuaire; ou repertory de les annales et plusors auters livres del common ley Dengleterre,' 1614. 4. 'Fasciculus florum; or a Handfull of Flowers gathered out of the severall bookes of the Right Honorable Sir E. Coke,' 1618. 'A Generall Table' to Coke's reports, issued in 1652, has been attributed to Ashe, but if that be so, its late date shows it to have been published posthumously.
S. L. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashley, Charles Jane

​ASHLEY, CHARLES JANE (1773–1843), third son of John Ashley [see Ashley, John, 1734?–1805], was well known for many years as a performer on the violoncello, and also for some time carried on the Covent Garden oratorios with his brother. On 2 May 1811 he was elected secretary of the Royal Society of Musicians, of which he had been a member since 4 May 1794. In the latter part of his life he was for some seasons manager of the Tivoli Gardens at Margate, where he died on 29 Aug. 1843.
[Gent. Mag. for 1843; Records of Roy. Soc. of Musicians.]
W. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashfield, Edmund

​ASHFIELD, EDMUND (fl. 1680–1700), a portrait-painter, descended from a good family, was a pupil of Joseph Michael Wright. He worked both in oil and in crayons, but excelled most in the latter method. Vertue mentions a neatly painted head by him of Sir John Bennett, afterwards Lord Ossulston. He appears to have been also a copyist, for there are at Burghley House portraits of Frances, Countess of Warwick, and of Mary, Lady Herbert, afterwards Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, after Van Dyck, which are finished with extreme delicacy. His crayon drawings were highly finished, and characterised by the harmonious blending of the tints, of which he multiplied the number and variety, black and white only having hitherto chiefly been employed, the paper forming the middle tint. He practised from about 1680 to 1700, about which time he died. He was the instructor of E. Lutterell, whose works in crayons are superior to those of his master.
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashley, General Charles

​ASHLEY, GENERAL CHARLES (1770?–1818), eldest son of John Ashley [see Ashley, John, 1734?-1805], obtained some celebrity as a violinist. He was a pupil of Giardini and Barthelemon, and with his three brothers took part in the Handel commemoration in 1784, on which occasion the young musicians distinguished themselves by nailing the coat of an Italian violinist to his seat and filling his violin with halfpence, proceedings of which he complained so loudly that George III sent to the orchestra to find out what occasioned the disturbance. G. C. Ashley led his father's orchestra at the Covent Garden oratorios, of which, after John Ashley's death, he became Joint manager with his brother Charles Jane. He became a member of the Royal Society of Musicians 3 April 1791 (Records of Roy. Soc. of Musicians). On 2 March 1804 he married a Miss Chandler, and, having no family and an independent fortune, shortly afterwards retired from his profession. He died at King's Row, Pimlico, on 21 Aug. 1818.
[Gent. Mag. for 1818; Burney's Commemoration of Handel, 1786.]
W. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashe, St. George

​ASHE, ST. GEORGE (1658?–1718), Irish bishop, descended from a Wiltshire family which had settled in Ireland, was born at Roscommon, educated at Dublin, and became a fellow of Trinity College in 1679. During the Revolution he left the country, and was chaplain to Lord Paget, the ambassador of William III at Vienna. He returned, and became provost of Trinity in his thirty-fourth year in 1692. He was made bishop of Cloyne in 1695; was translated to Clogher in 1697, and to Derry in 1716-17. He died at Dublin 27 Feb. 1717-18, and left his mathematical books to Trinity College. He published three sermons and contributed some papers upon modes of geometrical demonstration and observations on natural phenomena to the Royal Society, of which he was a fellow (Phil. Transactions, Nos. 116, 162, 164, 171, 176, 220, 228, 243). He also succeeded Molyneux as secretary to the Irish Philosophical Society. He is best known from his intimacy with Swift, who was his pupil at Trinity College, and who became his lifelong friend. Frequent references to him in the 'Journal to Stella' show that Swift was his constant correspondent, and consulted him on many matters of business. He was one of three brothers; Tom Ashe, the eldest, was a squire with an estate of 1,000l. a year in Meath; Dillon Ashe, a clergyman, was vicar of Finglas from 1694 to 1716, when he was succeeded by the poet Parnell. All three were friends of Swift, and joined in his favourite amusement of making execrable puns at Lord Pembroke's viceregal court; their slang language constructed of puns being called Castilian (Forster, Life of Swift, p. 191). Dillon seems to have been an undignified and claret-loving priest. Swift says that 'Dilley's' red face will 'whiz' in the Bath waters; and that the rabble will say, 'There goes a drunken parson,' and, 'which is worse, will say true' (Journal to Stella, 10 April 1711). The bishop was a man of high character; Addison was charmed with him; and Sir A. Fountaine said to Swift that there was not a bishop in England with half his wit. He was intimate with Hester Johnson (Stella); the younger Sheridan says (Life of Swift, p. 280), on the authority of Mrs. Sican, that Ashe, at Swift's desire, inquired 'into the cause of Stella's melancholy in 1716, and performed the marriage ceremony which was the consequence of her explanation. The statement that Swift and Stella were married by Ashe in 1716 is also made by Lord Orrery, by Dr. Johnson on the authority of Dr. Madden, and by Monck Berkeley on the authority of his grandmother, the widow of Bishop Berkeley. The bishop was travelling on the continent as tutor to Ashe's only son, St. George Ashe, from 1715 to 1720. He could hardly have received the statement from Ashe himself; and it is still doubtful whether the marriage took place. It is plain, however, that Ashe was one of Swift's most trusted and valued friends, and had the confidence of Stella.
L. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashe, Thomas (1770-1835)

​ASHE, THOMAS (1770–1835), novelist and miscellaneous writer, traced his descent from the younger branch of a family whose ancestors accompanied William the Conqueror to England. A cadet of this younger branch served with William of Orange in Ireland, and obtained one of the forfeited Irish estates. Ashe was the third son of a half-pay officer, and was born at Glasnevin, near Dublin, 15 July 1770. He received a commission in the 83rd regiment of foot, which, however, was almost immediately afterwards disbanded, whereupon he was sent to a counting-house at Bordeaux. There he suffered a short imprisonment for wounding in a duel a gentleman whose sister he had seduced, but, the wound not proving fatal, the prosecution was not persisted in. Returning to Dublin, he was appointed secretary to the Diocesan and Endowed Schools Commission, but, getting into debt, resigned his office and retired to Switzerland. He then spent several years in foreign travel, living, according to his own account (Memoirs and Confessions, 3 vols. 1815), in a free and unconstrained fashion, and experiencing a somewhat chequered fortune. Besides recording in his 'Memoirs' his impressions of the countries he visited, he published separately 'Travels in America in 1806,' 1808; 'Memoirs of Mammoth and other Bones found in the vicinity of the Ohio,' 1806; and 'A Commercial and Geographical Sketch of Brazil and Madeira,' 1812. He was also the author of several novels, including the 'Spirit of the Book,' 1811, 4th edition 1812; the 'Liberal Critic, or Henry Percy,' 1812: and the 'Soldier of Fortune,' 1816. In his later years Ashe was in rather indigent circumstances. He died at Bath 17 Dec. 1835.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashford, William

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​ASHFORD, WILLIAM (1746?–1824), landscape painter, was born at Birmingham. In 1764 he went to Ireland and settled in Dublin. At first he held a situation under Mr. Ward in the ordnance department of that city. He abandoned it, however, for art. He contributed to the early exhibitions of the Incorporated Society of Artists in London, and in 1783 and 1790 to the Royal Academy. At this time he lived in London, and, in conjunction with Dominic Serres, R.A., made a ​public exhibition of his works. The Royal Hibernian Academy was incorporated in 1823, and Ashford was its first president. His work was at one time highly esteemed, but he died neglected. His early pictures, many of which were ably engraved by Thomas Milton, preserve the manner of Claude. In the committee-room of the Dublin Society there is a fine example of his style; another, 'Orlando under the Oak,' is in the Hibernian Gallery, and there are five in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. Anthony Pasquin, writing 1794, remarks on his work: 'He amused himself in his leisure hours with studying drawing and painting, which he succeeded in so far as to justify his becoming a professor. This gentleman is more happy in his trees and his foregrounds than his figures and skies, the former of which are too inaccurate, and the latter have too green a hue.' In later life he retired to Sandymont, near Dublin, where he died 17 April 1824, aged 78.
E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashe, Robert Hoadley

​ASHE, ROBERT HOADLEY (1751–1826), divine, born about 1751, was son of a prebendary of Winchester, educated at Pembroke College, Oxford, compounded for M.A. 1793, and B.D. and D.D. 1794, and from 1775 to 1826 he held the living of Crewkerne, Somersetshire. He took the name of Hoadley upon inheriting a property from his aunt, who had married a son of Bishop Hoadley. He edited in 1787 a volume of poetical translations by 'Master John Browne of Crewkerne, a boy of twelve years old,' and in 1799 published a letter to Dr. Milner, author of the history of Winchester, vindicating Bishop Hoadley from Milner's 'false and illiberal aspersions.' He died on 3 May 1826. Several letters of his are printed in Nichols's 'Illustrations.'
[Nichols's Illustrations, v. 729-49; Gent. Mag. xcvi. pt. ii. p. 181.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ashe, Simeon

​ASHE, SIMEON (d. 1662), a nonconformist divine, was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He began his ministration in Staffordshire, but was soon ejected from his living on account of his refusal to read the 'Book of Sports' and to conform to other ceremonies. On his dismissal Sir John Burgoyne befriended him and allowed him the use of an 'exempt' church at Wroxhall; and he was afterwards under the protection of Lord Brook. When the civil war broke out, he became chaplain to the Earl of Manchester; and in 1644 joined with William Goode, another chaplain of the Earl of Manchester, in writing a pamphlet entitled 'A particular Relation of the most Remarkable Occurrences from the United Forces in the North' This was followed by another pamphlet, for which Ashe alone was responsible, entitled 'A True Relation of the most Chiefe Occurrences at and since the late Battell at Newbery.' The writer's object in both cases was to vindicate the conduct of his patron. In Vicars's 'Parliamentary Chronicle' there is a letter of his, describing the proceedings of the Earl of Manchester in reducing several garrisons after the battle of Marston Moor. At the close of the war he received the living of St. Austin, and was also one of the Cornhill lecturers. Although he had joined the side of the parliament, Ashe was strongly opposed to the extreme party of the Cromwellians; and when the time was ripe for the restoration he was among the divines who went to Breda to meet Charles II. He died a few days before the passing of the Act of Conformity, and was buried on 24 Aug. 1662. Had he lived to see the passing of the act, he would have vacated his living. Ashe was a man of some property, and while he held the living of St. Austin, his house was always open to his clerical brethren. Walker charges him with exercising severity against the conforming clergy.
Ashe was the author of several sermons, among which may be mentioned: 1. 'A Sermon on Ps. ix. 9,' preached before the ​House of Commons on 30 March 1642. 2. 'A Sermon before the House of Lords,' 26 Feb. 1644. 3. 'A Funeral Sermon on the Death of the Countess of Manchester,' 12 Oct. 1658, &c. He also edited some treatises of John Ball, the puritan divine, J. Brinsley, Ralph Robinson, and others.
A. H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Innes, John (d.1414)

​INNES, JOHN (d. 1414), bishop of Moray, a native of Moray, is reckoned by Forbes (Familie of Innes, 1698) as thirteenth laird of Innes, but it is not certain, though it is probable, that he belonged to that family. In 1389 he was a canon of Elgin Cathedral, in ​1395 he held the prebend of Duffus, and in 1396 he was also archdeacon of Caithness. He desired to go to Paris to study canon law, and, ‘inasmuch as the fruits of his archdeaconry were not sufficient to enable him to fulfil his wish,’ Alexander Bar, bishop of Moray, gave a grant of certain of the tithes of that diocese by way of an exhibition (‘ad exhibendum Joanni de Innes in studio Parisiensi’). He returned by 1397, when he was judge in a question of tithe between William de Spynie, bishop of Moray, and the vicar of Elgin. On 23 Jan. 1406 he was consecrated bishop of Moray at Avignon by Pope Benedict XIII. In the list (dated 1437) of the bishops of Moray he is described as ‘bachelor in both laws and in arts.’ He died at Elgin on 25 April 1414, and was buried in his cathedral, where his monument, now demolished, told how during his seven years' episcopate he had strenuously pushed on the rebuilding of that noble church, which had been burned in 1390 by Alexander Stewart, ‘the Wolf of Badenoch’ [q. v.] At the chapter held to elect his successor the canons agreed that if any of them should be elected he should devote the third of his revenue to the completion of the cathedral. The older part of the bishop's palace at Elgin and the beautiful gateway at the palace of Spynie are Innes's work. His arms show the three stars of Innes on a bend between three keys; the shield is surmounted, not by a mitre, but by a pastoral staff. The Greyfriars Church at Elgin, sometimes attributed to him, was founded by another John Innes fifty years later.
J. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Inskipp, James

​INSKIPP, JAMES (1790–1868), painter, born in 1790, was originally employed in the commissariat service, from which he retired with a pension, and adopted painting as a profession for the remainder of his life. He began with landscapes, one of which he exhibited at the Royal Academy. Subsequently he devoted himself to small subject-pictures, and with less success to portraits. He was a frequent contributor to the British Institution and to the Society of British Artists, as well as to the Royal Academy. A picture of ‘A Girl making Lace’ is at Bowood, Wiltshire, and another of ‘A Venetian Woman’ at Deepdene, Surrey. His pictures were admired at the time, and some were engraved. He drew a series of illustrations for Sir Harris Nicolas's edition of Izaak Walton's ‘Complete Angler,’ published in 1833–6. Inskipp resided the latter part of his life at Godalming, Surrey, where he died on 15 March 1868, aged 78. He was buried in Godalming cemetery. In 1838 he published a series of engravings from his drawings, entitled ‘Studies of Heads from Nature.’
L. C.