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

1904 Errata appended.
​ROMILLY, JOSEPH (1791–1864), registrary of the university of Cambridge, born in 1791, was son of Thomas Peter Romilly of London, by his cousin Jane Anne, second daughter of Isaac Romilly. Sir Samuel Romilly [q. v.] was his uncle. He entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1809, became a scholar of the college, and graduated B.A. in 1813 as fourth wrangler. He was elected fellow in 1815, and proceeded M.A. in 1816. He took holy orders, but he never held any preferment, excepting that he was chaplain to Thomas Musgrave [q. v.], archbishop of York, who had been a friend at Trinity. From the first he belonged to the liberal party in the university, led by Peacock and Adam Sedgwick [q. v.], Romilly's intimate friend. In 1821 he joined the committee for promoting a subscription in the university to aid the Greeks in their war of independence. He was one of the party who successfully opposed the petition which it was designed should be presented in 1829 against catholic emancipation. He opposed Christopher Wordsworth, then master of Trinity, on the question of Thirlwall's dismissal in 1834. On 23 March 1832 he was elected registrary after a competition with Temple Chevallier [q. v.], and remained in this office until 1861, when he retired, and was presented with a testimonial. His great work as registrar was the proper arrangement and cataloguing of all the university papers. From 1832 till his death he kept a diary, which has been largely used by the authors of the ‘Life of Adam Sedgwick,’ inasmuch as it contains nearly as much about Sedgwick as about himself. The closeness of their intimacy can be gathered from Sedgwick's letters. On 10 Nov. 1861 he writes: ‘Romilly comes every morning before breakfast to help me with my letters. He is the oldest friend I have in Cambridge, and the kindest. He has a great deal of French blood in his veins, which makes him a merry, genial man; and to such gifts he has added a vast store of literature.’ Again, just before his death on 20 March 1864, Sedgwick wrote: ‘Romilly is still here, but he lives in a house on the outskirts of Cambridge, and never dines in hall. I now and then go and drink tea with him.’ He died very suddenly at Yarmouth, of heart disease, on Sunday 7 Aug. 1864, and was buried in a vault in Christ Church, Barnwell. He edited the ‘Graduati ​Cantabrigienses,’ 1760–1856, which was published at Cambridge in 1856, 8vo.
[Information kindly furnished by Mr. J. W. Clark; Gent. Mag. 1864, ii. 389; J. W. Clark and Hughes's Life of Adam Sedgwick, i. pref. and pp. 235, 281, 309, 336, 427, ii. 374, 402, 405, 406, 499; Douglas's Life of Whewell, p. 167; Cambridge University Calendars.]
W. A. J. A.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.239 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 187 | ii | 23 | Romilly, Joseph: for Whewell read Peacock |
| | | 38 | for registrar read registrary |
| 188 | i | 4 | for Willis, Clark, read J. Willis Clark |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Romer, Isabella Frances

​ROMER, ISABELLA FRANCES (d. 1852), miscellaneous writer, was the youngest daughter of Major-general John Augustus Romer by his wife, Marianne Cuthbert. She married Major Hamerton of the 7th fusiliers in December 1818, but separated from him in 1827, and resumed her maiden name. She was a firm believer in mesmerism and animal magnetism, and in 1841 published, in three volumes, ‘Sturmer, a Tale of Mesmerism, with other Sketches from Life.’ She next turned her attention to travel, and brought out in 1843, in two volumes, ‘The Rhone, the Darro, and the Guadalquivir, a Summer Ramble in 1842.’ Another edition appeared in 1847. The ‘Quarterly Review’ (lxxvi. 119) characterised it as ‘well written.’
She died at Chester Square, London, 27 April 1852, while at work on her last book, ‘Filia Dolorosa, Memoirs of Marie Thérèse Charlotte, Duchess d'Angoulême’ [Madame Royale]. It was completed by Dr. John Doran [q. v.], and published in two volumes in 1852.
Other works by Miss Romer are: 1. ‘A Pilgrimage to the Temples and Tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine in 1845–6,’ 2 vols. 1846; 2nd ed. 1847. 2. ‘The Bird of Passage, or Flying Glimpses of many Lands,’ 3 vols. 1849; some of the tales and sketches here printed had been published previously.
E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Romney, John

​ROMNEY, JOHN (1786–1863), engraver, was born in 1786. He seems to have been in no way connected with the family of the famous painter, though he, too, practised in the north of England, and engraved a series of ‘Views of Ancient Buildings in Chester,’ in which city he died in 1863. He contributed plates to Smirke's ‘Illustrations of Shakespeare,’ and to a series of reproductions of ancient marbles in the British Museum. Among the best known of his single plates are ‘The Orphan Ballad-Singer,’ after Gill, and ‘Sunday Morning—the Toilette,’ after Farrier.
W. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Romer, Emma

​ROMER, EMMA, afterwards Mrs. Almond (1814–1868), vocalist, born in 1814, was the daughter of John Romer and his wife, Sarah Cooper. She was a pupil of James Elliot, and later of Sir George Smart. Her first theatrical appearance was announced at Covent Garden Theatre for 16 Oct. 1830, when, as Clara in the ‘Duenna,’ she exhibited a soprano voice of great volume and compass, together with considerable dramatic talent. But the faultiness of her voice-production, and failure in the technique of her art, checked her immediate progress.
In 1834, however, after appearing at Covent Garden as Zerlina in ‘Fra Diavolo’ and Rosina in the ‘Barber of Seville’ (for her benefit), Miss Romer was engaged at the English Opera House (Lyceum), where she created the rôles of Eolia in Barnett's ‘Mountain Sylph’ and Zulima in Loder's ‘Nourjahad.’ In the winter she returned to Covent Garden, where, in 1835, as Amina in ‘La Sonnambula,’ she ‘reached the topmost round of the ladder of fame’ (Theatrical Observer). But she immediately afterwards declined a minor part, and threw up her Covent Garden engagement. Subsequently, as Agnes in ‘Der Freischütz’ and Liska in ‘Der Vampyr’ (Lyceum, 1835), she won much admiration. In September 1835 she married George Almond, an army contractor.
After her marriage Mrs. Almond appeared at Covent Garden as Esmeralda in ‘Quasimodo,’ a pasticcio from the great masters. The death of Malibran in 1836 afforded her further opportunities, and she now filled the chief rôles in English and Italian opera at Drury Lane, appearing in ‘Fair Rosamond’ (1837), ‘Maid of Artois,’ ‘La Favorita,’ ‘Robert le Diable,’ ‘Bohemian Girl,’ ‘Maritana,’ and many other pieces. In 1852 she undertook the management of the Surrey Theatre, where, during three seasons, she brought out a series of operas in English. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Almond retired from her profession, settling at Margate. She ​died there, aged 54, on 11 April 1868, and was buried in Brompton cemetery.
Her brother, Frank Romer, musical composer and member of a publishing firm, died in 1889. Her sister Helen (d. 1890) was wife of Mark Lemon [q. v.] Ann Romer (d. 1852), the vocalist, who married William Brough [q. v.], was Emma Romer's first cousin.
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramberg, Johann Heinrich

​RAMBERG, JOHANN HEINRICH (1763–1840), historical and portrait painter, draughtsman, and engraver, was born at Hanover on 22 July 1763. His father, who was war secretary of the electorate and a lover of art, encouraged his son's early talent. In 1781 he came to England and was introduced to George III, for whom he made many humorous sketches and caricatures. The king brought him under the notice of Benjamin West, and he was admitted into the schools of the Royal Academy, where, in 1784, he gained a silver medal for drawing from the life. He began to exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1782, when he sent five drawings: ‘St. James's Park,’ ‘The Embarkment’ (engraved by Edmund Scott), ‘Good News’ (engraved by John Ogborne), ‘Bad News,’ and a ‘Review of Soldiers.’ In 1784 he exhibited three pictures: ‘The Death of Captain Cook,’ ‘The Soldier's Return’ (engraved by William Pether), and ‘The Blind Veteran.’ ‘The Sailor's Farewell’ in 1785, a drawing of ‘Queen Margaret of Anjou landing at Weymouth after the Battle of Tewkesbury’ in 1787, and ‘Whitsuntide Holidays’ and two other drawings in 1788 complete the list of his exhibited works. About this time he painted ‘The Exhibition of the Royal Academy 1787,’ and ‘Portraits of their Majesties and the Royal Family viewing the Exhibition of the Royal Academy 1788,’ both of which were engraved in line by P. A. Martini. In 1788, by the help of his royal patron, he visited the Netherlands, and afterwards Germany and Italy, returning to Hanover in 1792, when he was appointed electoral court painter. In 1789 he painted the curtain for the court theatre in Hanover, which he himself etched in 1828, and while in Dresden in 1790–1 he painted, for the decoration of Carlton House, ‘Alexander crossing the Granicus.’ Besides the above works may be noted ‘Olivia, Maria, and Malvolio’ from ‘Twelfth Night,’ engraved by Thomas Ryder for Boydell's ‘Shakespeare;’ ‘The Goldfinches,’ in illustration of Jago's elegy, for Macklin's ‘British Poets;’ ‘Public Amusement’ and ‘Private Amusement,’ engraved by William Ward; ‘Laura, or Thoughts on Matrimony,’ engraved by Henry Kingsbury; ‘The Departure of Queen Marie-Antoinette and her Family,’ engraved by J. F. Bolt; the Princess Mary, engraved by William Nutter; the Princess Elizabeth, engraved by W. Ward; the Princess Sophia, engraved by J. Ogborne; and a portrait of Baron Denon, which was etched by Denon himself. His work as a draughtsman for the German almanacs and pocket-books extended over a period of more than twenty years, but his best illustrations are those which he himself etched for ‘Reineke Fuchs’ and ‘Tyll Eulenspiegel,’ both published in 1826. He made, from sketches by the Princess Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, a series of twenty allegorical designs entitled ‘Genius, Imagination, Phantasie,’ which were lithographed by Julius Giere, and published at Hanover in 1834.
Ramberg died at Hanover on 6 July 1840, and was buried in the Gartenkirchhof. There are two portraits of him—one an etching by Denon, taken at Venice in 1791; the other, a lithograph by Julius Giere, drawn in 1838.
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramesay, William

​RAMESAY, WILLIAM (fl. 1660), astrologer. [See Ramsay.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramsay, Alexander (d.1402)

Contains subarticle Sir Alexander Ramsay (fl. 1450).
​RAMSAY, Sir ALEXANDER (d. 1402), of Dalhousie, was the son of Alexander Ramsay of Carnock, eldest son of Sir Patrick Ramsay of Dalhousie. He succeeded his grandfather in 1377, and is described as ‘Dominus de Dalwolsey, miles,’ in a charter of Robert II to Margaret, countess of Mar, on 2 Jan. 1378. In 1400 his house of Dalwolsie was attacked by Henry IV of England, but, according to Wyntoun, Henry ‘tynt fere mare thare than he wan’ (Chronicle, ed. Laing, iii. 77). Ramsay was killed at the battle of Homildon Hill on 14 Sept. 1402. He made a donation to the abbacy of Newbattle, Midlothian, for the welfare of his soul and that of Catherine, his wife (Registrum de Neubotle, Bannatyne Club, p. 234). He was succeeded by Robert de Ramsay, who was probably his son.
Sir Alexander Ramsay (fl. 1450), probably his grandson and son of Robert de Ramsay, obtained a safe-conduct on 3 Feb. 1423–4 until 30 April 1424 as a hostage of James I at Durham (Cal. Documents relating to Scotl. vol. iv. No. 942). At the coronation of James I in 1424 he was made a knight. Along with the Earl of Angus and Hepburn of Hailes he, on 30 Sept. 1435, completely routed the English commander Sir Robert Ogle at Piperden. On 14 Aug. 1451 he was named one of the conservators of a truce with England (ib. No. 1239). He died before 19 March 1464–5 (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1424–1513, No. 829). He had four sons: Alexander, who predeceased him, leaving a son Alexander, to whom the baronies of Foulden and Dalhousie were confirmed by James III on 22 March 1473, and who was slain at Flodden in September 1513; Robert, ancestor of the Ramsays of Cockpen; George of Hallhouse and Legbernarde, Midlothian; and William. By charter dated 3 April 1456 he executed an entail of his estate in favour of Alexander, his grandson, and heirs male of his body; which failing, to his second son Robert, his third son George, his fourth son William, and heirs male of their body.
[Chronicles of Wyntoun and Fordun; Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, vol. iv.; Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1424–1513; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 403–4.]
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ramkins, Alexander

Fictional person, according to the ODNB
​RAMKINS, ALEXANDER (1672–1719?), adherent of James II, was born in the north of Scotland in 1672, and was sent to the university of Aberdeen. While a student there he heard of the gathering of several clans for James VII, sold his books and furniture, bought arms, and at the end of July 1689 joined a body of three hundred highlanders who had been on the victorious side at Killiecrankie. He marched about with them in the highlands for a time, and then went home to his mother with an old captain of James's army. After two months at home, having obtained 1,200l. as the value of his inheritance, he sailed to Rotterdam and joined the French army at the siege of Mainz. He found it difficult to get employment without regular training, so went to the French military college for cadets at Strasburg, and, afterwards returning to the army, was admitted as a volunteer and served in the Palatinate. He thence obtained leave to go to Paris, and, receiving a commission as ​captain in James II's forces, sailed from Brest to Cork. He commanded a small detachment of grenadiers from the district of Fingal, co. Dublin, in an orchard at the battle of the Boyne; but the company had only a dozen grenades and no bayonets, some not even firelocks. The orchard was surrounded, thirteen of his men were killed, and Ramkins, with eight men, was captured. While a prisoner on parole in Dublin he met many Scots who were in King William's army, but declined to change sides; and, at length escaping, joined the Irish army, lost two fingers at Aughrim from a sabre-cut, and did good service at the siege of Limerick, returning to France at the capitulation. He afterwards joined his regiment in the army under the Duke of Luxemburg, and was severely wounded by a bullet in the shoulder at the battle of Landen. When recovered from his wound he went to Amsterdam and to Antwerp; and after the peace of Ryswick (1697) paid a visit to London, where he was robbed on Hounslow Heath. He returned to Paris and married; but his wife's extravagance reduced him to poverty, and in 1719 he was thrown into prison at Avignon, and appears to have died soon after. His memoirs were printed in London in 1719, through the influence of a kinsman. He adopts the view that the aim of France was not to help King James or the Roman catholic religion, but only to diminish the power of Great Britain in European affairs by keeping up political strife there.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Palmer, Shirley

​PALMER, SHIRLEY (1786–1852), medical writer, born at Coleshill, Warwickshire, 27 Aug. 1786, was son of Edward Palmer, solicitor, by his second wife, Benedicta Mears. Educated at Coleshill grammar school, and at Harrow, under the Rev. Joseph Drury, D.D., Palmer became a pupil of Mr. Salt, surgeon, of Lichfield, father of Henry Salt [q. v.], the Abyssinian traveller, and subsequently studied under Abernethy at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. He became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1807, and graduated M.D. at Glasgow in ​1815. Settling at Tamworth, Staffordshire, he was twice elected high bailiff of the town. In 1831 he established a practice at Birmingham, but still maintained his residence and connection at Tamworth. He died 11 Nov. 1852, at Tamworth, and was buried in the new churchyard, which had once formed part of his garden. He married, on 29 Sept. 1813, Marie Josephine Minette Breheault, a French refugee of good family.
Palmer published: 1. ‘The Swiss Exile,’ a juvenile denunciation of Napoleon in heroic verse in thirty or forty pages (4to, n.d.), dedicated to Miss Anna Seward. 2. ‘Popular Illustrations of Medicine,’ London, 1829, 8vo. 3. ‘Popular Lectures on the Vertebrated Animals of the British Islands,’ London, 1832, 8vo. 4. ‘A Pentaglot Dictionary [French, English, Greek, Latin, and German] of the Terms employed in Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, practical Medicine,’ &c., London, 1845.
Palmer edited the ‘New Medical and Physical Journal,’ along with William Shearman, M.D., and James Johnson, from 1815 to 1819; the ‘London Medical Repository,’ along with D. Uwins and Samuel Frederick Gray, from 1819 to 1821. To both periodicals he contributed largely, as well as to the ‘Lichfield Mercury’ while John Woolrich was editor, and to the first five volumes of the ‘Analyst.’
C. F. R. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Palmer, Richard (d.1625)

​PALMER, RICHARD, M.D. (d. 1625), physician, was a native of London. He entered Christ's College, Cambridge, and there graduated B.A. in 1579. He migrated to Peterhouse, and there became M.A. in 1583. He received a license to practise in London from the College of Physicians 9 April 1593, and was elected a fellow in February 1597. He was nine times censor between 1599 and 1619, was treasurer from 1621 to 1624, and president in 1620. On 5 Nov. 1612 he attended with Dr. John Giffard at the bedside of Henry, prince of Wales. Several long consultations were held with Sir Theodore Mayerne [q. v.] Dr. John Hammond, Dr. Henry Atkins [q. v.] and Dr. Butler, and in the presence of Sir Thomas Challoner and Sir David Murray (1567–1629) [q. v.] in October 1612, and the result was that, on the opinion of the majority, a prescription known as diascordium was given to the prince, with no good effect, for he died next day. Palmer was present at the post-mortem examination, and in the original report his signature stands fourth of the six physicians. In the report, as printed by Mayerne, his name is last. He died early in 1625.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Palmer, Thomas (1540-1626)

​PALMER, Sir THOMAS (1540–1626), ‘the Travailer,’ born in 1540, was the third son of Sir Henry Palmer of Wingham, Kent, by his wife Jane, daughter of Sir Richard Windebank of Guisnes, and was nephew of Sir Thomas Palmer (d. 1553) [q. v.] He was high sheriff of Kent in 1595, and in the following year went on the expedition to Cadiz, when he was knighted. In 1606 he published ‘An Essay of the Meanes how to make our Travailes into forraine Countries the more profitable and honourable,’ London, 4to. Here Palmer discussed the advantages of foreign travel, and some of the political and commercial principles which the traveller should understand. The book is dated from Wingham, where the author is said to have ​kept, with great hospitality, sixty Christmases without intermission. He was created a baronet on 29 June 1621. He died on 2 Jan. 1625–6, aged 85, and was buried at Wingham. He married Margaret, daughter of John Pooley of Badley, Suffolk, who died in August 1625, aged 85. Of his three sons, all knighted, Sir Thomas died before his father, and was himself father of Herbert Palmer [q. v.] The second son, Sir Roger, was master of the household to Charles I, and the third son, Sir James [q. v.], is noticed separately.
The ‘Travailer’ must be distinguished from Thomas Palmer or Palmar, a Roman catholic scholar, who graduated B.A. from Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1553, but who subsequently became a primary scholar of St. John's College, and was in 1563 appointed principal of Gloucester Hall. He was a zealous catholic, and, after a steady refusal to conform, he had in 1564 to retire from his headship to his estates in Essex, where persecution is said to have followed him. Wood describes him as an excellent orator, and ‘the best of his time for a Ciceronian style’ (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Wood, Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 150; Dodd, Church History, ii. 90).
W. A. S. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Doyle, James William Edmund

​DOYLE, JAMES WILLIAM EDMUND (1822–1892), author of the 'Official Baronage of England,' born in London on 22 Oct. 1822, was the eldest son of John Doyle [q. v.] Richard Doyle [q. v.] and Henry Edward Doyle [q. v. Suppl.] were younger brothers. James was educated as a Roman catholic. He inherited a portion of his father's artistic ability, and in early life studied drawing and painting. Among other works he executed a painting of Dr. Johnson reading the manuscript of the 'Vicar of Wakefield,' which was engraved and attained considerable popularity. The copyright of the picture realised 100l. While comparatively young, however, Doyle abandoned the profession of an artist and devoted himself to historical studies. For his own edification he compiled a 'Chronicle of England' from B.C. 55 to A.D. 1485, which he adorned with numerous illustrations in colours. It received considerable praise from various persons to whom it was afterwards submitted, among others from the prince consort, and was well received by the public when published in 1864 (London, 12mo). Doyle's illustrations were engraved and printed in colours by Edmund Evans.
The great undertaking of Doyle's life, however, was his 'Official Baronage of England,' which included every rank of nobility except barons. The epithet 'official' in the title means not that Doyle's 'Baronage' was published 'by authority,' but that it gave an exhaustive list of the offices held by the peers of whom it treated. This compilation was at first designed especially to cover the period between the Norman Conquest and the Revolution of 1688, but it was afterwards brought down to 1885. It gave particulars, as complete as possible, of the succession, titles, offices, heraldic bear- ​ings, and personal appearance of each peer. This work was published in three quarto volumes in 1886, a large-paper edition, limited to two hundred copies, appearing somewhat earlier in 1885. It is a painstaking but unequal work. For the earlier portion, especially the Norman and Angevin period, Doyle relied too much on secondary authorities, and was not sufficiently critical. Greatly to his disappointment the book was not a financial success, and inflicted a heavy loss on the publishers. In 1886 he wrote the explanatory text for Richard Doyle's coloured cartoons, entitled 'Scenes from English History.' He died in London on 3 Dec. 1892 at his residence, 38 Dorset Square, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery on 9 Dec.
[Athenæum, 31 Dec. 1892; Times, 16 Dec. 1892; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit. (Supplement).]
E. I. C.